In the 20 months since Hurricane Katrina, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has contributed $2.2 million in grants to Gulf Coast states. IMLS also extended deadlines for all grant recipients in the declared disaster areas and allowed them to change the scope of their grant activities to meet the unexpected needs caused by the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Among projects receiving IMLS funding:

• The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans will launch the New Orleans Center for Art and Technology (NOCAT) to train underemployed adults in skills that will help them contribute to the economic redevelopment of the city. NOCAT will also provide high school students with arts training that will motivate them to finish school and go to college. The Contemporary Arts Center will also welcome displaced arts organizations and serve on advisory boards that formulate policies on the future of the arts and culture in New Orleans.
• Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans will conduct an environmental survey of the main house and adjacent buildings. The basements of these structures were flooded with fifteen feet of water following Hurricane Katrina. The flood damaged the systems that monitor and control the environmental conditions in most of Longue Vue’s significant rooms and collections areas. The survey will include development of strategies for improving interior environmental conditions and staff training.
• In spite of the forced evacuation of the Louisiana State Museum Foundation’s Education Center (EdLab) from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, EdLab will use IMLS funding to enhance educational services statewide. EdLab will produce a blueprint for exhibits and collections that preserve the culture and history of Louisiana and create a cadre of trained K-12 museum educators.
• New Orleans Museum of Art’s primary storage facility was contaminated by ground water following Hurricane Katrina, exposing it to excessive humidity and mold. The museum will conduct a detailed condition survey of the 30,000 objects that were housed in the facility and relocate them in an improved environment within the museum.
• In Biloxi, Mississippi, Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Soldiers Museum on the grounds was completely destroyed. Beauvoir will use the grant to retain conservators already salvaging and identifying artifacts. And, as part of their rebuilding effort, Beauvoir will develop schematics for a new museum and library.
• At the Gifford Arboretum at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, 40 percent of the arboretum’s specimens were destroyed. The arboretum was awarded two IMLS grants to conduct a detailed condition survey and to redesign and reestablish beds, walkways, and exhibits. The arboretum will also conduct training to improve hurricane preparedness and response.
• The Louisiana State University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Baton Rouge will use its grant to gather first-hand accounts from librarians who have faced disasters such as the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. The knowledge gained from these interviews will be used to create guidance and training materials for disaster planning and for delivery of information services during times of crisis.
• The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts, is developing a model for statewide disaster planning and disseminating it to all state libraries and archives. The project will provide a blueprint for preparing for area-wide disasters and building alliances with federal, state, and local emergency management agencies. Partnering with NEDCC are the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Massachusetts State Archives, Heritage Preservation, the SoutheastLibrary Network (SOLINET), and the Society of American Archivists.
• NEDCC, in partnership with Amigos Library Services, OCLC (the Online Computer Library Center), SOLINET (the Southesastern Library Network), the University of Washington, and the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, received another grant to develop a model for providing training on preservation management, creating an education tool that can be used by state libraries to channel training to libraries in remote locations.

IMLS is joining with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund in funding major grants to support the re-establishment of lost public library services and rebuilding of public libraries along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Mississippi. The grants will help libraries establish up to 22 temporary facilities in Mississippi and Louisiana so community members can access books and computer and Internet services, provide support for the planning of destroyed or damaged libraries, and will eventually pay for new computers in rebuilt public libraries.