Our luncheon speaker at MLC’s Preservation Conference on June 5 will be Nancy Kraft of the University of Iowa.  Nancy’s talk, “Disaster Response and Recovery: A Tale of Two Rivers,” will be the closing presentation at our two-day conference.

The Cedar River runs through Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In early June 2008, the river came up fast and ugly, going way beyond the 500 year flood plain, more than 12 feet over the projected flood level, exceeding all past records. On the plus side, the water receded rapidly allowing disaster response efforts to begin within a few days after the event. The Iowa River runs through The University of Iowa. The Iowa River rose slowly, allowing staff time to prepare. It, too, exceeded all previous records but did not get as high as projected. The Iowa River went down slowly. Nancy E Kraft, Preservation Librarian, from the University of Iowa Libraries will discuss how staff coped with the flooding to salvage library and museum resources.

For more information on the Preservation Conference and to register online, go to MLC’s Workshop Registration page: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/viewcourse.html?id=197