Image
Abstract: PANEL: Public Librarians’ Roles in Natural Disasters: Stories of Leadership and Resilience
The proposed panel will address public librarians’ roles in and contributions in natural disasters by sharing research participant stories across four states. The panel, moderated by Kentucky State Librarian Denise Lyons, will include Marcia Mardis and Faye Jones from Florida State University, Feili Tu-Keefer from University of South Carolina, and April Hobbs, from University of Memphis Libraries, researchers who have been exploring this topic for nearly a decade. Panelists, with audience input on research opportunities, will address librarians’ and libraries’ contributions in segments focused on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, concluding with implications for LIS education, practice, and further research. Panelists will use interactive polls and artifact review in each segment to ensure audience engagement.
Public libraries are vital community anchors, offering citizens information, services, and support during disasters. While crucial for disseminating information, libraries are also increasingly tasked with fostering community engagement, particularly with vulnerable groups. In a disaster, many public libraries also function as aid distribution points, shelters, and temporary offices for state and federal agencies.
Amid disaster chaos, storytelling can be a vital coping mechanism. The accounts of survivors may differ from those presented by outsiders, yet following a natural catastrophe, storytelling allows survivors to examine moments rather than succumbing to the crisis’ enormity. Sharing stories enables communities to position themselves in relation to the uncontrollable devastation, offering a compelling alternative to media narratives that distort or overlook the breadth of lived experiences
Since 2015, the University of South Carolina team has been collaborating with professional librarians, library administrators, and LIS faculty members in conducting a series of situation-specific case studies. The team examined public libraries and their community engagement in times of a variety of disasters in South Carolina, Texas, Northern California, and Kentucky. The Florida State University (FSU) team began their work on a suite of disaster-related projects in 2018, in the wake of Hurricane Michael. Both teams’ work is centered on rural public libraries and the myriad ways they serve their communities during consecutive and concurrent disasters affecting Florida’s Gulf coast and adjacent areas. FSU researchers have looked at disaster planning practices from a library policy perspective, and as a community resiliency challenge, engaging local government, engineers, social workers, cartographers, public health officials, workforce agencies, and school districts to use their public libraries as resiliency hubs.
We have collected survivors’ stories that show how public libraries and librarians supported their communities in disasters. Factors such as locale, topography, available resources, and library personnel significantly influenced a library’s capacity to prepare for disasters; for instance, while large public library systems in urban areas often have ample resources to provide critical community-first services before, during, and after a disaster, small and rural library systems, constrained by limited resources and geographic isolation are challenged to provide and receive disaster support.
Several of the public libraries studied served as community hubs and illustrated the libraries’ value in facilitating emergency response and recovery. They successfully partnered with other agencies to provide situation-specific information services and satisfy users’ community-first information needs. Notably, there’s an explicit demand for mental health services among library staff and users, alongside essential resources such as food, water, and pet assistance. FEMA frequently operates from or adjacent to libraries, fostering additional support networks. Once again, large public library systems in urban areas were often proactive in making decisions to aid disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. In contrast, small libraries in rural areas were overwhelmed by community demands. Issues related to equity of access to services were also noted.
The libraries studied demonstrated exceptional resilience in supporting their communities. Local public libraries were central hubs for disaster recovery efforts and held survival support meetings years afterward. Despite fewer resources, paused services, and temporary locations, librarians nonetheless served their communities; they identified needs to equip library personnel with the necessary skills for disaster planning, preparedness, and recovery, including recognition of a demand for mental health services among library staff and users.
The panel’s stories of disaster resiliency will draw upon extensive research findings that deepen the understanding of public librarians’ value to local communities in disasters. Librarian first responders play critical roles in supporting disaster preparedness, response, and recovery and in strengthening community resilience. Given their responsibility to consistently provide diverse information services, information professionals must be well prepared for leadership roles, necessitating the inclusion of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in regular LIS education curricula and continuing education.
Public libraries are vital community anchors, offering citizens information, services, and support during disasters. While crucial for disseminating information, libraries are also increasingly tasked with fostering community engagement, particularly with vulnerable groups. In a disaster, many public libraries also function as aid distribution points, shelters, and temporary offices for state and federal agencies.
Amid disaster chaos, storytelling can be a vital coping mechanism. The accounts of survivors may differ from those presented by outsiders, yet following a natural catastrophe, storytelling allows survivors to examine moments rather than succumbing to the crisis’ enormity. Sharing stories enables communities to position themselves in relation to the uncontrollable devastation, offering a compelling alternative to media narratives that distort or overlook the breadth of lived experiences
Since 2015, the University of South Carolina team has been collaborating with professional librarians, library administrators, and LIS faculty members in conducting a series of situation-specific case studies. The team examined public libraries and their community engagement in times of a variety of disasters in South Carolina, Texas, Northern California, and Kentucky. The Florida State University (FSU) team began their work on a suite of disaster-related projects in 2018, in the wake of Hurricane Michael. Both teams’ work is centered on rural public libraries and the myriad ways they serve their communities during consecutive and concurrent disasters affecting Florida’s Gulf coast and adjacent areas. FSU researchers have looked at disaster planning practices from a library policy perspective, and as a community resiliency challenge, engaging local government, engineers, social workers, cartographers, public health officials, workforce agencies, and school districts to use their public libraries as resiliency hubs.
We have collected survivors’ stories that show how public libraries and librarians supported their communities in disasters. Factors such as locale, topography, available resources, and library personnel significantly influenced a library’s capacity to prepare for disasters; for instance, while large public library systems in urban areas often have ample resources to provide critical community-first services before, during, and after a disaster, small and rural library systems, constrained by limited resources and geographic isolation are challenged to provide and receive disaster support.
Several of the public libraries studied served as community hubs and illustrated the libraries’ value in facilitating emergency response and recovery. They successfully partnered with other agencies to provide situation-specific information services and satisfy users’ community-first information needs. Notably, there’s an explicit demand for mental health services among library staff and users, alongside essential resources such as food, water, and pet assistance. FEMA frequently operates from or adjacent to libraries, fostering additional support networks. Once again, large public library systems in urban areas were often proactive in making decisions to aid disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. In contrast, small libraries in rural areas were overwhelmed by community demands. Issues related to equity of access to services were also noted.
The libraries studied demonstrated exceptional resilience in supporting their communities. Local public libraries were central hubs for disaster recovery efforts and held survival support meetings years afterward. Despite fewer resources, paused services, and temporary locations, librarians nonetheless served their communities; they identified needs to equip library personnel with the necessary skills for disaster planning, preparedness, and recovery, including recognition of a demand for mental health services among library staff and users.
The panel’s stories of disaster resiliency will draw upon extensive research findings that deepen the understanding of public librarians’ value to local communities in disasters. Librarian first responders play critical roles in supporting disaster preparedness, response, and recovery and in strengthening community resilience. Given their responsibility to consistently provide diverse information services, information professionals must be well prepared for leadership roles, necessitating the inclusion of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in regular LIS education curricula and continuing education.