Tulane Libraries Recovery Center Celebrates Integration of Restored Books to Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Collection

First milestone for library associates companies' multi-year project to restore 210,000 items.

New Orleans, LA (PRWEB) April 2, 2008 -- Library Associates Companies (LAC) is pleased to announce that the first materials restored by the Tulane Libraries Recovery Center project team have been returned to the shelves of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University. The Recovery Center was created in response to the damage done to library materials during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The basement of Tulane University's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library - an area about the size of a football field - was flooded with approximately eight feet of water. The basement housed a music library and a very large collection of government documents, newspapers, and microforms. In addition to the main library, Jones Hall, which houses the library's Special Collections, received about four feet of water.

As part of recovery efforts following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, approximately 210,000 items were salvaged and physically restored, and will be integrated back into the collection. In addition, over 100,000 donated and replacement items will be fully cataloged by Recovery Center staff for inclusion into the collection. Andy Corrigan, Associate Dean, and Donna Capelle Cook, Director of Technical Services, were joined by faculty and library staff as the Recovery Team delivered the first ten restored items to Howard-Tilton on March 14, 2008. A ceremonial "golden" book cart was used to carry the books to the third floor shelving area. Remarkably, according to Leonard Bertrand, Interim Head of the Music and Media Collection, a music faculty member had just requested one of the items, The Sibelius companion, and was delighted to discover it was ready to check out.

The Recovery Center, staffed by two teams from Library Associates Companies, began working with these materials in late February 2008. Del Oehms Hamilton, On Site Project Manager, and Melissa Smith, Archival Team Lead, have been leading the charge in processing the cataloged and archival material. Both have ties to the area, with Hamilton originating from Biloxi, MS, and Smith being a Louisiana native.

"Every member of the Recovery Center team demonstrates to us on a daily basis that they have the energy, dedication, and zeal to be a part of Tulane's and New Orleans's recovery efforts," states Hamilton. "We are proud to be a part of this historic endeavor." Recovery Center staff is keeping a blog during the project, which can be seen at www.libraryassociates.com/tulane.

The Recovery Center is hosting an open house on April 16, during National Library Week. Corrigan looks forward to showing university faculty, library staff and community representatives a behind-the-scenes look at the work being done at the Recovery Center, which is located adjacent to Tulane's off site library storage facility.

"The creation of the Recovery Center addresses the fact that each item restored or replaced needs processing similar to newly acquired items," states Corrigan. "With Howard-Tilton and other disaster-affected libraries being critically short on staff, it was key to have LAC put together the team and implement the procedures to get the Recovery Center off the ground. We are excited to be able to show the Tulane community the important work being done here."

For more information on the April 16 open house, please contact Del Hamilton at dhamilton @ libraryassociates.com.

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