Yesterday, Dan and I presented a workshop on the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan, including an overview of the plan and training in the “10 Steps to Service Continuity” to the Tidewater Health Sciences Librarians (THSL).  The group that gathered at the Health Sciences Library at Riverside School of Health Careers in Newport News, VA, was very interactive, sharing difficulties experienced in the past and asking some great questions about how to be best prepared for possible future emergencies.  Since their area of the state is in the floodplain for storm surge and wind damage from hurricanes, as well being exposed to other risks, they have good reason to focus on service continuity to their patrons.  See a picture of the group in the Picture Gallery here on the Toolkit.

Last week was a busy one for Dan Wilson, Coordinator of NN/LM’s Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan.  At the Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC) of the Medical Library Association in Morgantown, WV (October 20-22), Dan spoke about the accomplishments and the continuing activities of the plan as part of the NLM/NNLM update to the meeting.  He highlighted the forming of the standing committee for Emergency Preparedness & Response for the Southeastern Atlantic Region of NN/LM, several of whom are MAC members.  He also presented the plan to the Hospital Librarians’ Symposium at the MAC meeting, noting that assisting hospital librarians to develop emergency preparedness plans is a focus of the national plan for this year. 

Dan participated, as an inivited speaker, in the first University of Virginia Emergency Preparedness Forum, held Thursday, October 23.  He addressed a group of UVA faculty and administrators, representing all departments of the university, showcasing the UVa Health Sciences Library’s efforts in emergency preparedness, but also highlighting his work with the NN/LM project nationwide.  We are pleased to be able to expand our interest in emergency preparedness to the larger university community here at UVa, and see it as a way to begin extending assistance outside health sciences librarianship.  Check out UVA’s new poster that gives an excellent quick view of what to do in an emergency:  Emergency Procedures

We visited Claire Hamasu at the University of Utah’s Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library in Salt Lake City on June 18 to meet with the MidContinental Region’s staff, both on site and via their web conferencing tool, Access Grid, to introduce the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response plan.  The morning session included Dan’s presentation followed by discussion of regional issues.  After a break for lunch, the group re-convened via Access Grid to conduct the table-top exercise, followed by more discussion and goal setting for the region.  Since the MCR staff is dispersed among the states in the region, they plan to use Moodle for further planning for training and promotion/marketing.  They see the plan as a way to create added value for hospital libraries in addition to providing a way to assist members in continuing essential services and recovering from disaster.

We visited the Pacific Southwest Region’s office at the UCLA Medical Center on June 20, meeting with Heidi Sandstrom, Judy Consales (Library Director), the PSR staff, and invited guests at the Louise Darling Biomedical Library.  All participants were available on site, and the meeting began with Dan’s presentation and some discussion of risks particular to the Pacific Southwest Region.  The Table-Top exercise was moved to the morning session to that the hospital librarian attending could play a role in the exercise.  Following a break for lunch at the library, the group discussed regional issues, including the collaborative environment among the resource and hospital libraries, activities of the three MLA chapters represented in the region, and ideas for promotion and marketing in the region.  They agreed that it would be helpful to locate a “point person” among their hospital librarians to be the standard-bearer for promoting NN/LM’s EP&R Plan, and plan to begin implementation almost immediately.

Both groups provided lively discussion and ideas for implementing the plan, and are well-positioned to get the word out to the network members in their regions about the services that are now in place for them in the event of emergency or disaster.

I am currently writing the reports for both meetings and will send them to Claire and to Heidi as soon as possible.  Many thanks to Claire, Heidi and all the other RML Associate Directors for their hospitality and for all the excellent planning and implementation of logistics, funding, etc. that made all of these meetings possible.  We enjoyed meeting all of the RML groups, and look forward to being able to continue to work with them as The Plan unfolds.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

We met with the South Central Region’s RML staff and state emergency preparedness coordinators on May 5 in Houston! My apologies to Michelle and her wonderful staff and the state representatives for the delay in reporting on the toolkit–it is purely a result of a lot of time away from the office as we visit other offices and attend meetings. We leave for the MCR and PSR regions next week, which will be the last ports of call for us. I’ll send the full report to Michelle as soon as possible; for now, here are highlights.

The SCR meeting was held at the Houston Academy of Medicine (HAM), beginning with introductions of RML staff and their state coordinators. All states in the SCR were represented: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Marty Thompson (University of Oklahoma) is the chair of the Emergency Preparedness working group for GMR.

Dan’s presentation focused on the risks that exist for SCR, who are, along with SE/A, the “unfortunate experts,” when it comes to having weathered disasters, particularly hurricanes and tornadoes. Houston Academy of Medicine (HAM) experienced its own disaster when the library was flooded during hurricane Allison in June, 2001, resulting in many “lessons learned,” and the writing and publication of the excellent book, Disaster Planning: a How-to-do-It Manual for Librarians, co-authored by HAM librarian, Deborah Halsted, as well as Richard Jasper and Felicia Little.

After reviewing the 4 scenarios on which the response plan is based, there was discussion about the region’s experience after Katrina, particularly, as well as other incidents. Ethel Madden, from Louisiana, told about the resources that were most needed in the emergency medical shelters after Katrina, which were all point-of-care for the first 48 to 72 hours. Michelle mentioned NLM’s progress with the Emergency Access Initiative, which is very positive and will be an excellent resource. Ethel noted that internet access was not available for weeks or months in some areas after Katrina. Marty recommended talking with CDC, particularly with regard to resources they have already developed for emergency response; i.e. a laptop loaded with resources for dealing with infectious diseases, etc. in disaster areas without internet access.

Discussion following the presentation addressed the roles of the RML staff who are assigned to the specific states and clarifying of how the communication can take place, as well as the use of MOUs within the region, and how the consortium of the resource libraries in SCR will incorporate the plan, hopefully putting this in place at a meeting this summer. SCR is fortunate in that its MLA chapter encompasses the same states as its NN/LM region, so they communicate and meet more frequently than in some other regions. AMIGOS provides information and training in their region, an excellent possibility for training opportunities for network members. Michelle noted that some public libraries in the region are better prepared for disasters than the academic libraries, and would be interested in pursuing relationships with them to promote a teamwork approach within the region.

The group discussed MOU development during lunch. Dan noted that while MOUs are not legally binding, they do provide information about informal partnerships, such as services covered and people who agree to help. The consensus was that in the SCR, MOUs will not be an essential part of the plan, because they already have strong partnerships among libraries and other network members, and have experience helping each other during disasters. Deborah added that many academic libraries went off-site after Katrina and were up and running with their online resources and services long before they were able to re-occupy their buildings.

The SCR RML and EP work group will promote the plan through its Fall 2008 meetings, and is formulating ideas for other ways to market it, especially the 1-800-DEV-ROKS (ROKS without a C!) number, to all network members.

The afternoon meeting began with a Table Top Exercise, featuring Rachel Gyore (University of Arkansas) calling as the librarian who experienced the disaster, and Michelle accepting the call for the RML. The group worked well together, with University of Oklahoma serving as the back-up library and providing laptops for temporary use at University of Arkansas while their equipment was being recovered or replaced.

In conclusion, the group talked about goals for year 3, which include: establishing a workflow for the RML office in response to a disaster, looking at the existing training options and exploring other possibilities for training, have some goals written into the network goals for the coming year, continue to explore ideas for marketing the plan, spread the word about the help that is available to members.

The meeting ended with a consensus that there are many possibilities for getting the word out about the plan, and the group will explore options. They will also re-visit some of the post-Katrina stories, and review progress made to this point. The SCR is already strongly networked among its members, very aware of the potential dangers that exist for the region, and strongly motivated to spread the word about emergency preparedness and response, so they will no doubt accomplish great things!

The NN/LM SE/A region’s Emergency Preparedness Committee met at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, FL, on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. (The committee was added as a standing committee by the SE/A RAC in January.) State representatives attended from Puerto Rico, Florida (3), Alabama , Mississippi, Tennessee (2), Virginia and Maryland. Janice Kelly and Beth Wescott represented NN/LM. Janice began the meeting by providing a short history of the development of the committee and also of the national NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan, noting that six of the members of the new standing committee were also present at the initial meeting as a task force in Ocean Springs, MS, in February of 2007.

Dan presented an overview of the progress of the national plan, featuring risks specific to the SE/A region (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, as well as oil refineries, nuclear power plants, and other human-caused risks). Dan summarized the goals for network members by highlighting four features: risk assessment, human safety, preservation of unique resources, service continuity. Following the presentation, each member reported on their role in emergency preparedness at their institutions, and on the status of emergency preparedness in their states.

The remainder of the morning meeting was a “walk through” of a table top exercise, in which Dan outlined the various roles played within the plan in response to a scenario occurring in a hospital library. There was discussion about the roles within the four scenarios for response as identified within the existing plan. The roles for the state coordinators were identified as: (1) promote the plan, especially 1-800-DEV-ROKS (ROKS without a C), (2) promote opportunities for training (SOLINET, etc.), (3) promote the toolkit, (4) provide follow-up and reporting during and after an incident.

Dan also showed slides that Cindy Olney had provided of the results of the baseline assessment questionnaire that had been sent out earlier in the spring. The results show that there is much room to assist members in emergency preparedness. During lunch, the group discussed regional issues such as MOU development, opportunities for training, and ideas for promoting the plan. The meeting concluded after lunch with a discussion of goals to be accomplished by May 2009.

I’m in the process now of creating a new wiki for SE/A’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, and will add the full report, the membership list, and more pictures this week. We enjoyed meeting with all the state representatives, both the familiar faces from last year and the new members, as well as working with Janice and Beth again. The Vinoy Renaissance Resort was beautiful and very accomodating, a wonderful place to begin work on emergency preparedness for our region.

Kathel Dunn, Associate Director of the MAR RML, hosted the Emergency Preparedness & Response training meeting at her offices on April 25 in New York City.  The day began with a meeting at NYU’s Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, where Kathel, Dan and Susan met with Colleen Cuddy, Deputy Director of the Library.  Colleen is active in NLM’s Disaster Information Management Resource Center’s information specialist initiative, and was able to share updates about progress at NYU relative to the project.  Karen Brewer, Library Director, was absent due to illness.

Following this meeting and a tour of the library, Kathel, Dan and Susan walked to the VA Hospital where Kathel’s offices are located (with a spectacular view of the East River and cityscape), met Kathel’s staff, and began the morning part of the training meeting for MAR.  Having weathered the terrorist attacks and continuing effects, the New York City area is all too familiar with the need for emergency preparedness and an organized response.  Based on their experience, with both the terrorist incidents and with severe weather in their region, they are well aware of the need for back-up library relationships, both formal and informal, and discussed the development of partnerships locally, regionally and nationally.  Kathel’s staff had very insightful questions and some excellent ideas for developing back-up library relationships, including a version of “speed dating,” that could be hosted at chapter and/or regional consortial meetings.

After lunch, which was at a nearby Belgian café, the group re-assembled at the RML’s office for the Table-Top exercise.  The exercise went well and confirmed that the MAR already embodies a strong teamwork approach to supporting its members.  The RML could possibly provide a laptop temporarily to the affected librarian, in order to support off-site access to online resources, and would assist by contacting vendors/publishers and recommending the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), which is located near Boston.  As is the case in other regions of NN/LM, each state in the region is represented through a member of the RML staff, which is how the emergency response would be carried out.  A major role for the state coordinators will be to raise awareness of the need for emergency preparedness and response planning.

The consensus was that in the MAR, there are so many resource libraries in a relatively small geographic region, the RML would have little difficulty in identifying possible back-up libraries for its members, and would be able to stay within the states for back-ups, for instance, members in Pennsylvania would have a back-up library that is in Pennsylvania.  Kathel noted that an ongoing challenge is keeping members aware of what is available, and they will most likely use the listserv to help maintain the awareness of this project and the opportunities that will be presented for training and assistance.

The group discussed possibilities for rolling out the plan in their region, including offering training, requesting and assisting with submissions for awards, use of the DOCLINE community/network already established, as well as the personal visits that staff conduct already.  Ideas included offering an online class for training in service continuity planning, adding a link to the region’s web page to the toolkit, and working with the leadership of the various organizations in the regional networks and chapters of MLA.  Micki McIntyre, a member of the region’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, is also Chair of the New York/New Jersey Chapter of MLA, and she attended the meeting with Kathel’s group.  Micki had some excellent ideas for including this project in the programming for the chapter’s meetings.

The meeting ended with agreement that the MAR will focus its efforts on raising awareness about the Emergency Preparedness & Response plan, making members aware of the opportunities that are available, assisting with training where needed, and focusing particularly on helping members develop service continuity plans, including back-up library relationships.  Kathel and her outstanding staff will undoubtedly prove to be an excellent resource for all their members, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of their good ideas!

Ruth Holst, Associate Director of the GMR RML, convened the Resource Library Directors from the GMR at the Club Quarters in Chicago on April 14 and 15, and reserved the program on the 15th for Dan’s presentation on NN/LM’s Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan.  The 23 Directors viewed Dan’s overview of the development and implementation of the plan, and discussed some of the implications for the resource libraries, including what preparedness measures are already in place in their institutions, communicating with publishers and vendors, roles of “buddy” libraries, and others.  The consensus was that communication is key, and flexibility is needed because of the variety of situations and circumstances that will be encountered.

On Wednesday, the 16th, the Emergency Preparedness Working Group for the GMR met to learn about the plan and to discuss regional issues, as well as to conduct a table-top exercise.  There is a Regional Coordinator for each state in the GMR, and all were present except for two.  The GMR staff was also well-represented.  The table-top exercise followed the morning break, with much helpful discussion about how the process might best play out.  Key aspects identified were that communication needed to be kept open, and follow-up will be very important.  The roles for Regional Coordinators for each state were identified:  know the state resources, promote the plan at state meetings and within existing networks, and find out about training opportunities. 

The meeting concluded with a discussion of regional issues and ideas for promoting the plan and obtaining training for members.  Several of the Coordinators plan to start with MOU development in their states and to encourage use of the toolkit for developing plans and finding out about resources available.  Ruth will also explore opportunities that may be available within the networks in their region, and will also promote the idea of an MLA webcast as a possible “awareness raising” and training tool.  Ruth and the Coordinators will assist in developing back-up library relationships, and they discussed some possible criteria to consider in the “matchmaking” process.  Dan emphasized that keeping the processes simple and maintaining flexibility within the development of the plan will generate the best success.  The meeting concluded with a brief summary of what the focus will be for rolling out the plan:  promote the toolkit, identify and promote training opportunities, help with assessing needs for network members, and report on progress within the states at the RAC meetings.

We enjoyed meeting with both groups in Chicago, and believe they are off to a great start.  Many thanks to Ruth and her staff for their hospitality and for the productive discussions, questions, and ideas that emerged from the meetings.  The detailed report of the meeting will be sent to Ruth, and the PowerPoint presentations are available on Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/dtw2t/.  See the photos section of the toolkit for a picture of the Emergency Preparedness Working Group!

Javier Crespo, Associate Director for the NER office of NN/LM, convened his staff as well as the RML Library Director (Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts), Elaine Martin, the library’s designated emergency preparedness/response coordinator, Barbara Ingrassia, and Barbara Davis from the Newport (R.I.) Hospital library to learn about the National Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, and to receive training in response and service continuity. Highlights of the day:

• introduction on how the plan has evolved and Dan’s role by Javier
• PowerPoint presentation by Dan (http://www.slideshare.net/dtw2t/nertraining0408/) on how the plan is designed, and including:  discussion of the different roles of the “players” in the plan, 4 scenarios–types of responses based on specific situations, service continuity planning, other training options
• an excellent Table-Top Exercise carried out by Barbara Davis (hospital librarian role), Javier, Mark (DOCLINE component), Elaine in the “buddy library” role, and including a call to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), since they are located in the NER.  Barbara Ingrassia filled the Regional Coordinator role with follow-up and reporting.

Lunch included a more in-depth discussion of the 8 Steps to developing a disaster plan, and generated some excellent ideas to be implemented in the region.  The day concluded with a discussion of regional issues, which helped to develop strategies for rolling out the plan in the region over the next year.  All agreed that the Table-Top exercise is a very good way to train, and they will investigate using such an exercise at some of the chapter meetings, etc.

The day was very productive, and the outlook is bright for making the plan a reality in the NER of NN/LM. 

The RML staff of the Pacific Northwest Region (PNR) of NN/LM and colleagues from the HSL at the University of Washington gathered on Monday, March 17, 2008 to learn about NN/LM’s National Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan. Cathy Burroughs, Associate Director of the PNR, and Sherrilynne Fuller, Library Director, were unable to attend because of illness.

The morning meeting at the South Campus Center began with introductions and an overview of the day’s activities. The agenda included:

• Dan’s PowerPoint presentation, giving background and details of the plan as it has been approved. Some features added to the presentation specific to this region:
  • visual metaphor for disaster preparedness and response: slide of a photo that Dan took in NYC’s Central Park after snow of a man walking under an umbrella (preparedness) and, in the background, the statue of Balto, the sled dog who led the team on the final leg of the mission to deliver diphtheria antitoxin from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, in 1925 (response)
  • discussion of risks present in the PNR that most other regions do not share (Pacific Southwest Region being the exception): volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, closer proximity to avian influenza in wild bird populations (Alaska/Russia)
• discussion of regional issues: training available from WESTPAS, difficulties for members because of long distances involved and limited funding available for travel and class costs. Resources libraries will be supportive. The PNR will use the term “state coordinator” instead of “regional coordinator” in rolling out the plan.
• service continuity training: use of FEMA information to assist in assessing risks, will encourage discussion of how money for salaging materials should best be spent: replacement cost vs salvage cost. RML staff will assist to implement the eight-step plan throughout the region, especially through training the state coordinators

In the afternooon, the meeting moved to the Library, where a conference call was set up with the state coordinators.

• Dan gave an orientation of the existing plan to the state coordinators and facilitated discussion among the coordinators and the RML staff present at this portion of the meeting (Cathy Burroughs participated via conference call). Kathy Murray, the state coordinator for Alaska was present in person at the afternoon meeting, and the other coordinators participated via the conference telephone.
• a table-top exercise followed the orientation session, featuring the RML staff, a hospital librarian and the state coordinators via conference call. The exercise was carried out well and quickly, followed by some discussion.
• goal-setting: encourage use of WESTPAS training, make URL to the toolkit available to everyone once it has been moved to the NLM server, offer assistance through consortia in the region

The consensus was that this project/initiative should be given a higher priority on the region’s web page, perhaps offering a quick link to the plan and its accompanying resources. Also agreed: some clarification of the DOCLINE piece is needed. Training will be based on the 8-step service continuity plan plus the toolkit, hopefully to be developed into a class similar to the basic PubMed class offered by NLM, for use in the regions.

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.