Those of us who viewed the MLA Fall webcast this week saw Julie Page showing a version of the Pocket Response Plan (PReP) from the Council of State Archivists that she and Deborah Halsted have customized for use by health sciences libraries.  Click on the link below  to access the form from the toolkit, and the form will also be added to the toolkit page, “Disaster Plan Templates/Samples.”

PReP form for HSLs

Boston University’s online newspaper contains an article today about how the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX weathered Hurricane Ike with flying colors, despite the beating taken by the island as a result of the storm. There is a really interesting account from their associate director of research, who said that “the positive outcome was no stroke of luck, but the result of wise engineering and a comprehensive emergency plan that includes a long-term weather-tracking strategy.” She also noted that “preparedness is attainable, and it works.”

At the University of Hawaii, roof repair work led to some major water leaking into their library. The account in the “Star Bulletin” today underlines how a quick response, based on excellent preparedness activities, can minimize damage and speed recovery. Based on their experiences with major flooding in 2004, the library has a well-developed disaster response team, who was actively watching for damage from the heavy rains, had the needed supplies on hand, knew what to do with wet materials and where to put them, and had a salvage company on site quickly to restore air quality and help with cleanup.

News reports of flooding:

KHON TV

KHNL TV

It’s nice to hear that preparedness efforts really do pay off–a huge return on a relatively small investment!

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!

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.

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. 

Next week is Hurricane Preparedness Week, leading up to June 1st, the beginning of hurricane season.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has put together a nice website filled with hurricane preparedness information.  The primary emphasis of the site is on preparing for associated hazards such as storm surge, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding; however, you will also find links to state preparedness information as well as a Historical Hurricane Tracks website.  A Spanish version is also available.

Heritage Preservation is encouraging cultural institutions to observe May Day this year by reviewing our preparedness situations, starting with “Do one thing for emergency preparedness.” There are some good suggestions for all of us with regard to our disaster plans and preparedness activities, plus some information about classes and other resources available for use in planning. Check it out here: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/TFlessons/MayDayInfo.html

The Specialized Information Services (SIS) Division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has released a web page containing a wealth of resources on emergency preparedness for special populations. Included on the site are links to resources for employers, law and policy, and lessons learned from past disasters.

See: Special Populations: Emergency & Disaster Preparedness

Ready.gov is making available a wealth of information about preparation for and strategies for dealing with winter weather.  They have instructions about what to do if you’re trapped in your car during a blizzard, how to recognize and begin treatment for hypothermia, a list of supplies to have on hand at home “just in case.”  Winter storms are called “deceptive killers” because it is their side-effects, the peripheral damage, such as power outages and traffic accidents that cause the most deaths.  The info is helpful to know even if you don’t live in a winter-weather prone area; it might come in handy if you’re travelling, plus power-outages happen everywhere and any time!

Ready.gov is making available a wealth of information about preparation for and strategies for dealing with winter weather.  They have instructions about what to do if you’re trapped in your car during a blizzard, how to recognize and begin treatment for hypothermia, a list of supplies to have on hand at home “just in case.”  Winter storms are called “deceptive killers” because it is their side-effects, the peripheral damage, such as power outages and traffic accidents that cause the most deaths.  The info is helpful to know even if you don’t live in a winter-weather prone area; it might come in handy if you’re travelling, plus power-outages happen everywhere and any time!