The Escuela de Artes y Diseño de Puerto Rico (EAPD)

The Escuela de Artes y Diseño de Puerto Rico (EAPD), a specialized public institution of higher education, was founded in 1966. Initially, the EAPD fulfilled the needs of emerging artists from a studio workshop established by the Institute of Puerto Rico Culture (ICPR). In 1971, the EAPD grew into an independent program granting bachelor degrees in three disciplines: Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking. Under Public Law 54 of August 22, 1990, the EAPD evolved into a semi –autonomous four-year institution of higher education, and expanded towards the art education and design areas. In December 2015, by Law 225, The EAPD became a public corporation ending its affiliation to ICPR, and adding the concept “Design” to its name, among other changes. The institution is the only one in Puerto Rico offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts with majors in Art Education, Digital Art and Design, Fashion Design Industrial Design, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture. The campus is located in the Spanish colonial city of Old San Juan and the academic programs are housed in the former “El Manicomio Insular” and the “Antiguo Hospital de la Concepción El Grande” buildings. The historic concept complements the vibrant cultural and artistic activities that takes place at EAPD, and surrounding museums, alternative spaces and galleries.

Prior Maria, the campus had 518 students enrolled. Since the second semester 2018, we have 398 students. The campus is open since October 23/ 2017 and the damages in the infrastructure and equipment related to the hurricane are estimated at 2 million dollars.

Francisco Oller Library

Since 2003 the Francisco Oller Library is located on the third floor of the remodeled historical building Hospital de la Concepción El Grande, an architectural jewel from the XVIII century, in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The staff is headed by a director, who is responsible for supervising, planning and directing operations and information services. The remaining staff is made up by one librarian (Milagros Pizarro) , and two library assistants (Rubén Cosme and Yomarilly Meléndez).

The Francisco Oller Library suffered damage to its infrastructure, had losses in the collection and was affected by the proliferation of mold due to the lack of electricity and air conditioning; circumstances directly linked to the passage of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. For this reason, the schedules of services, our plan of activities, the acquisition and cataloging of resources, the inclusion of equipment and technological assistance programs, the annual inventory, the treatment of annual preservation of collections, the Internet service and photocopying, as well as loan services from September 2017 to March 2018. Prior to Irma and Maria, the library had approximately 34,800 volumes and 26,500 titles. But we have over 800 catalogs damaged and 234 volumes affected or damaged by hurricane María (155 books were totally damaged and 79 books were partially damaged).

 As an alternate plan, our work team offered limited services in a designated area outside the library for the purpose of protecting the health of employees and users. During this period, reference services were offered, as well as loan services for those resources that were circulating outside the library before the arrival of the two hurricanes and photocopying service since December 2017. However, the library has been recovering after the institution was energized in December 2017, the internet service was re-established in January 2018 and a new air conditioning system was installed in February 2018. Finally, our library managed to reestablish all its basic services in its customary schedule in March 5, 2018.

It is really difficult to say when the library would return to normal since the EAPD does not have the economic resources that are required to deal with the expenses related to the hurricane Maria. In fact, before the hurricane the library did not have enough budget to cover the annual expenses. Our biggest challenge right now is to be able to offer all the resources for our users and to be able to fix the library's infrastructure to avoid future damages to our collections. In addition, the campus lost many students who decided to leave PR and those who stayed in our institution had to practically study without having the resources of the library. We have a big challenge: attract and impact again the users who stopped visiting us because the library was closed for such a long period. We are focusing in trying to finding a solutions to offer them all the resources and services, including stable internet and energy, since we are still facing those problems.

Community

The historic and tourist area of ​​Old San Juan is trying to recover with the reopening of different types of businesses, after the restoration of electricity service that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria and put in danger some 10,000 jobs. Many businesses had to close because they could not cover for so long time, gas or gas expenses for their electric generators.  In addition, the tourist center of Puerto Rico was greatly affected by the effects of María, when it knocked down dozens of poles located on the roofs of the historic buildings in the area.

The thing I love more about San Juan is the historic buildings and streets that are examples of the Spanish colonial period and culture. I was born in Spain, so working in a place that resembles so much my country is very important for me and close to my heart.  Visiting Old San Juan is just like experience how deep the Spanish history and culture influenced PR. San Juan is a very convenient location offering easy access to many activities around the island.  I love that in this city, I can always find new events, arts, crafts and live music at night on the streets. It has unique attractions, streets lead to restaurants, shops, castles, museums or historic buildings, just as our historical building Hospital de la Concepción where our library is located.  The Puerto Rican is characterized by being kind and optimistic, especially when we have experiences as traumatic as the one we went through with the hurricane. That’s why we were united and helped each other to clean streets or share our food and medicines. The damage caused by the hurricane has reminded us of the strength of our culture, our solidarity and the pride of being Puerto Ricans. Despite all the tragedy that occurred, Puerto Ricans want to move forward to demonstrate their spirit of perseverance. Even in the famous San Sebastian Festival, they celebrated and demonstrated to the tourists that PR has a beautiful town with a lot to offer. The mixture of cultures: Spanish, African and Taino, not only is part of the heritage of the Puerto Rican that have shaped the character of the inhabitants of the island.