NN/LM Washington DC Power Outage Summit

September 5, 2012

9:00am – 4:30pm

Library of Congress/James Madison Building/Mumford Room

Please join us for a morning of speakers and discussion about the impact of a power outage on library services and collections and the roles libraries and librarians can play in their communities or institutions in response to a major power outage. The afternoon sessions will feature a workshop on building your library’s readiness and a disaster information specialization certificate class.

Agenda

9:00-9:10 Dan Wilson, Coordinator, NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative
9:10-9:35 Sonya Williams, Risk Manager, DC Public Libraries/Markus Rauschecker, Continuity Planner, Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency
9:35-10:00 Michael Salmons, Director of Emergency Management in the Office of Security, Library of Congress
10:00-10:25 Andrew Robb, Preservation Department, Library of Congress
10:30-10:55 Pete Pedersen, Pepco (Potomac Electric Power Company)
10:55-11:05 Break
11:05-11:20 Cindy Love, Disaster Information Management Research Center (DMIRC), National Library of Medicine
11:20-12:00 Sue Taylor, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD)/ Lisa McGee, American Red Cross
12:00-12:30 Panel Discussion
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-4:30 Class: Information Roles in Disaster Management
Workshop: Improving Your Library’s Readiness

There is no charge to attend the morning or afternoon sessions. Seating is limited.  Please register at: http://nnlm.gov/sea/training/register.html.  Use the dropdown menu on the form to register for the Summit and, if you wish, then use the back arrow on your browser to register for either the Information Roles in Disaster Management class or the Improving Your Library’s Readiness workshop.

Contact Dan Wilson (danwilson@virginia.edu) for further information.

Speakers/Facilitators from:

National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM)
Pepco (unless they are in emergency operation mode)
District of Columbia Public Library
Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA)
Library of Congress (Preservation Directorate and Office of Security & Emergency Preparedness)
National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC)
National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)
American Red Cross

Sponsors: NN/LM, Library of Congress, FEDLINK            

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00004-C with the University of Maryland Baltimore.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces a funding opportunity for small projects to improve access to disaster medicine and public health information for health care professionals, first responders and others that play a role in health-related disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

NLM is soliciting proposals from partnerships that include at least one library and at least one non-library organization that has disaster-related responsibilities, such as health departments, public safety departments, emergency management departments, prehospital and emergency medical services, fire/rescue, or other local, regional, or state agencies with disaster health responsibilities; hospitals; faith-based and voluntary organizations active in disaster; and others.

NLM encourages submission of innovative proposals that enhance mutually beneficial collaboration among libraries and disaster-related agencies. For example, projects may increase awareness of health information resources, demonstrate how libraries and librarians can assist planners and responders with disaster-related information needs, show ways in which disaster workers can educate librarians about disaster management, and/or include collaboration among partners in developing information resources that support planning and response to public health emergencies.  Summaries of the seven projects  funded for 2011-2012 can be viewed at http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/2011disasteroutreachawards.html.

Contract awards will be offered for a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum of $30,000 each for a one-year project.

The deadline for proposals is Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 2 pm ET. Proposals are limited to six pages plus supplemental materials such as resumes, letters of support, and a budget.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) for this requirement has been split into two solicitations; one Partial Small Business Set-Aside (RFP No.: NIHLM2012411) and; one Full and Open (RFP No.: NIHLM2012412). The solicitation notices are on FedBizOpps.gov as follows:

Partial Small Business Set-Aside  https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ad2bb9b6b067a1b0cb704070dbcc4f13&tab=core&_cview=0

Full and Open  https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=9d9f0974ab8150e88e20ef5a1fdce4b3&tab=core&_cview=0

For more information and instructions about the “Disaster Health Information Outreach and Collaboration Project 2012”, please visit http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/2012disasteroutreachrfp.html .

The National Library of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov) is the world’s largest biomedical library and provides extensive online health information resources. Visit the NLM Disaster Information Management Research Center site (http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov ) to learn more about disaster-related health information from WISER (hazardous materials information for emergency responders), REMM-Radiation Emergency Medical Management, CHEMM-Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management, and other resources.

We now have a virtual 10-Step program!  The program, under 16 minutes, is broken down into an introduction and 10 individual steps, so it can be worked on as time permits.  In between some of the steps are assignments that, when completed, will greatly improve the readiness capabilities of your library.  Please feel free to offer your comments or suggestions.

Click on this URL and then look below the photographs: http://nnlm.gov/ep/10-stepsservice-continuity/.

For a taste of the program, here is the Introduction:

We added a Recent Comments widget to the right column.  Please help feed this by commenting on our posts!  Also, there is now an RSS feed display of recent messages from the DIMRC Disaster Outreach listserv on the left column underneath the NEPRTimes Twitter feeds.

FEMA is asking residents of Florida and the East Coast to be aware of the progress of Tropical Storm Emily.  See the FEMA update:  http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=57048.

Thanks to FEMA for the heads-up about this conference, being held tomorrow, June 15–check out the conference site here:  http://www.meta-leadershipsummit.org/.   Here’s the description from FEMA’s news update: 

Empowering Business, Government and Nonprofit Leaders to Act Together in Times of Crisis
Leadership during large-scale disasters like terrorist attacks, natural disasters and pandemic flu is the focus of the Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness on June 15, where more than 200 leaders will gather to better prepare and respond to public health and safety emergencies.  Offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation, the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative – Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness fosters greater cross-sector collaboration among business, government and nonprofit leaders during emergencies.  The Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit is the 36^th and final in the series of highly-evaluated Summits that have been held to engage leaders across the country. More than 4,700 leaders have attended a Summit to date, and over 2,500 have joined the Meta-Leadership Online Community. Visit the online community to watch a sampling of video soundbites from Summit participants in their own words: Tampa Bay; Nebraska; San Diego County; Greater Los Angeles and Greater Houston.

We are all heartsick to hear about the catastrophic tornado damage that occurred in Joplin, MO last night, as well as in other areas of the Midwest.  See the New York Times story about Joplin here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24tornado.html?_r=1&hp.  It gives better information than some other sources, particularly about St. John’s Regional Hospital in Joplin, which sustained a direct hit, and mentions near the end of the story that nurses who had been on the sixth floor when the tornado warning was announced, immediately began the appropriate response procedures.  Sources say that the tornado was “rain wrapped,” which made it difficult or impossible to see.