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Another Named Storm! Building Resiliency Through Florida’s Essential Public Libraries

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Information for a Better World: Normality, Virtuality, Physicality, Inclusivity (iConference 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13972))

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Abstract

Florida public librarians are impacted by at least one named storm a year and are statutorily designated as essential providers of emergency services. To understand how resiliency can be improved through the services of public libraries, we surveyed Florida’s public library directors about their public library systems’ preparedness for natural disasters to identify policies and procedures libraries may have to enhance community resilience. Through our survey, we documented that few public librarians severely affected by 2018’s Hurricane Michael had formal disaster plans in place and expressed desires to respond to adverse events as part of an integrated community-wide response. Although library staff members were considered essential workers, few library leaders regularly attended local emergency management meetings. While librarians worked more often with county and local government partners during disaster preparation, response, and recovery, library directors reported that local governments lacked an awareness of the services libraries provided during crises. This study’s results have implications for improving community resilience in and through libraries by generating new knowledge for practitioners and researchers about proactive policy creation and implementation.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported, in part, by Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) award LG-246371-OLS-20.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

    Denise M. Gomez, Faye R. Jones & Marcia A. Mardis

Authors
  1. Denise M. Gomez
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  2. Faye R. Jones
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  3. Marcia A. Mardis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcia A. Mardis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. iSchool Organization, Berlin, Germany

    Isaac Sserwanga

  2. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Anne Goulding

  3. University of Missouri, Chicago, IL, USA

    Heather Moulaison-Sandy

  4. University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Jia Tina Du

  5. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    António Lucas Soares

  6. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Viviane Hessami

  7. University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Rebecca D. Frank

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Gomez, D.M., Jones, F.R., Mardis, M.A. (2023). Another Named Storm! Building Resiliency Through Florida’s Essential Public Libraries. In: Sserwanga, I., et al. Information for a Better World: Normality, Virtuality, Physicality, Inclusivity. iConference 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13972. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-28031-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-28032-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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