Exploring Roles for Bookmobiles in Disaster Preparedness and Response Dan Wilson Coordinator, National Network of Libraries of Medicine Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative

NN/LM National Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative To aide the welfare of a community or parent institution following a disaster by ensuring access to biomedical information and core library resources and services to health professionals, library patrons, and the public.

Goal: To Build Greater Readiness in Our Nation’s Libraries. Promoting awareness, energizing library staff, and providing tools for improving readiness.

Planning Templates

Training A 10-Step Approach to Service Continuity Planning Step 1: Assess Risks Step 2: Protect yourself, your staff, and your patrons Step 3: Create procedures to ensure continuation of core services Step 4: Create procedures to ensure access to core materials Step 5: Develop a Mutual Aid Agreement with another library or network Step 6: Proactively plan for the rescue and recovery of your highly valued materials Step 7: Develop a communication plan Step 8: Know how to obtain outside assistance Step 9: Develop a PReP for Service Continuity Step 10: Be prepared at home 15 Features of a High State of Library Readiness 1.Comprehensive Disaster Plan updated at least once a year 2.Response station (e.g., flashlights, first aid kit, bullhorn, plastic, battery operated radio, etc.) for handling an emergency 3.One-page Service Continuity Pocket Response Plan (PReP) updated at least quarterly 4.Shelter-in-place location 5.Communication plan that incorporates redundancy of means of communication and procedures for updating website, Facebook page, and/or Twitter 6.Service continuity team 7.At least one scheduled evacuation drill per year 8.At least one table-top exercise per year 9.Library and/or librarians integrated into parent institution’s disaster plan 10.Core print textbooks/materials identified and labeled or shelved together 11.Servers with core online resources on unlimited emergency power 12.Mutual Aid Agreements with other libraries or networks for delivery of core services 13.Prioritized recovery list of all valuable materials 14.Partnership (contract not required) with commercial salvage and recovery company (e.g., Belfor, BMS, Munters) hour emergency kits at the homes of all members of service continuity team

To find out about EP&R activities and training opportunities in your region, contact your regional medical library at DEV-ROKS Over 6,000 members

NN/LM EP&R Summits Director, Miami/Dade PLS Coordinator, Gulf Coast Libraries Project VOAD Head of Security, Library of Congress Pepco Facilities Director, San Francisco PL Disaster Psychologist FEMA NN/LM DIMRC USGS Geologist Medical Reserve Corps Miami/Dade Public Health

Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog SirsiDynix Outfits Bookmobile for Hurricane-Ravaged Hancock County Library System HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—December 15, 2005—SirsiDynix announced today a cooperative effort with libraries in Maryland to donate a fully equipped bookmobile to Hancock County Library System, a Mississippi library hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. The donated bookmobile will serve as a temporary replacement for Hancock County’s Pearlington branch, which served both an elementary school and the general public. To outfit the bookmobile technologically and integrate it with the library system’s existing software, SirsiDynix donated hardware and software. The bookmobile will open its doors on Dec. 19 with a celebratory ceremony at its new Pearlington location. It also reminds us that bookmobiles are keeping up with the times too. Stephen

Gertie They tried to interest the Smithsonian in taking Gertie, a 1962 Gerstenslager that looks like a cross between a bus and milk truck and is thought to be one of the nation's oldest bookmobiles. "They very gently declined," said Elizabeth Stearns, a spokeswoman for the Waukegan Public Library. Then came a new idea, with a heroic twist: sending Gertie to Jefferson Parish, La., to serve readers in an area where Hurricane Katrina damaged 16 libraries. - Chicago Tribune News, Feb. 14, 2006

Where can bookmobiles fit into all of this? Preparedness Response Recovery

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