Yesterday’s conference, What About the Library? The Value of Libraries Before and After a Major Disaster, was a big success. Speakers included Rebecca Hamilton, State Librarian, State Library of Louisiana, Kevin Pannell, Emergency Planner for the Virginia Department of Health, and Anna McCray, Deputy Coordinator of Emergency Management for Henrico County. Also included was a table-top exercise facilitated by Dan Wilson.

The conference took place at the Twin Hickory Branch of the Henrico County Public Library. Dan used a quote from a U.S. Forestry Service pamphlet about the hickory tree and used it as an analogy for what we are determined to build across Virginia: “the combination of strength, toughness, hardness, and stiffness found in hickory wood is not found and any other commercial wood.” Christened The Hickory Movement, participants at the conference are encouraged to promote the value of libraries and librarians in emergency preparedness and response activities across Virginia.

The conference was sponsored by the Library of Virginia and funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Human Services, with the University of Maryland Baltimore.

Rebecca Hamilton

Kevin Pannell

Anna McRay

Dan Wilson and Speakers

Felicia Yeh, NN/LM SE/A State Coordinator from South Carolina, reports that their Community Disaster Response: the Role of Public Libraries conference was a great success. The conference was held on Tuesday, April 27th, and involved over 70 participants. Guest speakers included Joe Ryan, Project Manager, Hurricane/Disaster Preparedness and Response by Utilizing Florida Public Libraries Project, Rebecca Hamilton, State Librarian, State Library of Louisiana, Dwight McInvaill, Director, Georgetown County Library, and Sam Hodge, Emergency Manager, Georgetown County Emergency Management. Funding for the conference was provided by NN/LM SE/A and was sponsored by several agencies, including South Carolina Emergency Management Division, South Carolina State Library, University of South Carolina, and Richland County Public Library. Felicia stresses that the success of the conference was due to great team responsible for the program and local arrangements. Ruth Riley, Director of Library Services, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, was also instrumental in the program. She will be presenting a poster about the conference at MLA in Washington, DC. Great work, South Carolina!

From Rita Smith, Outreach & Education Coordinator, Mercer University Medical Library:

On April 15th, a full day of emergency preparedness planning was offered to 30 members of GaIN, the Georgia Interactive Network for Medical Information. GaIN is centered at the Mercer University Medical Library in Macon, Georgia, with members representing a variety of healthcare and educational institutions across Georgia, including many small rural hospitals. Carolyn Klatt, the Georgia state coordinator for NN/LM emergency preparedness, led an excellent session on the “10-Step Approach to Emergency Preparedness Planning,” which was followed by an interactive planning scenario and discussion of “buddy” agreements using the Memorandum of Understanding and Mutual Aid Agreements available at the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit website. Participants also received samples of the Pocket Response Plans (PReP) developed by the Council of State Archivists, along with waterproof envelopes in which to store their own plans.

Thanks to an award from the NN/LM Southeastern/Atlantic (SE/A) Region, two state coordinators for North Carolina, Melanie Norton and Susan Hardee, organized an emergency preparedness program entitled, “It’s the Big One, Elizabeth!”  Helping NC Hospitals Plan for Information Access Following a Disaster. The event was held at two sites (Raleigh and Charlotte) over a two-day period, and featured Dan Wilson teaching “A 10-Step Approach to Service Continuity Planning” and Dr. Barbara Bisset, Executive Director of the Emergency Services Institute WakeMed Health System.  Following lunch, participants worked on developing a state-wide mutual aid agreement.

Dan Wilson’s Slides

Mary Congleton, the AHEC Librarian at the University of Kentucky Medical Library, taught the “10-Step Approach to Service Continuity Planning” at the recent meeting of the Kentucky Medical Library Association.  She reports that the class was very well-received, and that the participants left with some ideas and tools for helping their libraries become better prepared for emergencies.  (Participants also received MLA CE credit for completing the class.)  Mary is the State Coordinator for Emergency Preparedness for Kentucky in the Greater Midwest Region of NN/LM.  She has been asked to present the class again at the University, helping to spread the word about the importance of looking at risk, developing procedures, and making plans for continuing service to patrons in an emergency.  Great work, Mary!

Last week, the South Central Chapter (SCC) of the Medical Library Association held its annual meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Dan Wilson and Stacey Arneson were the guest speakers at the final general session.  Dan reported on progress made at different regions of NN/LM and Stacey presented on new developments at the Disaster Information Management Resource Center (DIMRC).

At last week’s annual meeting of the Midcontinental Chapter/Medical Libraries Association in Breckenridge, Colorado, Dan Wilson and the staff of the MCR/NNLM presented a workshop on the 10 steps to service continuity.  Dan introduced the concept of service continuity and risk assessment and then each MCR liaison presented a step to the group by going around the room to different tables where participants were seated.  (See photos in Picture Gallery.)  Feedback about the presentation model was very positive.