Book donations needed for April 11 sale to raise funds for New Orleans public library
Book sale to benefit New Orleans highlights
week of Katrina-related events
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.?As part of a continuing effort to ensure that the Gulf Coast remains in the college’s consciousness, a group of Middlebury College students is working with the college library to host a book sale Tuesday, April 11, through Sunday, April 16, to raise funds for the public library system in New Orleans.
“New Orleans is still recovering from last year’s hurricane and the New Orleans Public Library is working to rebuild its facilities and collections, but they don’t need books, they need money. So we’re raising money by selling books,” said Emily Peterson, a Middlebury College sophomore from Louisiana and one of the students organizing the effort.
The book sale fundraiser is part of a week of events that student organizers have titled “Hang on to the Gulf Coast … Before We Lose It Forever.” Also on the schedule:
Monday, April 10
2:30 p.m., McCardell Bicentennial Hall Room 220
The U.S. Feels the Heat at Home: Global Warming and Increasing Hurricane Intensity and Frequency
Warmer seas fuel hurricane intensity. Instead of seeing storms like Katrina once every 100 years, we may experience such storms every decade or once every other year. Physics professor Rich Wolfson will present MIT professor Kerry Emanuel’s recent scientific paper, which claims that there is no natural cycle in hurricane intensity. According to this assertion, the recent increases in hurricane intensity and/or frequency are essentially all anthropogenic, meaning caused by human actions. Also, Environmental Studies scholar in residence Bill McKibben will offer his impressions on our political and psychological fallout in dealing with a rapidly warming planet.
Tuesday, April 11
4:30 p.m. in Coltrane Lounge
Citizen Action Workshop: How to Get Your Representatives to Listen
Learn how to convey your opinions and convictions to the people who represent you in the government. Not only will you learn the most effective methods for influencing policymakers, but you will also have the opportunity to practice those techniques on the spot in the workshop.
6-7:30 p.m. in the College Dining Halls
Save Our Vanishing Wetlands: A Letter Writing Campaign
Louisiana is losing a football field of wetlands every 30 minutes-that’s equivalent to an area the size of Manhattan every year! Take a moment before or after dinner to write your senators a letter, urging them to provide federal funding for coastal restoration projects
9:30 p.m. in The Grille
Relief Worker Reunion Celebration
A chance to gather together with students and community members who have spent time volunteering in the Gulf Coast for hurricane relief work. Free pizza will be provided.
Wednesday, April 12
2:30 p.m. in McCardell Bicentennial Hall Room 220
Post-Tsunami: Grief, Triumph and Lessons for Hurricane Recovery
Patricia Sears spent this past fall working for Save the Children in Aceh Province in Indonesia. She documented the challenges and progress made in the aftermath of the tsunami. Sears will present her findings on the one-year recovery of the region and draw connections to the recovery of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
For the hurricane relief book sale, the local community is encouraged to bring donations to the college library, located on Storrs Avenue, from noon to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 10. Books may be dropped off at the loading dock entrance on Storrs Avenue as well during this time. The library cautions that only clean books in good condition are wanted for the sale.
The sale itself, which is open to the public, will take place in the atrium of the library starting at noon on Tuesday, April 11, and continuing through Sunday, April 16, during regular open hours: Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-1 a.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-1 a.m.
For more information, contact Library Information Services Preservation Manager Joseph Watson at jwatson@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5487.