Charles R. McClure, director of the Information Use Management & Policy Institute (Information Institute) and Francis Eppes Professor at the Florida State University College of Communication & Information, School of Library & Information Studies has been named an expert on hurricane preparedness, response, and recovery for the third consecutive year. The announcement was made by Florida State University as an effort to formally identify leading national experts in the study of hurricanes and their impact on people and property.

This announcement comes in response to work Dr. McClure and the Information Institute completed on a project supported by a $311,440 grant awarded by the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center at Florida State University’s College of Business from 2008-2010.  The project, entitled Hurricane Preparedness and Response for Florida Public Libraries, assisted public libraries and local communities in planning for and responding to hurricanes, and revealed the critical support roles of libraries during disaster response and recovery.  As of January 2011, FEMA now recognizes public libraries as an “essential service.”

This announcement was made on May 19: Hurricane Experts at Florida State University. For further information on this project, please contact Charles R. McClure cmclure@lis.fsu.edu at the Information Institute, or visit hurricanes.ii.fsu.edu.