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Haiti: Cultural Heritage Collections Preservation Information Clearinghouse
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On January 12, 2010, the earthquake in Haiti caused a humanitarian disaster of staggering proportions. While meeting the basic health and safety needs of the Haitian people continues to be the priority, the preservation of cultural heritage collections will also be critical as recovery efforts move forward. The Library of Congress Preservation Directorate has been receiving information from many sources regarding the state of Haiti’s collections and the growing international response from cultural heritage institutions, associations, and organizations. This response is in a holding pattern waiting for a formal invitation from the Haitian government. This page is intended to provide information and periodic updates.
What is the Library of Congress Preservation Directorate doing in response to the disaster?
- The Preservation Directorate website features information on preparing for and recovering from many types of disasters, including earthquakes, in our Emergency Preparedness web pages. Immediately following the earthquake, we disseminated the link to this information via our RSS feed and a feature on the Library of Congress home page.
- The Preservation Directorate has invited Nancy Gwinn, a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, to provide an update on Blue Shield’s Haiti-related activities at an upcoming FLICC Safety Net meeting on February 23rd.
- Several Preservation Directorate staff members serve on the American Institute for Conservation’s CERT (Collections Emergency Response Team) and Heritage Preservation’s Heritage Emergency National Task Force . They are on standby and ready to assist as needed.
Are there any other Haiti-related initiatives at the Library of Congress?
The Librarian of Congress authorized a solicitation of Library employees at the workplace to support Haiti in its time of extraordinary need. Staff were encouraged to make cash donations directly to humanitarian relief organizations. The Library of Congress Preservation Directorate's Conservation Division also donated a suction table to the Smithsonian Institution for transfer to the Haitian Cultural Center to support the salvage and restoration of endangered cultural property collections in Haiti following the catastrophic earthquake of January, 2010.
What are other cultural heritage organizations doing in support of Haiti’s collections?
The American Library Association (ALA) has established the Haiti Library Relief Fund to meet immediate financial needs and will be coordinating with other organizations on options for book donations at a later date. See the ALA Council’s “Resolution on Rebuilding Libraries and Archives Damaged or Destroyed by the Earthquake in Haiti.” [PDF: 76 KB / 2 p.]
The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC) are maintaining contact with the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield and stand ready to provide assistance to cultural institutions if and when needed. They are accepting contributions to support deployments of the AIC Collections Emergency Response Team.
Libraries Without Borders and its French affiliate, Bibliothèques Sans Frontières are raising funds and preparing to support Haitian libraries and archives as they attempt to preserve and rebuild collections. They are soliciting donations of books in French to support the academic needs of Haitian university libraries.
The International Committee of the Blue Shield and the Association of National Committees for the Blue Shield (ANCBS) have issued statements expressing a desire “to support recovery, restoration and repair measures necessary to rebuild libraries, archives, museums, monuments and sites.” ANCBS is coordinating volunteer information via an online registration system and is also disseminating information via Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) will be working with the International Committee of the Blue Shield. IFLA’s Preservation and Conservation Section and Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Core Activity will be taking a leading role in identifying how the Section and PAC may intervene for assistance after the life-saving interventions are well underway. IFLA is collecting the latest news from the library community in Haiti and aggregating the reports on a dedicated webpage .
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) released a status report on Haitian museums on January 21st, 2010. [PDF: 404 KB / 2 p.] ICOM is working with the International Committee of the Blue Shield, CER (Prince Claus Fund’s “Cultural Emergency Response”) and UNESCO partners.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) President has issued a statement [PDF: 63 KB / 1 p.] calling on ICOMOS members to volunteer to assist with Haiti’s heritage needs.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre will be helping Haiti assess the extent of the damage to several sites and determine how to go about saving its heritage as soon as possible. Current reports can be seen at:
Has there been any media coverage regarding the condition of cultural heritage collections in Haiti?
- “Cultural Riches Turn to Rubble in Haiti Quake,” New York Times, 1/23/2010
- “A cultural agony in a nation where art is life,” Los Angeles Times, 1/24/2010