The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 46, October 30, 2005, Article 2

POST-WILMA BIBLIOPHILE STORM REPORTS

Fred Lake of Lake Books in St. Petersburg, FL writes: "Wilma
missed us, but the tropical force winds knocked out our power.
We were out of power for about eleven hours, but the generator
did the trick. I am using an Internet-based telephone service and
am especially in need of the computer when I have just finished
a sale."

Dave Lange of NGC writes: "The office was closed on Monday,
due to high winds that lingered even after Wilma passed. The office
is in Sarasota, FL, and I live in Bradenton, which is just north
across the county line. No damage was suffered at home nor at
the office, and all books came through it dry.

Since nearly my entire numismatic library is here at the office,
where I actually use it, I spent Friday afternoon doing something
I really should have done as soon as we moved to Florida. As it
became clear that the storm was indeed headed our way, I began
compiling a list of all my books, monographs, etc. for the purpose
of insurance and replacement, if needed. I was able to get through
only three shelves worth before quitting time, and I left the office
worried whether I could complete the list from memory, should
the contents be blown away.

At home I had to take precautions with respect to my non-numismatic
library. I've made no attempt to compile of list of these books, but
I did take a series of photographs for each bookcase. These, along
with photos of furniture, clothing and other household items of insurable
value, were burned to a CD that I was determined to take with us,
should we be forced to leave. I wasn't concerned about flooding, but
rather water and wind damage, should the roof and/or windows be
lost. Our first Florida house proved to be in a flood zone, something
we didn't think about when selecting it. We moved this past spring,
and one of the priorities in finding a new house was to be away from
rivers and high enough to be outside the flood plain. I also had my
precious collection of coin boards and albums to think about. This
has a dedicated room of its own, shut off from sunlight, but still with
a window that could be blown out in a storm. In last year's hurricanes
I had to relocate all items from the lower shelves to tabletops, due
to the danger of flooding. This time I simply taped up the windows
and moved as much as I could to the far side of the room. This
would have achieved nothing in the event of the roof being
compromised, but at least the window was not such a concern.

Two lessons were learned from this episode: First, every bibliophile
(or working numismatist, as in my case) should have an up-to-date
list of their libraries; second, there are a lot of publications that can
be forgotten amid the more often used titles. Not surprisingly, as
I came across some of the more obscure items I found myself
distracted in browsing through them instead of sticking to the task
at hand. Clearly, I will have to complete the list when there is no
hurricane pending."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum