Wrapping your mind around a natural disaster is difficult to do as so much is happening. One way I try to understand such developments is see how these events can impact libraries. Back in graduate school, I did a paper examining libraries in post-Cold War conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia. In some cases, libraries were targeted for political reasons and in all reasons, securing reconstruction funds is difficult when there are so many other causes calling for attention. Libraries are still very important though as they sustain culture and contribute to education. Let’s have a look at some recent coverage of the impact of the earthquake on Haiti’s libraries and efforts to assist the country.
The New York Times (Cultural Riches Turn to Rubble in Haiti Quake) reported that Haiti’s National Archives suffered some damage but most of their most important documents have avoided damage. The American Library Association has established a relief program to help rebuild the country’s libraries and archives. IFLA reports that while Haiti’s national library mostly avoided damage, the country’s oldest library, Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Pères du Saint Esprit, has collapsed and taken numerous materials with it. Happily, there is an organization – Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (Libraries Without Borders) – that is seeking to help rebuild Haiti’s libraries.
Shortly after independence in the early nineteenth century, Haiti was burdened by France which made it very difficult for the country to grow and prosper. In the long term, lack of education (the literacy rate is estimated at 65%; better than Afghanistan but still very far from standards of rich countries) and inadequate libraries will have similar effects in the country.
Related posts:
The Haitian earthquake has caused a records management problem of epic proportions. According to this week’s Economist:
“The state has lost millions of records kept only on paper, like tax receipts and court filings, which now litter streets in the city centre. At the building that housed the foreign ministry archives, workers are trying to salvage decades or folders and filing cabinets from the wreckage. Atop the pile on January 26 was a 1934 document restoring control of the Bank of Haiti to the government from the American bank that held it during a military occupation.”
Very interesting indeed! Something similar to this happened in Iraq in 2003 – the country’s libraries and government literally lost all their laws and regulations. However, I gather that the US Library of Congress had copies and could send them over.