On Tuesday, July 15, Dan Wilson presented an overview of service continuity planning to over 70 members of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The presentation was hosted by the Middle Atlantic Regional Office of NN/LM and was delivered via Adobe Connect. Topics included are risk assessment, determining core services and resources, strategies for maintaining services from a remote site, and protection of unique resources.

Click here to view the slides from Dan’s presentation.

The NN/LM SE/A RML staff, representatives from the University of Maryland HSHSL, Angela Ruffin (Director, NN/LM National Network Office) and Barbara Nicholson (Technology Librarian, NN/LM National Network Office) met at the University of Maryland HSHSL on Friday, March 14, 2008 to hear about and to discuss the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan. The day’s agenda included:

• PowerPoint presentation by Dan, showing images of disasters in the SE/A region, identifying risks to the region, and introducing the NN/LM preparedness plan
• discussion of regional issues to be addressed as part of the plan roll-out: use of the online toolkit, opportunities within the region for training (SOLINET), options for DOCLINE use
• identification of other risks inherent to the SE/A region besides hurricanes and severe weather: proximity to nuclear power plants, military installations, Washington, DC, terrorist acts and bioterrorism
• service continuity training: identified roles of RML staff in the planning process for the region, discussed coordination based on the eight steps recommended in the guide available from the toolkit
• table-top exercise in the afternoon using a given scenario and coordinating the appropriate response among staff present at the meeting and member librarians via conference telephone
• discussion of preparedness, response and training goals for the region

The RML staff made plans to add depth to their coverage for some functions, such as changing DOCLINE status for member libraries in an emergency. They plan to introduce the plan and encourage the development of partnerships within the regional hospital library consortia at their meetings. Details of the meeting content will be available in the final report to the National Network Office of the NN/LM.

Click here to access my PowerPoint presentations for the following meetings:

Tennessee Health Science Library Association Meeting (THeSLA), Nashville, September 2007 Middle Atlantic Region of the NN/LM RAC Meeting, New York, February 2008 Southeastern Atlantic Region of the NN/LM Office Training, Baltimore, March 2008 Pacific Northwest Region of the NN/LM Office Staff Training, Seattle, March 2008.

There is now a link to the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit from the home page of the Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC). (Click on Libraries and Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery.) DIMRC is a component of the National Library of Medicine and provides “disaster health information resources and informatics research that will [directly benefit] public health officials, healthcare providers, special populations, and the public.”

SOLINET is offering a new online class called Security Alert! How to Protect People, Property and Collections. The emphasis of the class is on the basics of securing collections and safeguarding people. Click here for further information.

Deborah Halsted and Julie Page have been putting together a new CE course on disaster preparedness. They will be teaching the class on October 20th at the South Central Chapter of the MLA annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here’s a description of the class:

Before Disaster Strikes: Essential Steps in Disaster Preparedness

When the pipe breaks, the fire starts, or the hurricane hits, what will you do? The effectiveness of your response and the success you have in restoring services and collections will be the result of how well you have prepared. Learn what you should do and who should be involved before faced with a disaster, in order to protect people, prevent damage, and provide the best possible outcome.

The course will cover the following:

• Key steps in disaster preparedness
• Building collaborative relationships
• Components of a disaster plan
• Preparation of a Pocket Response Plan
• Group exercise in response to a scenario
• “Exercising” your plans; staff training and drills

Here’s an interesting clip of someone using Second Life as a tool for emergency preparedness training. Note the representation of the library at the 12 minute mark of the video.

The Getty Conservation Institute wrote a workbook called “Building an Emergency Plan:  A Guide for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions,” in 1999.  The publication is now out of print, but a free PDF version is available from their website.  It is very well organized and thoughtfully written.  Check out page 2 of the Introduction for an impressive table of disasters that have occurred to cultural institutions around the world in the past 20 years. 

Click here for a link to the RAND Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise Template. It is customizable, so you can use it to see what a possible pandemic situation would like like for your area.

If you are looking for a detailed guide on how to perform drills, check out the TEPP program from the Department of Energy Office of Transportation and Emergency Management.

And while we are on the subject of drills, here is an article from the Harvard Gazette about a tabletop drill performed by their emergency management team back in 2002.