We\u27re a Library, It\u27s What We Do

From December 2017 through January 2018 the greater Santa Barbara community was impacted by the dual disasters of the Thomas Fire and the Montecito debris flows. Through these months, and the following year, the Santa Barbara Public Library (SBPL) engaged in a variety of disaster response activities to support the community, from participating as Information Officers in the Joint Information Center and handing out N95 masks to providing additional storytimes and recovery writing workshops. While SBPL was expertly positioned to be involved in information provision and community gatherings, this was not always the view of other coordinating organizations. Part of the response and recovery process for SBPL was thus to secure our reputation and position among other official response organizations