SE/A Emergency Preparedness & Response Training

The NN/LM SE/A RML staff, representatives from the University of Maryland HSHSL, Angela Ruffin (Director, NN/LM National Network Office) and Barbara Nicholson (Technology Librarian, NN/LM National Network Office) met at the University of Maryland HSHSL on Friday, March 14, 2008 to hear about and to discuss the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan. The day’s agenda included:

• discussion of regional issues to be addressed as part of the plan roll-out: use of the online toolkit, opportunities within the region for training (SOLINET), options for DOCLINE use
• identification of other risks inherent to the SE/A region besides hurricanes and severe weather: proximity to nuclear power plants, military installations, Washington, DC, terrorist acts and bioterrorism
• service continuity training: identified roles of RML staff in the planning process for the region, discussed coordination based on the eight steps recommended in the guide available from the toolkit
• table-top exercise in the afternoon using a given scenario and coordinating the appropriate response among staff present at the meeting and member librarians via conference telephone
• discussion of preparedness, response and training goals for the region

The RML staff made plans to add depth to their coverage for some functions, such as changing DOCLINE status for member libraries in an emergency. They plan to introduce the plan and encourage the development of partnerships within the regional hospital library consortia at their meetings. Details of the meeting content will be available in the final report to the National Network Office of the NN/LM.

New SOLINET Class

SOLINET is offering a new online class called Security Alert! How to Protect People, Property and Collections. The emphasis of the class is on the basics of securing collections and safeguarding people. Click here for further information.

New CE Course on Disaster Preparedness

Deborah Halsted and Julie Page have been putting together a new CE course on disaster preparedness. They will be teaching the class on October 20th at the South Central Chapter of the MLA annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here’s a description of the class:

Before Disaster Strikes: Essential Steps in Disaster Preparedness

When the pipe breaks, the fire starts, or the hurricane hits, what will you do? The effectiveness of your response and the success you have in restoring services and collections will be the result of how well you have prepared. Learn what you should do and who should be involved before faced with a disaster, in order to protect people, prevent damage, and provide the best possible outcome.

The course will cover the following:

• Key steps in disaster preparedness
• Building collaborative relationships
• Components of a disaster plan
• Preparation of a Pocket Response Plan
• Group exercise in response to a scenario
• “Exercising” your plans; staff training and drills

Emergency Preparedness Training in Second Life

Here’s an interesting clip of someone using Second Life as a tool for emergency preparedness training. Note the representation of the library at the 12 minute mark of the video.

Getty Conservation Institute Workbook

The Getty Conservation Institute wrote a workbook called “Building an Emergency Plan:  A Guide for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions,” in 1999.  The publication is now out of print, but a free PDF version is available from their website.  It is very well organized and thoughtfully written.  Check out page 2 of the Introduction for an impressive table of disasters that have occurred to cultural institutions around the world in the past 20 years. 

Pandemic Tabletop Exercise

Click here for a link to the RAND Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise Template. It is customizable, so you can use it to see what a possible pandemic situation would like like for your area.

Tabletops, Drills, and Exercises

If you are looking for a detailed guide on how to perform drills, check out the TEPP program from the Department of Energy Office of Transportation and Emergency Management.

And while we are on the subject of drills, here is an article from the Harvard Gazette about a tabletop drill performed by their emergency management team back in 2002.

Mock Disaster Drill

On Tuesday, in Richmond, Kentucky, the community took place in a mock disaster drill, simulating a release of a nerve agent. Here’s an article from Richmond Register explaining the event. I particularly like this quote at the end of the article, which gets at the heart of the importance of drills.
“If you’re not finding out anything new [from the drill], then you’re probably not exercising as seriously as you should be.”

Disaster Training

Click on the link below to see a PowerPoint presentation that I put together yesterday for disaster training. The purpose of the training was to introduce Circulation staff to the parts of our disaster plan that they will need to master in order to respond confidently to an emergency situation. The actual training will now be carried out by our Circulation supervisor.

milestones-to-mastery.ppt

Disaster Training

Does anyone have a sure-fire method for disaster training? Susan and I were talking about this yesterday and we agree that without solid training a disaster plan is just words on paper. We’re attempting to develop a focused training method where staff are trained by guidelines rather than procedures, incorporating a coding system to improve initial response. We’ll keep you posted as this develops.

Here’s an article from BMC Medical Education on developing competencies for disaster planning. We’re going to see if we can adapt the compentencies listed in the article with our disaster training.