Hey folks, Louisville just got slammed with some huge thunderstorms — reports indicated something like 6 inches of rain in 75 minutes — that caused flash flooding, leaving about 4 feet of water in the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library. Their book processing area, bookmobiles, and server rooms were pretty much destroyed, as well as staff offices and $50,000 worth of new computers for a new branch that’s about to open up in a couple of weeks. Initial estimates put the damage at over $1 million.
You can see pictures of the devastation here (this one shows the office of a guy I kind of know from the interwebs — the water level is at the doorknob of his office door).
A disaster recovery fund has been established; you can mail a check to:
The Library Foundation
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203
And if you’re one of those goofy Library Society of the World types (like, um, me), you can join in a coordinated fundraising drive that Steve Lawson is running, which is PayPal-enabled for easy clickage. I’ll be sending a check to Steve because I’m PayPal illiterate, but I know and trust Steve (actually, I know and trust Steve better than PayPal, go figure). Take your pick, but every little bit helps.
DON’T SEND BOOKS
First of all, the book processing area of the library is still underwater, so they can’t receive any books you might send them. And we learned after Katrina that your idea of the books that a library might need often doesn’t match up with what the librarians, staff, and patrons know that they actually need. So please don’t send books at this time. The LFPL has an Amazon wishlist, which is an awesome way for the public to contribute books that the library really needs, but again, they can’t receive those books, so until you hear otherwise (and I’ll update this post when I hear about it), just let that sit for a while. They’re smart people, so I’m guessing they’ll be adding a bunch of stuff to that wishlist soon.
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