Tufts has joined several other universities across the country in sponsoring a library in hurricane-battered New Orleans.
As part of the "Adopt-a-Library Campaign" of the American Library Association, Tufts and seven other schools adopted the Washington Memorial Library at the Southern University of New Orleans (SUNO).
"As soon as Katrina hit, the program was publicized by the ALA, and Tufts decided to apply," Tisch Library Director Jo-Ann Michalak said.
The entire SUNO campus was flooded for three weeks, causing an estimated $350 million in damage and wiping out all books located on the first floor of the library. Tulane University sustained an estimated $150 million in damage.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed to give SUNO 450 trailers for student and faculty housing and classrooms. The library will get two double-wide trailers - one for a virtual library and the other for administrative offices.
"Despite the bad press it gets, FEMA was there for [SUNO]," Michalak said.
Washington Memorial Library Director Mary Penny said soon after the hurricane hit, "I went to the ALA webpage, read about the campaign on the homepage and called to request that [SUNO] be put on the list of libraries to be adopted."
The other schools that adopted SUNO with Tufts include Lehigh University, Swarthmore College and the University of Missouri.
Though there are official sponsors for the SUNO library, specific recovery assistance plans are not yet in place.
"We are now on intake mode," Michalak said. She said SUNO still needs to let Tufts know what kind of assistance is required, and when.
The process of determining exactly what SUNO needs is proving to be a challenging one.
"I have to admit a bit of frustration at not really being able to get a good feel for SUNO's collection yet," Swarthmore science librarian Meg Spencer, the coordinator of the program at the school, said.
Tisch Acquisitions Manager Tony Kodzis, who is in charge of coordinating with the other sponsor libraries, said the SUNO staff are not yet clear what their library needs.
Swarthmore has created a small taskforce to "come up with some sort of game plan on how we can best help SUNO with their library recovery," Spencer said.
After the needs are established, the sponsor schools must coordinate with each other to prevent sending the same books and to minimize shipping costs.
"We have to pay for shipping, so we'd rather coordinate before we send," Michalak said. "Too much of a good thing can be bad."
Kodzis has contacted UPS, DHL and other shipping services to persuade them to subsidize the costs. He has also asked Barnes & Noble for advice.
"They are the adopted library," Kodzis said of SUNO. "But it's more of a partnership; we have to let them lead us."
Other than possible discounts, the sponsor libraries will have to pay to restore the SUNO library.
The University of Missouri held a fundraising event Sunday at a local mall to "buy and/or ship replacement books to SUNO," Karen Peters, the school's coordinator for the program, said.
Penny said while SUNO has not yet received any aid from the adopting universities, she expects books, financial aid, shelving and even volunteers to be arriving starting in January.
In addition to benefiting SUNO, Kodzis said the adoption will help Tufts make connections with other libraries and demonstrate commitment to other universities in need.
"[The adoption will] help make Tufts present in an area where it is not too well known," he said.
