Our informal tracking of toolkit pages accessed most frequently over the past months shows that people are finding and (hopefully) using the resources that the toolkit is intended to provide.  We’re happy to report that the Sample Disaster Plans page is the most frequently-visited one, followed by Library Disaster Stories, About the NN/LM Plan, Toolkit Tutorials, and Service Continuity Training/10 Steps. 

In the interest of continuing to develop the depth and currency of the resources we provide, we’d like to ask that if any of our users have completed their own disaster plans and would like to share them with others, please send them to one of us (Susan at syowell@virginia.edu or Dan at danwilson@virginia.edu) and we will link them to the Sample Disaster Plans page. ( Before you send your plan, please remove anything confidential or sensitive in nature.)  Here at the UVa Health Sciences Library, we’ve just completed an update of our Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan, including some new information as well as some revised sections.  The plan has been linked in place of the former version on the Sample Disaster Plans page.

So let us know how you are faring in your emergency preparedness activities, send along any questions you have, and keep those hits coming!

In order to make the Toolkit more user friendly, we have renamed some of the pages.  The Plan is now About the NN/LM Plan, Getting Help is now Calling for Help, Pandemic Planning is now Pandemic Planning Resources, Promotional Materials is now Promotional Brochures, 10/Steps Service Continuity is now Service Continuity Training, Disaster Plans/Templates is now Sample Disaster Plans, and Tutorials is now Toolkit Tutorials.

Here at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, our pandemic planning group met earlier this week to assess the status of our preparedness for possible changes to staffing and operations in the event of the anticipated surge in H1N1 and seasonal influenza.  We are attaching the document that resulted from the discussion at the meeting, in case it will be helpful to others who may also be in the planning process.  To see the document, click on the “Pandemic Planning” tab above and find the link to “Pandemic plan CMHSL public” on that page.

We’ve added another resource to the Pandemic Planning page here on the Toolkit.  Check out the “Pandemic Planning Table“ (available in both Word and PDF on the Pandemic Planning Page) for a descriptive and sequential method for developing an effective service continuity plan in the event of a global pandemic, such as the one we are facing now from the Novel H1N1 virus.  The procedures shown in the table depict a schedule for pandemic preparedness.  The table is loosely based on one from the World Health Organization (WHO), but the description of the levels has been adapted to suit this particular pandemic.  While the WHO model is based on a virus that originates in animals (e.g. avian influenza), our model begins with a human-to-human novel virus.  The procedures detailed in the Table we’ve created should be easily adaptable to just about any type of library.  We welcome your comments and suggestions–what do you think?

The Toolkit has a new page to assist libraries taking part in pandemic planning.  The page (click here to view) contains links to the CDC’s H1N1 site (including a link to follow the CDC Twitter content), as well as to several Word documents that contain information about pandemic planning, some service continuity issues that libraries may need to address, and a sample table-top exercise that can be used to assist in pandemic planning.

The focus of some of the content of the page is on academic health sciences libraries, but the content can be adapted to suit the needs of other types of libraries or institutions.  We will continue to develop the page, adding relevant content as it emerges.

Dan has recorded an updated version of the tutorial which provides a tour and overview of the many elements and resources that make up the Toolkit.  The tutorial is just over six minutes in length.  Take a look!

Dan Wilson, Coordinator of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan, has created a new disaster plan template, which is now available here on the Toolkit on the “Disaster Plan Templates” page (see tab in the menu bar above).  The form is a hybrid of the PReP form created by the Council of State Archivists, and the “Template for the 10-Step Approach to Service Continuity,” which is one of tools created as part of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan. 

The new template is available in Word format, entitled ”University of Virginina HSL PReP for Service Continuity.”  The new template doesn’t replace any of the already-existing ones, rather it adds another option to the menu of choices available.  While visiting the Disaster Plan Templates page, check out the new introduction to the page to view a rationale for having a disaster plan.

Recently, Dan put out a query to the Disaster Information Outreach Listserv (see link in the right menu bar under “Core Resources”), asking subscribers to consider what print books they would want to keep available for use after a disaster which affects internet accessibility, and to send him their lists.  After compiling responses, he came up with the “one-shelf disaster library” pictured below.  (Click the image to see the larger version and to see the titles.)  Obtaining this informal consensus and identifying these core texts is a great first step toward helping health sciences libraries determine which materials they may want to keep in print, since so many are becoming “virtual only.”

Many thanks to the participants who responded, and to NLM’s Disaster Information Management Research Center for providing the forum for gathering this important information.  If anyone did not yet respond to the original question and would like to contribute, feel free to send email to me or to Dan (see the “Who we are” tab above for email addresses).  Preparedness is an ongoing and iterative process!       

Click here to see a great page from NOAA about tornadoes, especially the global map showing where most tornadoes occur.  The page contains a wealth of other information–see the charts on times of day and night that tornadoes have been reported, the explanation of “Tornado Alley” and “Dixie Alley,” and other helpful info for risk assessment activities. 

Also check out a new link in the “Risk Assessment Info and Maps” section of the right side menu here on the Toolkit called “Weather Disasters,” for a newly added map indicating weather-related damage to states in the contiguous 48.

There are three new brochures available for use in promoting the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan.  There is one that presents an overview of the plan, one that features the Toolkit, and one about the “10-Step Approach to Service Continuity Planning” class.  Check out the new page, “Promotional Materials” here on the Toolkit (see above) for the PDFs of the brochures, and contact your NN/LM office for more information or to arrange a class.