The NN/LM PNR Emergency Preparedness page was updated today - it now includes the Health and Human Services/CDC  Swine Flu widget so that you can easily link to updates and information about the Swine Flu outbreak.  The epidemic has already hit the West Coast in Canada and in California so we here in the Pacific Northwest need to be attentive!

There are some simple things you can do to protect yourself: (more…)

Over the past few weeks, our region - specifically Montana and Alaska - have experienced a series of emergency incidents. I was traveling in Eastern Montana the week of March 2-6 when my companions and I heard of the terrible natural gas explosion in downtown Bozeman. In rural states like Montana it seems that everybody knows everybody, so the impact of this type of event is felt even on the opposite side of the state. (more…)

On Monday, February 9th we hosted a meeting to continue emergency preparedness planning for our region.  Dan Wilson and Susan Yowell from University of Virginia provided most of the content for the day, with particular focus on 10 Steps to Service Continuity for our Network member health sciences libraries.  Others who attended the meeting were our five State Coordinators for Emergency Preparedness: Kathy Murray (Alaska), Marcia Francis (Idaho), Laurel Egan (Montana), Dolores Judkins (Oregon), and Bob Pringle (Washington).  Several key staff members from the University of Washington Health Sciences Library also sat in. Contact information for our 5 State Coordinators is available from the NN/LM PNR’s Emergency Preparedness Page.

We reviewed activities and issues to date and looked closely at the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness Toolkit - a rich resource to consult for preparing library disaster plans.  If you are not familiar with the Toolkit, there is now a tutorial you can view, linked here:  http://nnlm.gov/ep/toolkit-tutorial/. At the end of the day, we came away with a plan for our region to continue to promote emergency preparedness for our medical library Network members. Watch for more on that soon!

On February 18th, the RML hosted an RML Rendezvous session featuring Dan Wilson who went over the 10 Steps to Service Continuity. One tool Network members are strongly encouraged to use is the NN/LM Template for 10-Step Approach to Service Continuity (a Word document). It is a great way to start thinking through what events might affect your area, what your core services are, and how to prioritize your collection for salvage, just to name a few of the steps. The RML Rendezvous session is archived and you can watch the recording at your leisure. Nikki Dettmar also wrote a Dragonfly article highlighting some checklists that Dan suggested people use to think through different scenarios that may occur following an incident. For example, one scenario is that the library is closed, but there is still power and internet service available. The checklists help prioritize which of the library’s services are high or low priority, given these circumstances.

Lastly, don’t forget that last November, MLA hosted a Webcast - “Survival Tips and Stories: Exapanding the Library’s Services in Times of Disaster.” If you missed out on the opportunity to view the webcast, we have a DVD copy you can borrow from our Lending Library.

On February 18th, Dan Wilson (Coordinator of the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness Plan) gave an RML Rendezvous update about service continuity planning. You can listen to a recording of this Rendezvous at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p85862149 About 11 minutes and 10 seconds into the recording (you can skip to sections of the recording by dragging the vertical line in the timeline box at the bottom left of the screen) Dan introduced new scenario filters as a way to discuss library core values and services.

The following two screenshots of flood and power/Internet outage scenario filters from the presentation help to put service continuity planning in a clear, easy-to-understand visual exercise format that staff enjoy doing to identify priorities for their library.

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Join us next week on Wednesday, February 18th 2009 at 1pm Pacific time when Dan Wilson, Coordinator of the NN/LM National Emergency Preparedness Plan, discusses service continuity planning and emergency preparedness via RML Rendezvous. Do you know who your state’s emergency planning coordinator is to contact if disaster strikes your library? What is the toll-free NN/LM Emergency Assistance number? Come to the Rendezvous to learn more, and check out the PNR Emergency Preparedness and Response resource page to get a head start. Look forward to seeing you there!