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Rebuilding Chilean Libraries

Jakubs advises institutions recovering from earthquake

A Chilean resident holds his country's flag during the aftermath of the earthquake.

When Duke University Librarian Deborah Jakubs traveled to Chile last month to view damage to several university libraries in the aftermath of a Feb. 27 earthquake, she was equally struck by the magnitude of the damage and by the resilience of the people.

Amid collapsed stacks, strewn books and broken windows, she found an unwavering dedication among Chileans to rebuild.

Volunteers moved stacks and stacks of books to a local gymnasium to be organized and made accessible to students and faculty. But a high percentage of the books had to be moved to storage until the libraries are reconstructed.

Jakubs visited Chile as part of a U.S. Department of State-sponsored effort in support of Chile's efforts to rebuild the universities. Nine higher education delegates, representing a wide variety of expertise including libraries, nursing, computing and forestry, were nominated by the American Council on Education to travel to the country in the quake's aftermath.

The earthquake caused $100 million in damage to the country's 59 universities and several university libraries, disrupting campus life and student work.

The delegation met with officials from the four universities located near the epicenter of the quake: the Universidad de Concepción; the Universidad del Bío-Bío; the Universidad de Talca; and the Universidad Católica del Maule. They also visited the Ministry of Education and the U.S. Embassy.

In a report generated after the trip, delegates concluded that within 100 days of the disaster, the response had evolved past the immediate emergency and that Chile has "the capacity to become a leader in the region" and a "model for higher education disaster preparedness."

"Our focus was on how U.S. universities might assist in rebuilding," said Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and vice provost for library affairs at Duke.

Jakubs was a natural candidate for the delegation. She has a Ph.D. in Latin American history and leads Duke alumni trips to the region. She had planned to take a Duke group to Chile and Argentina in March, but the trip has been postponed until October because of the quake.

Jakubs says she observed the conditions of each of the four university libraries with an eye on what a working university library would need to continue serving students. One was unscathed but in the others roofs were missing and windows were nearly all broken.

Chilean library directors told Jakubs of their desire for earthquake-resistant shelving, access to electronic resources such as e-books and e-readers (e.g., Kindle), and information on the latest trends in library collection development, staffing and deployment of space.The Chilean library directors were also interested in new funding and partnership opportunities to procure library resources, and in implementing a staff exchange program.

"There are numerous opportunities for U.S. institutions to assist the Chilean universities in addressing the needs of their libraries," wrote Jakubs in a follow-up report. "I have been in very frequent contact with my Chilean colleagues to understand their specific needs for electronic resources and have engaged the Duke Libraries staff to contact major publishers to arrange at least short-term free access to the e-books and journals that are most needed.

"The Association of Research Libraries would like to work more closely with international institutions. Here is a perfect opportunity to mobilize our staff and resources for the good of our Chilean partners."

Among other specific recommendations for assistance:

  • Arrange for the Chilean library directors to visit a set of U.S. research libraries and library consortia, and to attend and present at conferences;
  • Arrange staff exchanges between libraries in the U.S. and in Chile;
  • Assist with negotiating publisher/vendor discounts for e-resources;
  • Investigate whether print book donations would be desirable (some of the libraries are without shelving);
  • Investigate the possibility of textbook rentals for Chilean students.

For Jakubs, such international engagement for Duke Libraries is a priority and supports the university goals of internationalization and knowledge in service to society. The Duke University Libraries have in years past hosted or participated in exchanges with librarians from Mali, Turkey, South Africa and Chile, and she expects to continue such involvement.

"Our lives are enriched and we learn a great deal from contact with colleagues from other countries," Jakubs said. "I am committed to assisting the affected libraries in Chile in any way possible, and I look forward to a continued relationship with them as they rebuild and recover from this disaster. Their resilience and positive outlook on the future, despite what they have been through, touched me deeply during my visit."