Prepared by Katie Fortney for Jeff Frank, May 2008

Questions Addressed

This pathfinder has been constructed and tailored to aid in research on the effect of Hurricane Katrina on libraries as a topic for an MLIS thesis. Specifically, the information need has been framed in the following ways:

  • From a physical perspective, how affected/interrupted were the libraries and archives in the New Orleans, LA and Southern Mississippi region as a result of this disaster? How many institutions were completely destroyed or so impacted that the rebuilding process has not been considered?
  • For the ones seriously affected but able to rebuild, are there plans for the relocation of their collections or will they rebuild on-site? If the latter, what measures are being taken to help minimize future events such as HK (i.e., lessons learned)?
  • How has local, state, and federal funding or lack thereof helped/hindered the rebuilding process?
  • I would be interested in getting some weather data on Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans and Southern Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Government Sources | Journal Databases | Newspapers | Publications to Watch | Directories

Government Information Sources

Federal

The U.S. government sources below are the best place to find the weather data discussed in the last bullet point above.

The National Hurricane Center

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service has a National Hurricane Center with Hurricane Katrina coverage in various locations.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States

The Statistical Abstract has some data but it’s not as focused as the information at the Hurricane Center. Some reports that may be of interest:

Louisiana

The state of Louisiana has both weather impact information and information on public library damage and closures.

Louisiana's Hurricane Katrina Site

Louisiana’s Katrina.Louisiana.gov has links to a number of maps illustrating Katrina’s impact. Some of the links are no longer valid. Of those that still work, the resource that looks most useful is:

Louisiana State Library

The Louisiana State Library has a library directory (discussed below in the Directories section), plus a couple resources that should prove very useful for your paper in its "News for Libraries" section.

Mississippi

The state of Mississippi does not have a website comparable to Louisiana's Katrina website. The state Library Commission does have useful data on public libraries.

Mississippi Library Commission

The Mississippi Library Commission collects statistics on public libraries every year, including one sheet containing funding by city and county and another listing all branches and their circulation statistics. Asterisks on the latter in the 2006 report indicate branches "temporarily closed due to Hurricane Katrina." There is a tremendous amount of data here; it's just a matter of sifting through it once you determine exactly which information you need. Recent reports:

This page with news on Katrina Damage is no longer linked, but was found via an internal site search, and has links to pictures of damage to various libraries in the state.

Government Sources | Journal Databases | Newspapers | Publications to Watch | Directories

Databases for Locating Journal Articles

As you may have already realized, the most useful databases for finding information about library destruction, library rebuilding, and library funding will be Library Literature & Information Science Full Text and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text (LISTA). Coverage is similar, but they have different interfaces because they have different publishers. Both are discussed below in case you have a particular preference, but I recommend LISTA because of its search interface, its greater alert flexibility, and the presence of a "Hurricane Katina" descriptor term in its thesaurus.

Alerts and RSS feeds

Since this is a fairly broad topic that is likely to continue developing and evolving as you work on it, I suggest setting up database alerts that will automatically update you when new articles are indexed that match your search terms. You can save the alerts on the system and get the results via e-mail, RSS feed, or by logging in to the database. You mentioned you had some basic familiarity with Google Reader and would be willing to explore using it as a tool in your research. Because Google Reader (or some other aggregator) would allow you to keep search results in one location where you can search, tag, or e-mail them, this seems like an excellent idea. Some details on how to set up the feeds in each database are below.

The Databases

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text (LISTA)

LISTA is an EBSCO database that indexes over 690 periodicals and has full text for over 180 journals. Its search screen allows a user to add additional lines for search terms, so you can design fairly complex searches. Useful subject/descriptor terms for LISTA from its thesaurus include:

To set up an alert, begin by running the search you want to be alerted about; for example, you could set up a search for "HURRICANE Katrina, 2005" as a descriptor by itself, or "LOUISIANA" as a descriptor and "rebuild*" as a full text search term. Once you reach the results screen, you should see a link at the top of your results to "Alert/Save/Share." EBSCO's default is for an alert to be set up just as an RSS feed, with no e-mail. To change the alert settings (whether abstracts are included, frequency of e-mail, etc.) and/or save your searches, you will need to create a personal account with EBSCO.

EBSCO's feed creation system has some problems, and the feed generated on the webpage likely will not work in your aggregator. Before pasting it into the aggregator, first make sure you're copying the feed that has "AlertSyndicationService" as part of the URL, then delete the "libaccess.sjlibrary.org" portion of the URL. The result will look something like this: http://rss.ebscohost.com/AlertSyndicationService/Syndication.asmx/GetFeed?guid=1724141.

Library Literature & Information Science Full Text

Library Literature & Information Science Full Text is an H.W. Wilson Company database that indexes over 230 library and information science periodicals. Full text coverage, beginning in 1994, is available for many sources. Its search screen has three lines for entering different search terms. Useful subject terms from the Thesaurus are:

To set up an alert, begin by running your search. You could, for example, search for any articles with the subjects Hurricanes, Disasters/Louisiana, or Disasters/Mississippi. Your results screen will include links right below where it states the number of results retrieved and a restatement of your search: Revise Search, Create Alert, or Link to Search. If you click on Create Alert, a pop-up-window will allow you to personalize the alert settings, including whether you'd prefer e-mail or RSS feed, and save the search to a personal My WilsonWeb account, which is free so long as you already have access to the database.

Government Sources | Journal Databases | Newspapers | Publications to Watch | Directories

Newspaper Searches and Alerts

Area newspapers are likely your best source for information on library rebuilding. The largest libraries in Louisiana by circulation are the Advocate in Baton Rouge, the Shreveport Times, and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. The largest in Mississippi are the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, the Sun Herald in Biloxi, and the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo. The Shreveport Times and Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal are the least likely to have useful information because of their size and because they are further north (nor are they available through or indexed by any SJSU or San Jose Library database), but the other four papers are discussed below.

Times-Picayune and Advocate via ProQuest Newsstand

ProQuest Newsstand covers the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Baton Rouge Advocate. Like EBSCO, ProQuest allows users to add rows to their search form.

I had fairly good, if over-inclusive, results with the following search:

SU(libraries) AND (katrina) AND PDN(>1/1/2005) OR PMID(7580) OR PMID(7584). (7580 is the publication ID for the Advocate and 7584 is for the Times-Picayune.)

ProQuest Newsstand can send e-mail alerts or set up RSS feeds. Like the library journal databases, the "Set Up Alert" option is on the results screen. The ProQuest pop-up window is similar to the Wilson one, with a simple form where you fill in your e-mail address and how often you would like to receive the alert. It will also give you the URL for an RSS feed that you can paste into a feed aggregator.

The Clarion-Ledger

The Clarion-Ledger (ISSN 0744-9526) is based in Jackson, Mississippi and circulates statewide. It is archived at the newspaper's own website back to 1999. An archive search for “library and Katrina” for the past three years returned promising-looking results. Unfortunately, full text articles are only free when they are less than a week old. A single article is $2.95 and more pricing information is available at their website.

The Clarion-Ledger does not offer an alert service. No California libraries subscribe to the print copy, although the UC system appears to have access to the electronic version. The most affordable way to use this resource would be to visit the website once every seven days and run a search, saving any interesting results locally.

The Sun Herald

The Sun Herald (no ISSN available) bills itself as "South Mississippi's Newspaper. It is archived at the newspaper's website back to 1994. An archive search for “library and Katrina” returns a rather overwhelming number of results, but this is mitigated by using the Advanced Search feature to look for library only in the lead paragraph or headline instead of the full text. Like the Clarion-Ledger, articles from the past week of the Sun Herald are free, individual articles are $2.95, and further pricing information is available at their website.

Like the Clarion-Ledger, there is no alert service, no local libraries subscribe to the print version, the UC system appears to have access to the electronic version, and the most affordable way to use this resource would be to visit the website once every seven days and run a search, saving any interesting results locally.

Government Sources | Journal Databases | Newspapers | Publications to Watch | Directories

Specific Library Association Publications and Websites to Watch

You probably already have some familiarity with the publications below because of your earlier research in this area. Because they are focused on libraries, and three of the four of them are focused on libraries in your geographic region of interest, they are particularly likely to have articles that will be of use to you as you research library damage, closure, funding, and rebuilding issues. For context and to catch any articles that slip through the searches you construct, it may be worthwhile to browse through current issues as they are released. The Association websites also have some content you may find useful that is not included in the publications.

Louisiana Libraries

Louisiana Libraries (ISSN 1535-2102) is a quarterly bulletin published by the Louisiana Library Association. As of the Winter 2008 issue, there’s still a lot of Katrina-focused information.

The full text is available for browsing electronically through SJSU via HW Wilson in Library Literature & Information Science Full Text and via EBSCO in LISTA. If you’d prefer to browse hard copies, the California State Library in Sacramento subscribes. So do a number of the UC Libraries: Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. To the extent that these libraries allow the public to use their facilities (UC Santa Cruz, for example, is a selective depository library and doesn’t restrict library access to students), these would also be an option.

The Louisiana Library Association website doesn’t provide access to current issues of the bulletin, but it has other information you might find helpful:

Mississippi Libraries

Mississippi Libraries (ISSN 0194-388X) is a quarterly publication of the Mississippi Library Association. Current issues and archives back to 2000 are available in PDF format at the MLA’s website.

The full text is available for browsing electronically through SJSU via HW Wilson in Library Literature & Information Science Full Text and via EBSCO in LISTA. Hard copies are available at King Library, call number Z671. M4.

There is much less Katrina-related content in recent issues of the Mississippi publication than there is in Louisiana Libraries, but the Association's website does have:

The Southeastern Librarian

The Southeastern Librarian (ISSN 0038-3686) is the quarterly publication of the Southeastern Library Association. The Southeastern Librarian is available to browse electronically from the Southeastern Library Association's website and HW Wilson. It is not available through LISTA and hard copies are not available at any California libraries.

The Southeastern Librarian has more Katrina recovery coverage than Mississippi Libraries. There is little else of interest on SLA website.

ALA’s American Libraries

American Libraries online has some content different from the print version indexed by EBSCO and Wilson. Periodically searching for “Katrina” may yield valuable information, and their Hurricane News page may prove to be a valuable resource, although some of the links are out of date and no longer work. This would be a great place to set up an alert, but unfortunately no alert service is available.

Government Sources | Journal Databases | Newspapers | Publications to Watch | Directories

Directories

Directories may be useful in a couple of ways. For one, you have already demonstrated the value of first-hand accounts and personal communications in your previous paper, and directories are one way to find more contacts for that sort of information once there is a particular library you would like information about. Secondly, to the extent you are interested in which libraries have reopened and/or relocated, directories may be a thorough and effective, if tedious, source. The American Library Directory may be particularly useful in this regard because of the availability of earlier years' directories.

The American Library Directory

King Library has the most recent directory and directories from current and previous previous years (Call Number Z731 .A53). There is also a website, which requires registration. A free registration will give you access to physical location information only. They also offer a 14-day trial with access to the complete library profiles. The print version contains the complete profiles.

State Library Directories

Online directories of libraries in Mississippi can be found at the Mississippi Library Association's website and at the Mississippi Library Commission’s website.

An online directory of Louisiana libraries is located at the State Library of Louisiana's website.