Puerto Rico's libraries, archives and museums road to recovery: A timeline of events after Hurricane Maria

January 2018

By January 82% of the electrical grid had been repaired and Universities were still struggling to complete their extended semester, which will end by late February for most. During this month the heritage sector received a lot of exposure in the media, especially in the United States, highlighting the efforts that were taking place locally. It begins with an article in the American Libraries magazine by the American Library Association (ALA) with a summary of what was known to the date about the extent of damages. For a few days, different newspapers featured the works of Miriam Centeno, the Collections Care Coordinator at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Thanks to Jeanne Drewes, from the Library of Congress, Jaquelina Alvarez, Librarian at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez (UPRM), was able to contact Centeno and she became a pillar and mentor to many on the Island. For a week she performed assessment and trained UPRM library staff. She also provided three specialized workshops “Preservación y preparación ante desastres”; trained personnel at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and visited the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao. Everything sponsored by the NEH Chairman’s Emergency Grant awarded to UPRM and the University of Illinois’ Library.
 
Loida García-Febo, ALA’s President-elect, and Tess Tobin, President for REFORMA (National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and Spanish Speakers) performed a Library Tour for a week and met with librarians to chat about their damages and needs. The National Heritage Responders (NHR) were deployed for a second time and Jim Lindner and Mick Newnham from PRESTO Center offered a specialized workshop for audiovisual preservation. Finally, a new survey to gather data about limited equipment and supply availability on the Island was released.


 

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