Duke University: “Foreign Exchange: Program Strengthens Ties Between Duke and Chilean Libraries”

From Duke University Libraries Magazine:

It has been two years since a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake devastated central Chile. According to official sources, it was the sixth largest quake ever recorded. Over 500 people lost their lives, and nearly one in ten Chileans lost their homes.

Map showing the epicenter of the 2010 Chile earthquake, near Concepcion.

The financial aftershocks were also severe. The United Nations estimates that the earthquake cost Chile’s economy between $15 and $30 billion.
Among the many people and institutions affected, the earthquake had serious repercussions for Chilean universities and their libraries in the area near the epicenter, Concepción. Severely damaged library buildings had to be closed, books were moved to storage, and library services were suspended.
In June 2010, a hundred days after the disaster, a delegation co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the American Council on Education toured the affected universities. One of the members of that delegation was Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke.

Read the Complete Article

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries