Here’s an update on the library at M.D. Anderson from Kathy Hoffman, library director:

News from M. D. Anderson Research Medical Library

Most of the Houston area continues to have no power. Reports indicate about 97% of the city is still without power. Fortunately, the Medical Center has power and didn’t lose it at any time during the storm. I am sending this from the library, as I don’t have power or internet access from home. I am onsite at the library doing recovery work.

Water Damage:

We sustained several serious leaks in the library from the storm.  We had leaks in all the usual places and some new ones.  The new ones included window sills all around the library, but the most serious were along the south side of the building.  Fortunately we had cleared the windows sills and desk areas near them in all of the offices in preparation for the storm so none of staff had damage to their papers or other materials on their desks.

We also had major water enter the library from the terrace near the information desk. There also appears that there may have been leaks from the ceiling above the Information Desk but I didn’t observe any damage to the desk or its contents. Facilities have been onsite to replace ceiling tiles and provide big fans to dry the area.

The most damaging leak occurred over a section of the bound journals stacks in a new area, near the Journal of Immunology.  Approximately 125 bound journals were affected.  In triaging the volumes, I decided not to salvage anything that is now available online.  The final number of volumes that will need to be withdrawn, and how many can be saved is yet to be determined.  I am using the conference room to stage the recovery work.

Return to Work Plan:

Sunday (today): M. D. Anderson remains closed.  Only authorized employees are allowed in. Transition from Ride Out Team to Recovery Teams is happening today.

Monday: M. D. Anderson will remain closed as the Recovery Team continue their work. Employees in Animal Care return to work on Monday. The Library remains closed.

Tuesday: M. D. Anderson will be open for patient care activities. Employees involved in patient care will return to work. The Library remains closed.

Wednesday: Anderson plans to return to normal operations and ALL employees are expected to return to work.  The Library will reopen on Wednesday and expects to be fully operational.

City Curfew:

The city has announced a curfew effective today, through Saturday, Sept. 20, from 9pm to 6am.  However, according to Houston Catastrophic Medical Operations Center, M. D. Anderson employees need only show their ID Badges if they are stopped on their way to work during the hours of the curfew. This will affect some of our staff who work the early and late shifts.

From the temporary home page of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library …

Due to Hurricane Ike, the HAM-TMC Library and the Offices of the NN/LM SCR will be closed until Thursday, September 18. We have made access to our electronic resources available on this site via a co-located server. This page will allow access to the library’s core resources only!. These resources include the library’s e-journals collection, the library’s database collection and the library’s catalog.

The Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library has redirected its web traffic to a specially designed disaster resources page.  The page allows access to only the library’s core electronic resources.

Click here for updates from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

KHOU TV from Houston is streaming live, continuous, coverage of Hurricane Ike.   The shots of flooding in Galveston are quite compelling and landfall isn’t expected until later tonight.

Click here to get the latest library status information from the NN/LM South Central Region’s blog, Blogadillo. We’re all hoping for best!

Source: noaa.gov

Heritage Emergency National Task Force, the folks who brought us the “Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel” and lots of other helpful advice and information, has a new page up on their site called Current Disaster Information , which gathers together many resources aimed specifically at dealing with damage from hurricanes and other powerful weather events and natural disasters.  The page also has a section where cultural institutions can submit damage reports and request assistance, along with the capability to view reports/requests already submitted.  Also, look for the free, downloadable “Guide to Navigating FEMA and SBA Disaster Aid for Cultural Institutions,” a little farther down the page.  This is a rich site, and deserves a close look at the many resources they have provided.  Thanks, Heritage Emergency TF!

I’ve just completed an update of our library’s Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan. (You can also find the plan, along with other sample plans, on the page above devoted to disaster plan templates and samples.) I think the organization is improved and more intuitive, there is clarification of the shelter-in-place procedures, and I added pictures, so that staff will readily recognize some of the places and features mentioned in the text. Some new sections: procedures for Active Shooter/Violent Incident, and a photo documentation of what our collection areas look like now, since we have just completed a major weeding/shifting project. I hope the new plan will be helpful, and please let me know if you have questions or comments about it.

Today we have added a new page to the Toolkit.  It is called “Forms” and you’ll see it in the top menu bar.  So far, the forms included are for reporting emergency incidents and for contributing to the “Library Disaster Stories” page.  As part of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response plan, the designated regional and/or state coordinators will provide follow-up to any incident within their regions by using the first form on the list, the Incident Reporting Form.  The second form contains questions designed to elicit narratives from network members of experiences during disasters that might help to contribute to our knowledge base of “lessons learned.”  Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to suggest changes to either form based on your experience.

Heidi Sandstrom, Associate Director of the Pacific Southwest Region, facilitated availability of our first sample disaster plan for a hospital library.  Please look on the “Disaster Plan Templates/Samples” page (see link in menu above) for the contribution from Joy Graham at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.  Thanks, Heidi and Joy!