EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
by Marylaine Block
It's been dangerously hot across America for a week now, and, warned by the example of Chicago, where 465 elderly residents died in airless, overheated apartments in a 1995 heat wave, cities have started planning for heat emergencies.
When your community leaders make emergency plans, do they think of your library as part of the solution?
They do in Sussex County, Delaware, where several libraries are designated as official "cooling stations". County officials not only urge residents to come to these stations, they also have their paramedics visit them to answer people's questions.
They do in Columbia, MO, where officials issue heat warnings when the heat index reaches 105 degrees, and advise people of official cooling centers like the public library (which is located on public transportation routes).
They do in Yonkers; when a power outage compounded the heat problem, the city offered elderly residents free transportation to the Riverfront Library.
Do the area agencies on aging steer people to the library for relief? They do in Boone County, where the Council on Aging helps elderly residents find transportation to official cooling centers.
Does your library publicize itself as a cooling station? The Detoit Public Library does. Its web site splashes "Beat the Heat at the Library" across the top of the page, and gives the hours and locations for the branches officially designated as cooling stations.
Does your publicity work? Do your local news media know the library is a cooling center? They do in Detroit, where WXYZ pointed out that "The Detroit Public Library cooling stations offer a great opportunity to take in a book or newspaper in air conditioned comfort."
Are you part of the solution in other kinds of emergencies? Following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the Nacogdoches (TX) Public Library, located in the Community Recreation Center, became part of the solution, providing a place where the Red Cross, the Texas National Guard, the United Way, the Texas Workforce Commission, and other agencies, could offer assistance to those in need; later, when Hurricane Rita came along, the library provided the Southwest Alabama Disaster Medical Assistance Team both office space and a place to sleep.
Next question: do you rely on more than cool air to attract the people most in need of it? Have you responded to the heat emergency with special programming for seniors, perhaps in tandem with the Red Cross, area agencies on aging, and maybe local historical societies? Have you provided a forum for community leaders (and maybe local utility companies) to explain to residents how they're confronting the crisis and planning for future emergencies?
If your library is not yet part of the solution, don't you think it should be? Not only would you be providing a critical service in a time of emergency, you would be raising the library's profile with both residents and community leaders.
And if your library IS part of the solution but your local government and news media don't seem to know it, this is a good time to do something splashy (maybe literally splashy, with kids invited to run through the sprinklers on the front lawn), stage some un-ignorable event, perhaps in partnership with a local radio station. You could set up a giant fake igloo or polar bear on your front lawn, for instance, or let a local youth organization put up a lemonade or snow cone stand there, or put on an old-fashioned ice-cream social or a churn your own ice cream event. For seniors you could put on a storytelling (or Liars' Club?) competition, or a quilting demonstration. And whatever you decide to do, don't forget to promote it like crazy.
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COOL QUOTE:
The librarians would never kick you out because you were allowed to sit around and read. I didn't have to worry about any kids bothering me too much because most bullies wouldn't go to the library and if they did the librarian kept them in check.
Patricia Cook, quoted in Beyond Words: BC's Public Libraries Are Changing Lives.
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Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2006.
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