Hurricane Katrina destroyed and damaged nearly 500,000 government publications at the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University in New Orleans. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the library established a recovery center to restore the university’s library collections. The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) helped coordinate with other libraries around the country to donate materials as part of this rebuilding effort. Last week, Public Printer Bob Tapella was given a tour of the recovery center, where nearly 100,000 restored documents are currently being processed.

“We appreciate the Public Printer’s interest in our recovery and rebuilding efforts of government documents,” said Eric Wedig, Chief Bibliographer for Social Sciences and Government Publications, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. “Without GPO’s digital collections, the library would not have been able to survive following the devastating damage we sustained from the hurricane. We appreciate GPO’s commitment and support in our rebuilding efforts.”

“I appreciate the staff at Howard-Tilton sharing with me the remarkable job they are doing in restoring the collections destroyed by Hurricane Katrina,” said Public Printer Bob Tapella. “GPO is committed to providing any assistance necessary to be sure the public has complete access to the documents of our democracy. Librarians are the unsung heroes in helping GPO carry out our mission of Keeping America Informed.”

Read the full GPO press release.

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