Ready to Roll to the Rescue

Even though our library is not in an area prone to experiencing hurricanes or flooding, we, like everyone, experience the occasional incursion of water into places it shouldn’t be.  In order to expedite getting salvage materials to the site of the incident, we have adopted a practice we heard about from Holly Robertson, Head of Preservation at Alderman Library, University of Virginia.  We’ve purchased a plastic cart to hold our “quick response” materials:  water absorbent “socks,” tri-fold paper towels for interleaving, a flash light, duct tape, plastic sheeting, scissors, paper and markers, latex gloves, etc.   The cart is readily accessible to the areas most likely to need it.  Most office supply stores offer a variety of carts–look for one that won’t be damaged by water, that rolls easily, and has shelves with sides on them so your supplies won’t slide off when you move the cart.  It would be nice if it also had a flashing light and a siren on it, but we can’t have everything…

United States Power Grid

The Power Systems Engineering Research Center maintains a web page titled “Resources for Understanding Electric Power Reliability.” It’s a great site for obtaining extensive information on blackouts and other studies. Below is a map of the power grid in the United States. To its right is a satellite image of the blackout that occurred in the Northeast on August 14, 2003.

Wake-up Call!

Check this out!  Did we think that our procedures are fine for shelter-in-place?  Take a look at this document from the “Redefining Readiness” work group, authored by some very well-spoken people from the New York Academy of Medicine.  Having any procedure is better than none, I suppose, but the questions raised by this document are as good as “lessons learned” before the event happens!  Back to the drawing board we go!

New Presidential Disaster Declarations Map

There is a new Presidential Disaster Declaration map available.  This map has data from January 3, 2000 to March 3, 2007.

Incident Alert Map

Here’s a map that shows recent incidents, such as tornadoes, fires, power outages, etc., in the United States. It’s produced by the Emergency and Disaster Information Services (EDIS), Budapest, Hungary.