Session 79: Libraries in Disaster: Boiling in Arizona, Drowning in Vermont
Channel: Libraries In Response
Date: 2023-09-29

Extreme weather hits everywhere in different ways more often and harder than ever. How are libraries responding in these crises? Can they help their communities respond if they themselves are under siege?

We hear two very different stories from opposite ends of the US where the weather is different but the need for crisis response is in common.
 
Extreme heat is defined as a period of at least 2-3 days of high heat with temperatures above 90 degrees. Phoenix suffered a full month where each day the temperature surpassed 110 degrees F! (Over 43 degrees C!) The entire state was a virtual furnace where heat exhaustion and heat stroke become a common threat. Hear how libraries across the state responded and what they learned.

While Arizona was extremely hot and very dry in July, towns in  Vermont towns received triple or quadruple normal rainfall for the same month causing wide sprewad flooding. Vermont was supposed to be a place relatively safe from extreme weather events, a better place to ride out climate change. Yet the warming atmosphere can hold much more moisture now where Vermont experienced two massive 100 year rain events barely 10 years apart. Libraries reported huge use of public internet, WiFi and phones. Some extended hours and made space available as a “community center.” 

Join in to hear Dan and Mala share their stories of how their libraries responded to these extreme events.

Speakers:
Dan Groberg, Executive Director, Kellogg-Hubbard Library
Malavika Muralidharan, e-Rate Administrator, Public Libraries, Arizona State Library