Sunday, August 31, 2008

Gustav eve - August 31st - 9 pm

Recapping:
1) All Lafayette Public Library facilities are closed until further notice. All events scheduled for this week have been cancelled. All library services, including the online catalog and dial in renewal lines, have been shut down. All book returns have been locked. Please keep your materials until the Library facilities reopen.

2) All Library employees are on Civil Leave - currently effective Tuesday and Wednesday (with Monday being the Labor Day Holiday - we won't get into the irony of that right now). Pre-Gustav expectation is that all employees are expected to report for their scheduled shift on Thursday, September 4th. If that changes post-Gustav, we will get the word out as best we can. We will try to post or get word to the State Library to post on the http://prepare.lib.la.us/blog.

Ramona's retirement party won't be Wednesday as planned. We WILL reschedule - as we cannot let your 33 years and 10 months of service to our Library System pass without the appropriate farewell celebration.

3)All book due dates have been changed until September 7th. Please keep your library materials after the storm until the Libraries have reopened and don't worry about trying to renew. We will try to update this blog, notify the media, and change our answering machine messages once we are open (337-261-5785).

We have been advised that Lafayette Parish should expect heavy rains and winds during Gustav and that we should expect major power outages that could last for a week or more. None of our library facilities are on generator power, so it is unlikely we would reopen until power could be restored and any damages assessed. But, as it is with all Hurricanes, that could change.



Lafayette Consolidated Government



State's Get a Game Plan site


FOR EMERGENCIES, call 911 in all areas. FOR NON-EMERGENCY INFORMATION AND REFERRALS, CALL 211.

Local media:

www.katc.com (TV3 in Lafayette)
www.klfy.com (TV10 in Lafayette)
www.theadvertiser.com (newspaper)
www.2theadvocate.com (WBRZ and newspaper in Baton Rouge )
www.wafb.com (TV 9 in Baton Rouge)
www.kplctv.com (TV 7 in Lake Charles)
www.wwltv.com (TV 4 in New Orleans)
www.nola.com (Newspaper in New Orleans)

Many are offering streaming live newscasts and all will have remote broadcasting. Some are simulcasting on the radio.

- signing off (probably) until post-Gustav,

-Sona.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Notice to all Employees from C/P President Durel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 30, 2008

“Durel Statement to LCG Employees”



LAFAYETTE - Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel Statement to LCG Employees:

As a result of the threat caused by Hurricane Gustav and the voluntary evacuation order which I issued on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 2:00 p.m., non-essential employees of Lafayette Consolidated Government have been placed on civil leave for their work shift on Tuesday, September 2 and Wednesday, September 3, 2008. Monday, September 1, 2008 is a declared holiday for these employees and, for those not at work as a result of the storm, they will be on holiday leave for this day. All employees are expected to report to work at the beginning of their work shift on Thursday, September 4, 2008, unless further advised. LCG will provide updated information through the local news media.


LCG employees critical to the emergency response to Hurricane Gustav are not affected by this declaration and shall report for duty as required by their respective department.



L.J. “Joey” Durel, Jr.
City-Parish Presdent


Comment from Sona: If you are a supervisor or manager, please make sure your employees and co-workers get this word. If you have a 'responder' badge, you are considered essential to the recovery efforts of the Library System and will be expected to report as directed to assist in Library recovery as needed once the storm has passed. Please make sure you let me know in advance if you are planning to leave for the storm.

Update - closed on Sunday, Aug 31st

Due to the uncertainty with the path, intensity, and timeline, the Library System will be CLOSED on Sunday, August 31st.

This impacts both the Main Library and the Southside Branch. Both are normally open from 1 - 5 pm but will both be closed tomorrow (Sunday, August 31st.)

We plan on shutting down our webserver and Library catalog on Sunday afternoon. We apologize for this inconvenience, but it is a necessary precaution. We will restore normal library services as soon as it is possible to do so.


Book due dates will be changed on materials due during the closed time. Please keep your library materials until we reopen. We will be closing our outside book returns for the duration of the storm. Please do not leave materials you have to return or donate on the library premises at this time. They will not survive the anticipated rains and wind.


Public Access Computers will be unavailable after 3:00 today at all locations. Wifi will likely be unavailable as well.



If there is no update on this site after Gustav approaches Lafayette Parish, please check the State Library blog to see if Lafayette Public Library has an update listed.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Check the status

The State Library of Louisiana has established the Louisiana Library Status Blog:
http://prepare.lib.la.us/blog/

Library Administrators from around the state will post as they are able any news or updates concerning their library's open/closed status, before and after storm updates, needs for staff or materials, and also general information for staff. This is a public blog for anyone to see.

We will post on that site as appropriate, in addition to this site. There is always the chance that we cannot access the internet to post. In that event, we will try to reach colleagues at the State Library with our news and they will post.

If there is no update on this site if/after Gustav approaches Lafayette Parish, please check the State Library blog to see if Lafayette Public Library has an update listed.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Gustav update

We are closely monitoring TS / Hurricane Gustav. At this time, necessary preparations are being made to secure the facilities.

As of Thursday, August 28th at 3:30 PM, no library closings are planned, with the exception of Monday, September 1st - Labor Day. However, this could change.

Please monitor this page, as we will post any updates here for staff and public.