Re: What should journal publishers do about Katrina-affected areas?

[Janellyn P Kleiner <jkleiner@lsu.edu>]

I can't speak for the libraries of Louisiana, but I can state that the
situation in New Orleans is critical. NOTHING is operating there now
except for the media and state government agencies attempting rescues,
evacuation, and delivering food and water -- far too little of each.  
Money for that assistance is what is needed now.

As for the libraries there, lack of communication and evacuation efforts,
makes it impossible to determine the location of library administrators
and other librarians. I have been trying to find a friend who is with the
Medical Center Library in New Orleans.  It is likely that the University
of New Orleans Library suffered severe damage due to its location near
Lake Pontchatrain. Damage at other libraries depends on flood levels in
those locations.  Help will be needed by them but not in the immediate
future. Rescues are now the priority and after that, feeding and housing
the more than a million folks who lived in New Orleans, the suburbs, and
the surrounding parishes. Boatloads of people are coming up the river to
Baton Rouge, most from the parishes (counties) south of New Orleans still
under water.  It may be months before New Orleans and those areas are
habitable. The Mississippi coastal towns suffered severe damage but at
least can begin working on clean-up and recovery.  Their libraries will be
able to benefit from assistance long before those in our affected areas.

Baton Rouge and its infrastructure are seriously stressed by the influx of
people and New Orleans businesses attempting to locate here. Gasoline
shortages are a problem in a region that has provided 25% of the nation's
fuel. The pharmacy I use (in an Albertson's supermarket) closed today for
security reasons. Civil unrest is being reported in areas of the city -
carjacking, fights over supplies in stores, etc. I understand the
hospitals are under lockdown as are a number of state offices. SWAT teams
are being brought in where needed -- they had to be called to the State
Education Dept. offices yesterday. They were also stationed along the
river downtown late yesterday. Those of us at LSU may be under lockdown
again today as we were yesterday depending on what the day has in store
for us.  LSU is providing a staging area for many evacuees and some are
looking for refuge in campus buildings. Baton Rouge's population has more
than doubled this week and the city is having difficulties accommodating
the people and the services needed to sustain them. Traffic is terrible
all over and worse in areas where power has not been restored and stop
lights are not working. Many parts of Baton Rouge are still without power
today. These problems, however, are nothing compared to conditions in New
Orleans.

The situation in New Orleans and surrounding parishes is severe due to
flooding and water still standing. Engineers are still working to repair
the breaks in the levee. Thank goodness that water from the Lake has quit
pouring into the city but that is the result of the floodwaters in New
Orleans now being level with Lake Pontchatrain. Once the levee breaks are
repaired, and the pumps which have also been damaged are again working,
water can be pumped out. There has been some talk of blowing the levee
near the Mississippi River to let water out of the city into the river but
hopefully that won't have to happen. Recovery efforts cannot be started in
New Orleans until the floodwater problem is resolved and the many people
still stranded there are rescued.

Until yesterday, no one knew of the thousands of people who had taken
refuge in the New Orleans convention center. They have been without food
and water once the food supplies there were depleted. There are 10 to
15,000 at the convention center without assistance. All help was going to
the Superdome & to rescue people stranded in homes. Today, in addition to
the thousands still in the Superdome, efforts are to be directed to the
convention center people.  For those of you who have been to New Orleans,
you know those two facilities are just a few blocks apart.  Possibly that
can give you an idea of the difficult situation and lack of communication
in the city. We just learned this morning of the situation in hotels along
Canal St. -- hundreds in some and more than a thousand in another --
stranded folks who have yet to be rescued. Most were tourists.

What people outside this area do not understand is that promises of help
on the way do absolutely nothing for the thousands without water and food
for much of the week. Even all the hospitals have yet to be fully
evacuated. Most of the evacuations to date have been handled by the state.
Disappointment with the federal government and FEMA are turning to anger
and rightly so. A few military & national guardsman are beginning to
arrive but a number of them lack direction. Other than some rescue teams,
help has been minimal. The Coastguard has provided the most assistance and
early assistance with rescue.

People who never lived in hurricane areas cannot understand why everyone
didn't leave. The fact is that most of us have weathered hurricanes
previously, took their usual hurricane preparations, and battened down.
Katrina was not the usual hurricane. Many people here thought it was over
after Florida but it changed direction and headed here. Getting more than
a million people out to safer ground in two days is virtually impossible.
And the poor have and are continuing to suffer the most. They had neither
the transportation nor the money necessary to evacuate and now, after days
of waiting in a city unable to sustain them, they still wait for that
promised help that is on the way but has yet to arrive.  New Orleans,
meanwhile, has become a war zone where looters are exchanging shots with
city police and sheriff's deputies.

For those of you who want to help, I suggest that you send money to the
Red Cross to meet the immediate and critical needs of the refugees -- they
are refugees now. It will be some time before the libraries in New Orleans
will be in a position to even begin accepting help.

Jane Kleiner
Associate Dean of Libraries for Collection Services
The LSU Libraries
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-578-2217
Fax: 225-578-6825
E-Mail: jkleiner@lsu.edu