ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 15, Number 7
Date: January 18, 2006

In This Issue: Help Libraries Damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Call your Members of Congress Today

On Wednesday, February 1st on Capitol Hill, ALA will sponsor a display of photographs of libraries in the Gulf States damaged and destroyed by hurricanes and libraries serving the storm evacuees. Please tell your Members of Congress about this event and encourage them to come and view the photographs and get details about how the hurricanes affected libraries. 

Background:
Hundreds of public, school, and academic libraries were damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes of 2005. In Louisiana, 110 school libraries and 19 public libraries were destroyed. In Mississippi, 64 school libraries and 11  public libraries were destroyed or partially destroyed. In Alabama, one school library and 2 public libraries were destroyed.

Every library in the FEMA-designated affected zip codes has sustained some damage-and most libraries are desperately lacking the funds to rebuild. 

Libraries-particularly public libraries-proved essential to evacuees in the months following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Thousands of evacuees used libraries in neighboring states to contact friends and family members, to file FEMA forms, and to find new places to live. Many of these libraries -in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama kept their doors open late to help evacuees and incurred personnel and facility expenses they cannot afford.  

Your Action Needed:
Members of Congress will soon begin to make decisions about how to spend the federal funds designated for hurricane victims. Please ask your Members of Congress TODAY to keep libraries in mind as they allocate these funds. Libraries are essential to our schools and communities, and deserve to be included in any federal funding plan. 

Ask your Members of Congress to stop by the display of photos of damaged and destroyed libraries so they can see first-hand the kind of damage libraries have sustained and the extent of their need. 

When/Where:
Photographs will be on display on Wednesday, February 1st in the Dirksen Senate Office Building (SDG-50) from 10:00 am to noon and in Rayburn House Office Building Room 2216 from 1:30 pm until 3:30 pm. 


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ALA Washington Office, 1615 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., First Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009-2520; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Don Essex, Melanie Anderson, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.