Electronic Highways

Twenty Years Later: A Look Back at Love Canal

Love Canal wasn't the first or the worst toxic waste site in U.S. history, but it managed to attract worldwide attention by the time health officials ordered the evacuation on Aug. 2, 1978, of the nearby neighborhood's residents. What's happened since then is the subject of an exhibit currently on display in the UB Science and Engineering Library (SEL), with a particular focus on the role information has played in the unfolding-and continuing-saga.

An accompanying SEL Web site, "Love Canal @ 20" http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/exhibits/lovecanal.html, provides maps, transcripts, press releases and articles from online journals to add a unique historical perspective. There's also a bibliography of related materials available at SEL and an extensive list of Internet links, including the University Archives Web site about its "Love Canal Collection" http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/lovecanal/. That collection contains the records of the Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier, which is being selectively digitized. Testimony of Lois Gibbs taken on March 21, 1979, is one of the documents currently available online.

Another forum for exploring the impact of the incident is an upcoming conference entitled "The 20th Anniversary of Love Canal: Lessons Learned," to be held at UB Oct. 8-9. Co-sponsored by the UB Environment and Society Institute, the UB Law School, and the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal, the event has a Web site with additional information at http://www.buffalo.edu/glp/news/agenda.html. To register, contact Errol Meidinger via email (eemeid@acsu.buffalo.edu) or phone 645-2159.

For assistance in connecting to the World Wide Web, contact the CIT Help Desk at 645-3542.

-Nancy Schiller and Will Hepfer, University Libraries