On Monday, Feb. 9, Dan and I had the pleasure of meeting with the NN/LM Pacific Northwest Region’s (PNR) staff, as well as the State Emergency Preparedness (EP) Coordinators for the region, and several members of the University of Washington’s Health Sciences Library staff. The meeting at the South Campus Center began with a review by Dan about the progress made with regard to the roll-out and implementation of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response plan since last spring, when we visited PNR on March 17. The PNR State EP Coordinators contributed information about the status of emergency planning in their states, some of the risks they face (tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes), some challenges in their areas (remote areas in Alaska, sparsely populated areas in Montana) as well as several incidents that have occurred in the past year. Following the updates, Dan facilitated a discussion of current initiatives and issues including MOUs and MAAs, service continuity training, NLM’s Emergency Access Initiative, use of the online toolkit, DOCLINE issues, and others. The afternoon session included a “train-the-trainer” session, in which Dan presented the Instructional Guide for training NN/LM Network members in service continuity, as outlined in the “10 Step Approach to Service Continuity” class. After the class, the State EP Coordinators and Gail Kouame, Consumer Health Coordinator and Chair of the EP Committee, met to plan initiatives for the coming year.

Following the meeting, a group of us went to dinner and were able to follow-up about the day’s activities. Gail reported that the EP Committee is energized, and had come up with lots of good ideas for promoting the Plan in their states. We look forward to hearing about their activities and the ways they will engage their Network members in emergency preparedness!

PNR State Coordinators: Bob Pringle, Washington; Kathy Murray, Alaska; Marcia Francis, Idaho; Dolores Judkins, Oregon; Laurel Egan, Montana

South Campus Center, University of Washington

Dan has created a tutorial page for the Toolkit (see above)!  The first tutorial is one he recorded today, which provides a tour of this site, pointing out the features much as he does when teaching a class about the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness initiative.  Just click on the “Tutorials” page above, then click the link to the tutorial.  Dan will update the tutorial as events unfold or as seasons change and warrant new current awareness situations or as new resources become available.  Let us know what you think!

We heard from Claire Hamasu, Associate Director of the MidContinental Region (MCR) of NN/LM at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City about their emergency preparedness and response activities to date.  Claire notes that she and Javier Crespo, the Associate Director of the New England Region (NER) at the University of Massachusetts and the “buddy” RML for MCR, have reviewed MCR’s continuity of service plan.  Instructions were refined to clearly explain how the NER could use the MCR’s communication tools to inform those in the MCR how to contact the NER for assistance.

At the October Regional Advisory Board meeting, one of the discussion topics was Emergency Planning.  The question was, “Assuming that emergency planning is important, how do we, the RML, promote activities that result in emergency plans?  Three themes emerged from this discussion:

1. Libraries need to be part of the institution’s emergency plan.  They must be at the table where it’s being formed.  Librarians need to insinuate the library into the discussion.
2. Libraries should partner with other organizations outside their institution–public library, public health, and other hospitals.
3. Libraries need to protect their core resources.

The NN/LM MCR has made funding available for emergency planning.  Network members can apply for up to $15,000 to fund projects designed to develop partnerships that enhance access to health information in preparation for and during emergencies.  MCR has established two liaisons with other libraries, the Dykes Library in Kansas and the McGoogan Library of Medicine in Nebraska, to create emergency preparedness plans for the libraries.

Michelle Malizia, Associate Director of NN/LM’s South Central Region (SCR), has sent some updates about how they have been promoting NN/LM’s Emergency Preparedness & Response plan in her region–thanks, Michelle!

• Michelle made two formal presentations on the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response plan at the South Central Chapter/MLA annual meeting recently
• SCR was also an exhibitor at the meeting, and their giveaway was a first-aid kit imprinted with the NN/LM logo and the URL for the EP&R toolkit (watch for a picture to be posted in the Picture Gallery)
• SCR’s booth was staffed by library school students from the region, who enjoyed giving “tours” of the toolkit site to meeting attendees

Michelle noted that their exhibit was received enthusiastically by the attendees, and they found that most of them had not seen the site or heard about it before, so it was an excellent opportunity to get the word out about NN/LM’s plan and services available in emergency preparedness. Also of note, several members of SCR’s Emergency Preparedness Planning Committee, which consists of a member from each state in the region, are presenters in next week’s MLA webcast (November 12), “Survival Tips and Stories: Expanding Library Service in Times of Disaster.”

• Marty Thompson, Director of the Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library at the University of Oklahoma
• Ethel Madden, Director, Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans
• Deborah Halsted, Associate Director, Houston Academy of Medicine/Texas Medical Center

The South Central Region experienced opportunities to practice their emergency preparedness strategies this year, as they were directly in the path of Hurricane Ike, which came ashore at Galveston and moved inland over Houston. We look forward to hearing from all these actively involved emergency preparedness experts next week on the webcast.

Many thanks to Gail Kouame, Consumer Health Coordinator and lead Emergency Preparedness person for the Pacific Northwest Region (PNR) of NN/LM for the updates about what’s going on there in terms of promoting the NN/LM plan!

• PNR had developed an Emergency Preparedness page on the region’s NN/LM site some time ago, (located at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/services/emergency_preparedness.html.) It is still being updated, and has worked well for their region, while being adapted by others as well.
• Gail attended the “Connecting to Collections” conference for Washington State recently. It is a grant- funded initiative that includes collaborative disaster planning among cultural institutions (libraries, museums, tribal centers, etc.) Gail says she was the only medical librarian in the room, so we are happy to have been so well-represented!
• institutions in Alaska and Oregon are also applying for funding to organize similar initiatives
• Gail convened a meeting of 4 of the region’s 5 state coordinators in the EP&RP on October 22, 2008 as their “kick off” meeting. This meeting followed a teleconference earlier in the year.
• the state coordinators have devised a “talking points” list for use in promoting the plan in their states (contact Gail for more info if you’re interested)
• Gail provided each of the state coordinators with one of the Salvage Wheels from Heritage Preservation (see the “Ready Reference” page on the toolkit), and made sure they knew how to order more if needed
• all the states in PNR are signed up for the MLA webcast on November 12, “Survival Tips and Stories,” and there are plans to purchase DVDs for future use within the states. The host sites are also planning to build in some discussion time around the webcast.
• state coordinators will begin doing phone consultations about the plan soon, using the talking points developed by the group
• Gail will be creating an emergency preparedness “column” in the region’s newsletter, Dragonfly, featuring “guest bloggers” recruited from her state coordinators’ group
• Gail will re-convene the state coordinators in February to follow-up and assess progress

Great work, Gail and PNR state coordinators!

We’ve heard from Ruth Holst and Jacqueline Leskovec at the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) NN/LM office about their activities in promoting NN/LM’s EP&R Plan recently, and they have been busy and creative! The GMR has an active Emergency Preparedness Working Group, composed of librarians, both academic and hospital, from each state in their region. For the EP Working Group, they have developed a role statement for the Regional Coordinators which spells out responsibilities and procedures for them to use in the event of a disaster in their states. The EP Working Group is also creating a checklist of questions that NN/LM RML staff can use when a call comes in from a member reporting an emergency or disaster, in order to ensure consistency of information obtained. GMR is also investigating online class options for use in enhancing training for their Regional Coordinators.

To promote the plan, the GMR sponsored an excellent poster featuring the various components of the plan. It was presented at the recent Midwest Chapter/MLA meeting in Troy, Michigan by Maryann Mlodzik, Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and Barbara Platts, Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, MI, both of whom are their states’ representatives on the GMR EP Working Group (see a photo of Maryann, Barb and the poster in the Picture Gallery). Ruth’s office made several copies of the poster so that the GMR can loan them out to librarians who want to exhibit them at state and local meetings.

GMR Staff member Holly Burt and Working Group member Pat Hamilton spearheaded the group’s efforts to create two tri-fold handouts; one featuring preparedness activities and one for response procedures as outlined in the NN/LM plan. The handouts do a great job of succinctly presenting the NN/LM plan, and will no doubt be very helpful to the members in their region.

Linda Walton, Director, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at University of Iowa, and also a member of the GMR’s EP Working Group, presented the NN/LM plan to the health science librarians’ subgroup at the Iowa Library Association’s annual meeting in Dubuque (October 15-17, 2008).

It’s exciting to see the promotion of NN/LM’s Emergency Preparedness & Response plan unfold across the country–many thanks to Ruth and Jacqueline for the updates!

Dan asked Javier Crespo, Associate Director of the NER, about his region’s activities in promoting emergency preparedness and response recently, knowing that NER had been planning a presentation to one of the chapter meetings in their region, and here’s what’s been happening (or about to happen) in the NER…thanks Javier!

• last week, presented the RML Emergency Preparedness Open Forum at the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries (NAHSL)
• provided a brief overview to Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network (MAHSLIN)
• presentation to the Maine Health Sciences Libraries and Information Consortium (HSLIC) (Dan spoke at their June meeting)
• presentation to the Southeastern Massachusetts Consortium of Health Sciences Libraries (SEMCO)
• presentation to the New Hampshire/Vermont Health Sciences Library Association
• presentation scheduled for November to Association of Rhode Island Health Sciences Libraries (ARIHSL)

In addition, Javier and his staff are putting together a multi-part workshop that will teach the “10 Step Service Continuity Plan” piece of the NN/LM National EP&R Plan in a series of modules, via AdobeConnect webconference. The end result will be a cohort of members who have documented plans for response and recovery during an emergency. They hope to have the training sessions ready for presentation in early 2009.

I know that the other NN/LM regions have been busy promoting the plan also–please send me any information you’d like to share and I’ll post it here!

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

Shari Clifton, head of Reference & Instructional Services at the University of Oklahoma, Deborah Halsted, associate director of Public Services and Operations at the Houston Academy of Medicine, Texas Medical Center Library, Susan Yowell, and I, will be meeting on Thursday in Houston, Texas.  The purpose of the meeting is to design a prototype emergency preparedness toolkit for use by National Network Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) members.  We will also be putting together a training program that will be based on the materials Deborah and Julie Page used to teach their CE course, “Before Disaster Strikes: Essential Steps in Disaster Preparedness.”