We now have a virtual 10-Step program!  The program, under 16 minutes, is broken down into an introduction and 10 individual steps, so it can be worked on as time permits.  In between some of the steps are assignments that, when completed, will greatly improve the readiness capabilities of your library.  Please feel free to offer your comments or suggestions.

Click on this URL and then look below the photographs: http://nnlm.gov/ep/10-stepsservice-continuity/.

For a taste of the program, here is the Introduction:

Thanks to FEMA for the heads-up about this conference, being held tomorrow, June 15–check out the conference site here:  http://www.meta-leadershipsummit.org/.   Here’s the description from FEMA’s news update: 

Empowering Business, Government and Nonprofit Leaders to Act Together in Times of Crisis
Leadership during large-scale disasters like terrorist attacks, natural disasters and pandemic flu is the focus of the Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness on June 15, where more than 200 leaders will gather to better prepare and respond to public health and safety emergencies.  Offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation, the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative – Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness fosters greater cross-sector collaboration among business, government and nonprofit leaders during emergencies.  The Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit is the 36^th and final in the series of highly-evaluated Summits that have been held to engage leaders across the country. More than 4,700 leaders have attended a Summit to date, and over 2,500 have joined the Meta-Leadership Online Community. Visit the online community to watch a sampling of video soundbites from Summit participants in their own words: Tampa Bay; Nebraska; San Diego County; Greater Los Angeles and Greater Houston.

The Hardin Library at the University of Iowa is closed for the summer due to renovation work. While their building is closed, their services are being offered at other locations. Click on the URL below to view their strategy. This type of planning translates well to other types of major service disruptions, such as a flooding or a tornado. Have you thought about a relocation plan for your library?

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/summer2011.html

Siobhan Champ-Blackwell of NN/LM’s MidContinental Region office, of which Missouri is a part, posts this to the Disaster Outreach listserv:

“The medical library at St John’s hospital is not functioning at this time. The Medical Library at St. John’s Health System in Springfield, MO has stepped up and is working to assist anyone in the area with information needs. They are both part of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, so there is a partnership structure in place for that kind of program.”

Thank you, Siobhan.

A quick review of the “NEPR Times” Twitter feed (see left side bar, “Library Closings & Related Tweets”), provides an interesting study of the kinds of events that can cause library closings.  Over the past ten days (January 18-January 27), here’s the distribution:

• Inclement weather (8)
• Flooding (5)
• Air quality
• Staff illness
• Network upgrade
• Power outage
• Threat (bomb?)
• Interior flood from a burst overhead pipe

(more…)

The severe winter storm that affected (and still affecting) the Midwest, South, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, gave libraries in these regions a great opportunity to activate their service continuity plans. If you don’t have a plan, this is a good time to prepare for the next major service disruption. (Resources to help you can be found on our Writing Your Disaster Plan page.) If you did have a plan, how did it go? Would you change anything? If so, this is a good time to make those changes.

Here is a NOAA satellite view of the winter storm. Note the similarities of a hurricane. (Click on image to enlarge.)

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) recommends that all libraries create a response plan based on the Pocket Response Plan (PReP) that was developed by the Council of State Archivists (CoSA). This is a one-page plan that can be kept in a purse, a wallet, or a mobile device, so no matter where you are you will be able to manage a response and keep your core services available to your patrons. The template below was designed for health sciences libraries, but it can be adapted to any type of library. Questions? Please contact us (http://nnlm.gov/ep/who-we-are/).

Service Continuity PReP: http://nnlm.gov/webreports/ep/uploads/2008/02/SCPrep0310Public.doc

Good Example of a Inclement Weather Services Web Page: http://www.library.uams.edu/inclement-weather.aspx