In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, libraries in New York helped the storm’s victims turn a new page. Librarians helped thousands of people fill out relief forms, connect to the Internet, and make plans to rebuild.
The New Dorp Branch of the New York Public Library in Staten Island wasn’t damaged during Sandy. But just a few blocks away, houses were inundated with as much as 16 feet of water. And days after the storm, many of the library’s patrons still lacked the most basic services.
“We even had people asking if they could use the restrooms to clean up a little bit,” says Barbara Byrne-Goldie, a librarian at New Dorp. “They still didn’t have running water, or hot water. So we came in very handy as community centers, that’s for sure.”
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, libraries in New York helped the storm’s victims turn a new page. Librarians helped thousands of people fill out relief forms, connect to the Internet, and make plans to rebuild.
