Geaux Library Project

I've volunteered to write.

Please pass on to anyone you know or any listserv you are on...

Dear Librarians, Information Professionals and other Friends,

The Geaux Library Project will attempt to meet the information needs at hurricane evacuee shelters around Louisiana and beyond. Using computers and networking equipment donated to the Red Cross and others by large commercial and local IT companies, we will be setting up small computer labs at Red Cross shelters and staffing them with librarians and other trained volunteers.

Our pilot locations in Louisiana will include the Gonzales, Baton Rouge, and Acadiana (Lafayette) areas. *We need your help!*

Specifically, we have openings for the following volunteer positions:

On-site positions

l Geaux Getters

o You will do an initial needs assessment on the shelter(s) in your area. You will be provided with a questionnaire to determine the information necessary for the project. This will require you to visit the shelter physically and in put your findings into a web-based form.

l Geaux Coordinators

o You will be responsible for determining and assigning the necessary amount of volunteers for shelter(s) that they oversee. Communications will take place over the phone, online, and possibly in person. Coordinators may need to periodically visit the shelter site to determine adequacy of resources. Coordinators can also double as Geaux Librarians.

l Geaux Librarians

o You will be asked to supervise a small network of computers and volunteers in a shelter. This may include: reference, referring in-depth questions to our searcher network, data entry, instruction on computer use to a population with very limited computer skills, coordinating computer usage times among patrons, opening and/or closing the computer area, basic technical support i.e. turning on computer and maintaining a printer and/or fax machine, other duties as they arise. Shifts are flexible.

l Geauxfers

o You will need to be available to do anything the Geaux Librarians or Geaux Coordinators need you to do.

l Geaux Techs

o Hardware and network techs will be needed to troubleshoot any issues that may come up at the various sites, and setup new shelter computers. Some of the work may be done remotely depending on the issue.

l Geaux Couriers

o You will drive equipment and supplies from a pickup point to the shelters.
This can be a one time job or you can volunteer to do it more often. We will specify the locations as they come up.

o *We have an immediate need for a Geaux Courier to bring equipment from Lafayette to Gonzales or Baton Rouge!***

Remote positions

l Geaux Speed Searcher

o You will be issued a login ID and password that will give you access to questions posted by onsite librarians. You may work on these answers and view other answers until a notice has been posted that no more are needed. This may be done anytime, anywhere, and our only request is, in accordance with the ALA Code of Ethics, to respect the confidentiality of these questions.

l Geaux Writer

o You will write content for the website as needed such as policies, volunteer position descriptions, link descriptions, etc.. Experience in writing clear, easy to read information in a must.

l Geaux Webmaster

o You will maintain the geauxlibrary.org website. You must have experience in using a variety of web programming languages and using database driven websites.

Everything is completely voluntary at this time, but the satisfaction you receive will be helping hurricane Katrina victims by doing what you know how to do better than anyone else!

For more information and further description of volunteer opportunities, please see our website at www.geauxlibrary.org. *Go there to fill out the volunteer signup form* to become part of this much needed project.

We are also accepting *Donations* through the website. Click on the For Donors section to see what items we need and how to donate.

We will be putting out instructions on how to start your own Geaux Library in your area soon, so keep watching the website for more information. The website is just now functional to get more volunteers and donations. We will add more information when we get some help.

*For our sanity, please do NOT reply to this e-mail! Use the website to communicate with us.***

**

Geaux Library Project (shelter) Organizers,

Becky Hebert and Addie Fletcher