Area libraries slowly recovering from Harvey
Floods damaged facilities and ruined books but also took away a community resource
Librarians weren’t focused on lost books.
Or magazines. Or printed materials of any kind. Not even on the drenched furniture that floated away.
The biggest loss for libraries deluged by Hurricane Harvey proved to be the community camaraderie they offered job seekers, lifelong learners, curious tots and new immigrants across all sectors of the Houston region. The buildings shut down during the multi-day storm that wrought heavy rain and flooding. And more than a month later, seven branches of the Houston Public Library remain closed and four damaged locations of the Harris County Public Library are shuttered until further notice.
“The most important thing that people needed from us was connectivity to the internet,” said Rhea Lawson, the Houston Public Library’s director. “Second to that is a place of normalcy — a place where they could get away.”
To fill the need, Lawson’s team worked to quickly open neighborhood branches despite many employees suffering personal losses. The city’s libraries served as community anchors where survivors could gather safely after a storm.
Library resources and staff became critical to Houston’s early days of recovery.
As the George R. Brown Convention Center swelled with more than 10,000 people seeking shelter, the library provided 26 laptops for people to file FEMA and insurance forms online, Lawson said. The Central Library downtown provided temporary office space for city workers whose offices flooded. For two weeks after the storm, the building also hosted a camp for 60 to 80 youngsters daily whose city-employed parents didn’t have child-care alternatives when school openings were delayed.
Changes since Katrina
Libraries are some of the first places people can access digital devices, the internet and information — all of which are required for recovery in the 21st century.
When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans and the greater Gulf Coast, libraries were not federally designated as essential services — despite providing refuge and disaster recovery. The disconnect led to a 2011 revision of the Stafford Act, the federal law that outlines how natural disaster assistance is provided to state and local governments.
Now, FEMA recognizes the roles of libraries in disaster response as community living rooms providing shelter, food, counseling and computers among many other resources. The update also allows libraries to qualify for federal assistance following disasters.
“They’re not just a nice amenity for the community. They’re really a key element of the community’s infrastructure,” Texas State Librarian Mark Smith said. “It could be something as simple as just a plug to recharge your phone or just a dry place to sit and use the computers.”
Smith added that librarians also appeared in emergency shelters postHarvey to conduct story times that brought comfort to children and respite for parents.
Seven branches closed
Library closures hit Houston branches in lowincome, middle-class and well-heeled neighborhoods. The Kendall Neighborhood Library in the Memorial area took on 6 feet of water, engulfing most of the bottom floor of the three-story building. Officials couldn’t access the facility for about a week because the building remained flooded. The busy Stella Link Neighborhood Library on the south side remains inaccessible to the public.
Lawson estimates the seven closed branches will not reopen for a year to 18 months. Three dozen other Houston libraries are operating as usual.
To fill the gap on the northeast side created by the boarded-up McCrane-Kashmere Gardens branch, remote library services will be provided at the Kashmere Multi-Service Center next door, Lawson said.
Harris County Public Libraries sustained an estimated $4.5 million in losses at the four closed facilities including technology, collection materials, furniture and supplies. The lost media items amount to more than $3 million of that total, which is not inclusive of damages to the buildings, which are all on the north side. The county’s other 22 library branches are open as usual.
School libraries hit
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the Texas Library Association collaborated the Monday after the storm to assess where libraries were impacted. The groups tracked delayed openings and continue to coordinate assistance for replacing items.
Smith, the state librarian, said an emergency grant program called Rebuilding Texas Libraries will distribute $300,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. A single library can apply for up to $5,000 and an agency with multiple branches can ask for $5,000 per site up to $25,000.
The Texas Library Association’s disaster relief fund has raised more than $129,000 since Harvey, according to TLA spokeswoman Wendy Woodland. Grant applications from libraries of any size and type damaged by the storm are being accepted through Oct. 16.
Texas Education Agency is seeking information about damaged public schools through the governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas that could be the first intensive survey of K-12 campus library losses. Districts were asked to provide that information on Monday, TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.
School libraries were washed out with flooded campuses across the region including in the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest public school district.
Christine Van Hamersveld, Pasadena ISD’s director of libraries and instructional materials, said most libraries in her district had “very little damage,” but three elementary schools required new Sheetrock and flooring.
“The rest were minor repairs such as roof leaks that district maintenance could take care of,” she said.
Lupe Palacios, the librarian at Pasadena ISD’s Robert Frazier Elementary, has been “working around repairs” in the library and continuing services by floating through the building to serve about 500 students in pre-kindergarden to fourth grade.
“They were able to check out books with the cart and a laptop,” she said.
‘Like a war zone’
Rushing floodwater laced with sewage shut down the Lone Star College-Kingwood’s library weeks after officials debuted new study rooms this summer.
“We were very excited about that,” library director Anthony McMillan said, breathlessly, while motioning to areas around the gutted first floor. “Unfortunately, students didn’t have much of chance to use them because the storm came.”
Six of the nine buildings on campus flooded. Crews are currently repairing the library, which took on three feet of water. Construction is expected to be complete in August.
“All the furniture had floated and was turned upside down,” campus facilities director Eddie McFadden said. “It was like a war zone.”
McMillan is working to recreate a media center with with money from the college’s insurance and grant funds. He anticipates rebuilding the collection with more digital resources because most classes this semester and in the spring will be offered online. Currently, 61 percent of Lone State College-Kingwood’s courses are completely online. Another 12 percent are partially online.
“We’re really working hard to support students and faculty,” McMillan said. “This has all been thrust upon us.”