The State Library of Louisiana and Public Libraries' Response to Hurricanes: Issues, Strategies, and Lessons

This article is about how Louisiana's public libraries and its state library worked together to respond to and prepare for natural disasters, specifically hurricanes. In the process, we demonstrate the essential nature of libraries. Libraries play an essential role in immediate recovery after a disaster as well as in long-term recovery. No one can downplay the reality that through the last half decade, no set of libraries has experienced anything approaching the natural disaster–induced challenges to their essential character as have the public libraries of Louisiana. This article focuses on public library response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the organizational follow-up within the State Library of Louisiana.