In the interest of helping NN/LM members to put together a concrete plan based on the “10 Steps to Service Continuity” training, I’ve created a template that members can use to draw up a basic plan for their libraries or information centers.  It is attached to the “10 Steps to Service Continuity” page here on the toolkit (see the menu bar above) as a Word document.  Anyone is welcome to download it and customize it at they see fit.  I hope it will serve as a good starting point for us in trying to meet our goal of having plans in place, and that it will be especially helpful to smaller libraries, hospital libraries, or other entities who may not need a comprehensive disaster plan.

The template is designed to focus on service continuity, but it does include space for some personal safety and preservation information.  My goal was to keep the template on standard size paper (8 1/2 x 11), so that nothing special would be required for printing.  I introduced the template to the Tidewater Health Sciences Librarians group two weeks ago, and in discussing it, we realized that the template would be a good thing to complete, print and post in our work areas, especially in smaller libraries that are minimally staffed, or staffed part-time by volunteers who would profit by having the information close by in an emergency.

The 10 Steps template is an addition to the other ones available here and elsewhere, such as PReP, dPlan, and the customized PReP developed by Julie Page and Deborah Halsted (see the Disaster Plan Templates page, menu above), and isn’t intended to replace any of them.  Rather, it is intended to provide another option, given that no two institutions are alike, and needs for emergency planning vary accordingly.  One of this year’s initiatives for NN/LM will be to focus on best ways to help hospital libraries, and we hope that the 10 Steps template will be a good start.

Click here to see a page that gives an excellent explanation of what a table-top exercise is, and how to create and run one.  The author is Joe Olivo, of Strohl Consulting Services.  Joe is a Certified Business Continuity Planner, and while the page notes that he has consulted with financial institutions, law firms, and businesses, I think that his advice can be easily adapted for just about any type of institution, including libraries large and small.  It’s a good example of providing information that is general enough to be adapted, while specific enough to be helpful. 

I particularly like this part:  “Based upon the effectiveness of the pre-exercise meetings, the exercise will almost run by itself with team members knowing what has to be accomplished. Exercising is a primary means of training. In any actual recovery effort, the best team members are usually those who have participated in exercises.”

We are beginning monthly training sessions here at UVa’s HSL with staff who are responsible for emergency response, using a table-top exercise each month for a different scenario.  The first scenario was an epidemic of influenza, in which the library’s staffing was compromised.  We talked through how the library would be opened, how to determine if it should stay open, how core services would be maintained, how patrons would be notified if necessary.  We were able to address questions about communication and availablility of various resources, among others, and found the exercise to be quite helpful.  Our staff enjoyed working through the scenario, and felt better prepared to respond afterward.

Dan also used table-top exercises in training sessions for NN/LM’s RML staff and emergency response coordinators this year, and the exercises were very effective in helping everyone understand their roles and how the established plan would be implemented across a given scenario and by the various “players.”  Many thanks to Joe Olivo and Strohl for making this information available in such an accessible format.

Dan’s presentation on September 23, 2008 to the combined PSR and MCR NN/LM members was recorded and is now available for viewing at any time.  Please click here to access the presentation.

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.

While most of us wouldn’t consider our libraries to be businesses in the traditional sense, we do have some similar features and some shared needs, especially when it comes to planning for business/service continuity.  The Homeland Security website has an excellent “Plan to Stay in Business” list for businesses, and if you click on the Continuity Planning link from that page, you will find a more detailed list of activities to help you prepare for an unplanned service disruption.  Also available from the Continuity Planning page is their Sample Emergency Plan.  It is available in PDF format, which you can quickly fill out right there and then print.  Network members will have to do some adapting to make it fit their needs, but it is certainly a great way to help us think through what we need to do.  Everyone who has been in any of the training sessions already for the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan will recognize most of what is presented on the Ready.gov site, so the site is helpful as a review, also. 

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.

Click on the link below to view a PowerPoint presentation on service continuity planning. As the title implies, the presentation is designed to be a simple, relatively quick, approach to creating a service continuity plan. The content is based on the eight-step approach to service continuity planning document that can be found by clicking on the Service Continuity Planning tab beneath the title banner.

PowerPoint Presentation (for Office 2007): simplified-approach-to-service-continuity-planning