Yesterday, Tuesday, May 5, we convened a meeting at our library to review our pandemic plans and conduct a brief table-top exercise.  The meeting produced some excellent observations and insights, both for successes and things we need to work out.  The first half of the meeting was a review of our procedures, based the table (see below in the “Planning for Service Continuity During a Pandemic” post) from our library’s emergency preparedness plan.  All the “key players” attended, including:  the library’s emergency response coordinator, the library Director, IT manager, web development manager, business manager, head of reference services, collection development manager, database coordinator, ILL supervisor, and Circulation supervisor.  All these positions played roles in the planning and in the response exercise.  The scenario we used for the table-top exercise:  it is 3 PM on a Sunday afternoon, when the University decides to close all the libraries on campus to enact social-distancing measures.  The closure is intended to prevent the spread of influenza resulting from a pandemic.  What is done immediately?  What is done Monday morning?  Before beginning the discussion of procedures for this scenario, participants drew slips of paper from a bowl, which designated them as “sick” or “well.”  One-third of the participants were designated “sick,” and therefore did not play a role in the exercise.  This pointed out the need for back-up in certain key positions.

Some questions arose that might be helpful to others in the planning process, among them:

• can you change the voice mail message on your library’s main phone from your home?  who has the authority and the access needed to do this?  who is the backup for that person?
• who has current staff home phone number information?  is someone responsible for keeping the list upddated, and for distributing it?  should lists be given to everyone, or to select people?
• do the appropriate library staff have access to the “Ask a Librarian” chat function from home?
• do you need an official “voice” for providing information about the status of the library?  if so, will that person have access to communication channels, such as announcements on your web site?
• can the person responsible for ILL/Document Delivery access resources needed to provide ILL requests to your patrons from home, i.e. is the required software installed on the home computer/laptop?
• is there a provision for emergency access to print materials for affiliated patrons in the event of a patient-care emergency while the library is closed?
• is there an institutional need for designating a way to account for time worked at home by library staff?  

Besides refining our procedures and identifying a few areas to be improved, everyone agreed that the meeting/exercise was an excellent way to keep emergency preparedness, and pandemic planning particularly, in our corporate awareness.

As winter bids us farewell with a few inches of snow and sub-freezing temperatures (increasingly rare here in central Virginia), we note that the likelihood of tornadoes will be increasing as the weather turns warmer.  As they say, there is no real tornado “season,” because one can happen any time and in any place, but we see that internet searchers are looking for information on tornado preparedness more often now, so here is some information that we hope will be helpful in preparing for the tumultuous spring weather than can give birth to tornadoes and other severe storms.

As always, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention web site offers excellent information and advice on tornadoes as part of their Emergency Preparedness and Response information, specifically their Natural Disasters and Severe Weather page.   Click on the “Tornado” link for some great information on what you should know and what to do before a tornado, during and afterwards.  For instance, what do you think is the most dangerous aspect of a tornado?  Where is the most dangerous place to be in a tornado?  The answers may surprise you!

Many states will be running tornado preparedness drills in March.  Here’s the Virginia site that lists information about the state-wide drill on March 17, as well as how to run a tornado drill.  Check out the information on the page about how to find the safest place inside your building to shelter from a tornado. 

NOAA weather radios are wonderful to have in your building if you are in an area that is particularly vulnerable to servere storms, or you just want to keep in touch with weather events.  They are available with a range of features and at a price range from $25 and up, from a variety of sources.  (Amazon lists many models and prices.)  Ours has alerted us several times to thunderstorms in the summer, which helped us to be prepared for possible power disruptions and wind/water damage.  The NOAA radios receive information continuously from the National Weather Service, and you can set them to sound an alert to your specific area so that the alarm doesn’t sound more often than necessary.   Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy spring season!

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.

Tornado Drill, University of Virginia, March 18, 2008

The University of Virginia (UVa) held a tornado drill, which included our library, on March 18 at 9:45 AM (see this site for more information). The drill had been announced two days before it was scheduled to occur. Overall, our library’s plan functioned well, but the drill definitely served its purpose, as it tested the systems and the knowledge of staff, and effectively showed the areas that need to be improved. Our Library Director held a drill de-briefing meeting this morning, so that we could share information/observations about the exercise and what we need to do to improve our planning and training. Lessons learned from the drill:

–in our library, staff followed procedures for sheltering-in-place. Patrons were given the option to participate in the drill or not, and only one person took shelter with our staff.

–we realized that our shelter-in-place plans need to be clarified so that everyone realizes the differences between sheltering-in-place for tornadoes and sheltering from a biochemical/hazmat situation or an active shooter

–a goal of the drill was that it be completed in 3 minutes. We found that this is adequate time if the overhead PA system is working. However, if power is off when a tornado is sighted, staff will have to warn patrons in person. We have a bullhorn with a siren, and have moved it to Circulation for use in making announcements if necessary.

–we had already contacted the Office of Emergency Preparedness at UVa to request help in verifying the best shelter locations in our library, so we look forward to having their guidance

–we are investigating the purchase of signs to designate shelter-in-place spaces in the library, once our sites are verified by UVa’s Office Emergency Preparedness

Case Western Reserve University recently staged a mock emergency and subsequent response drill (read about it here).  It reminded me that no matter how good our written plans are, we don’t know how they will play out until we give them a test-drive.  Even if we can’t manage a drill as extensive as CWRU’s, we can get people together to run through a tabletop drill, or just stage an event for our own staff without involving the community of responders.  Something to think about during the break between semesters for those of us in academic settings….

Case Western Reserve University recently staged a mock emergency and subsequent response drill (read about it here).  It reminded me that no matter how good our written plans are, we don’t know how they will play out until we give them a test-drive.  Even if we can’t manage a drill as extensive as CWRU’s, we can get people together to run through a tabletop drill, or just stage an event for our own staff without involving the community of responders.  Something to think about during the break between semesters for those of us in academic settings….

Here’s an excellent web site from the Palmetto Archives, Libraries, and Museums Council on Preservation in South Carolina, where they know a thing or two about water damage, high humidity, and hurricane preparedness.  Click on their link to “Disaster Plan Template” to see a comprehensive, yet basic list of situations to consider in developing procedures for emergency response.  Great job, Palmetto planners!

Here’s an excellent web site from the Palmetto Archives, Libraries, and Museums Council on Preservation in South Carolina, where they know a thing or two about water damage, high humidity, and hurricane preparedness.  Click on their link to “Disaster Plan Template” to see a comprehensive, yet basic list of situations to consider in developing procedures for emergency response.  Great job, Palmetto planners!

Using Hurricane Isabel as the scenario, we just had performed a tabletop drill with our webmaster. The focus of the drill was on resource access and communication under the following circumstances: 1) just the Library is out of power, 2) the entire region is without power, and 3) the entire region is without power and the hospital is operating under generated power.

As a result of the drill, here are a couple of things that we will be working on this summer:

• Developing a WordPress blog that will provide emergency information. Postings from this blog will be activated on our Library’s home page in the event of a disaster.
• Utilizing a PDA phone as a multi-functional communication devise (phone, IM, and WordPress web page editing) in the event of a disaster.

Our Circulation staff are going through a series of bomb threat drills in order to improve response.  Here’s a message from our Circulation supervisor summarizing this past weekend’s activities:

Starting this past weekend we’ve been running table top bomb threat drills in the Circulation department. And I have to say the results have been very mixed and highly instructive.

 The biggest thing the drills have been pointing out is our need to continue running drills.  It provides good one-on-one opportunities to see how desk staff would react to an unexpected phone call with a bomb threat at the other end.

Basically the drill runs like this:  I phone in (from a phone other than my cell phone) and say:  “Ok…this is your bomb threat drill.  What would you do if I phoned in and said the following…”  and then we proceeded to run the bomb threat interview.

At the end of the phone call we’d review what happened and discuss what we’d do differently.

The results?  Well, let’s just say we’ll be running the drills a little longer to give everyone a chance to learn to improve their bomb threat response skills.

So circ staff…. beware… when you least suspect it that phone is going to ring and there will be another drill coming your way.