Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0002-7532-4598

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

5-21-2026

Abstract

Background: Our library started discussing the creation of an archive of materials in late 2023. We decided on a multifaceted approach. We would conduct oral histories with individuals who were either employed or attending classes in the fall of 2005. We would attempt to discover photographs and videos, and search for documents from that time.

Additionally, we wanted to keep the traumatic nature of the event in mind as we created the archive. The first step was creating a mission statement and a collection policy that both reflected our goals for the collection but also reflected sensitivity to all those affected by the disaster.  

Description: We decided on a 3 part approach: discovering documents related to the disaster and our campuses; discovering and organizing photos and videos; and conducting original oral history interviews with people affiliated with our campus at that time. We also created bibliographies of materials owned or authored by LSU Health New Orleans faculty that are of Hurricane Katrina research interest.

The discovery of materials, both documents and media, was hastened by the retirement of a long-time employee and librarians who assisted with the cleaning up of her office. This office contained thousands of images on various hard drives related to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Organizing and identifying the photos, videos and documents proved challenging. Ethical considerations were paramount since images could include patients and children as well as traumatic scenes, and the sheer volume of images to assess could cause burnout for the team. Additionally, as we developed the questions for our oral history portion of the project, we kept this foremost in our plans.

With upcoming changes to accessibility laws, choosing appropriate software and formats for this was also a consideration and proved to be a challenge, especially when dealing with 20-year-old documents.

Conclusions: Our campus information technology department has been a great partner, both participating in oral histories and by helping us discover materials. A series of promotional events are planned with a formal launch event in the works. We anticipate that community interest in the archive will grow and provide us with opportunities to add more materials, either through discovery or donation, to the collection. The intent of the collection is to be a permanent record of the institution’s history. Statistics are gathered monthly to gauge interest. The catastrophic event had a lasting impact on the campus community, and our goal is for this archive to reflect both the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina as well as the resilience of LSU Health New Orleans.

Comments

Poster presentation at the Medical Library Association (MLA) Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, May 19-22, 2026

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