To help Southern University begin to rebuild its library resources--which are currently housed in two FEMA trailers--the University has joined forces with eight other schools, including Tufts University and the University of Pittsburgh, to raise funds and hold book drives. The effort is part of the American Library Association's "Adopt a Library" program that connects libraries in the Gulf Coast region with others across the country.
Fundraising efforts include an upcoming "Jamba-Library" celebration that will feature a series of events in Rush Rhees Library leading up to Mardi Gras. There will be a
$1 book sale in the Hawkins-Carlson Room February 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A series of noontime talks in the Welles-Brown Room kick off Wednesday, February 22, with Professor of Philosophy Randall Curren discussing "Abandoned in a Wasteland: Katrina, Anarchy, and America's Poor." The series continues Thursday, February 23, with Vice President and General Secretary Paul Burgett and his discussion on "Music in New Orleans: Then and Now," and Dan Beaumont, associate professor of religion and classics, wraps up the series Friday, February 24, with "Hey Now! The Musical Maestros Professor Longhair and Clifton Chenier."
The River Campus Jazz Ensemble will cap off Jamba-Library with a benefit concert from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Hawkins-Carlson Room that will be followed by a performance by composer and musician Bob Sneider, an instructor of jazz guitar at the Eastman School. In addition, there will be a prize drawing that evening.
Paprocki, who is working with others at Rochester to organize the weeklong celebration and other upcoming events, says the relief effort has been embraced by many at the University. The goal, she says, "is absolutely books. We plan to raise money that will go to our book vendor so that when they are ready, the librarians in New Orleans can select the books they need most."
The Southern University System is the only historically black university system in the country, created to serve the needs of the African-American community in and around the Greater New Orleans area. To learn more about the school and the Adopt a Library program, visit www.library.rochester.edu/SUNO.
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Book by Book:
Rochester helps New Orleans school recover
mpossible to imagine. That's how Rosemary Paprocki, an assistant at the Robbins Library, describes the devastating loss that schools such as Southern University in New Orleans are coping with in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The first floor of the school's library was under water for three weeks after the storm hit Louisiana August 29, and its reference collection, which included texts on African-American culture and history, was virtually destroyed.
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