Emergency Preparedness
for Libraries
Emergency Preparedness
for Libraries
Julie Todaro
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Bernan Press
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
800-865-3457; [email protected]
6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2020 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. Bernan Press does not claim copyright in U.S. government information.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934566
ISBN: 978-1-64143-365-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-1-64143-366-2 (electronic)
I am a firm believer that although our loved ones may be gone they still guide us through our actions, choices, projects, and “life in general” in the best possible ways. In updating Emergency Preparedness in Libraries, all three of those mentioned in the first edition “Dedication” are gone from my life, but my father—gone many years still echoes in my head (you will hear some of this thoughts in here)—and my mother Phyllis still influences me in the best possible way with almost everything I do. My first edition spaniel—Madison—is also still fresh in mind and loved. Today, however, my world is very different than when I published my first edition of this work.
Specifically, my constant daily spaniel companionship comes from Herbie and Kylee, who have suffered through their own emergencies, managed, and come out happy. Also my incredible personal, nurturing, intellectual constant, and unfailing support and love comes through a late-in-life love-of-my-life, Captain. I don’t profess to know everything about preparedness, but nothing could have prepared me to find someone so wonderful in general and so wonderful for me. So, was it careful planning and preparedness on my part that led me to where I am at this second edition and writing this dedication? Maybe and somewhat, but I doubt it. Instead, I have come to realize that sometimes luck has something to do with success. So I am going to plan when I can but I am also going to embrace luck and do my part to celebrate success and make what is good, last.
Contents
1 Defining Twenty-First-Century Emergencies and Disasters and Recovery
2 Defining Twenty-First-Century Emergencies and Disasters in Library Environments
3 Planning, Prevention, Response/Business Continuity, and Recovery
4 Emergency/Disaster Action Plans
5 Integrating Emergency/Disaster Planning into the Organization
6 Day One/Day Of: Responding to Emergency Disaster Events
7 Day Two and Beyond
8 Business Continuity: Options, Choices, and Why
9 Normal or New Normal?
Appendices
Index
After my many years of experience in diverse library and information settings—especially in these times—I can approach emergency and disaster discussions with some expertise. And although (luckily) I have not had the massive destruction that some librarians have had from floods and fires, my experience comes from observation and—sadly—real-life experiences in a variety of levels of emergency and disaster situations handling facilities, materials, resources and staff and the public. Unfortunately, I’m not alone—there shouldn’t be anyone managing today who can’t also claim the observation of and possible direct experience with—or experience dealing with issues of prevention, the effects of contemporary disasters, and the struggles of recovery. It should also be said that the ranking or rating of a situation as a disaster or a level of disaster is the purview of a manager. One manager’s minor situation may well be another manager’s major event and should be treated and handled as such.
In addition to having experience on “how to handle” situations, I have observations on and experience with how others have handled situations and—unfortunately—not all of them are recommendations for action. Rather they include a few “don’t do this” but, in general, I have observed: organizations that have had the emergency and disaster discussions are clearly ahead of those who haven’t; organizations that have talked about emergencies and how to prevent or minimize them as well as manage them are more aware of the breadth of what has to be done”; and time and money spent in prevention is both time and money well spent.
Although the best way to prepare for the foreseen and unforeseen is to have a complete disaster plan or emergency management plan, all supplies for any emergency, and a myriad of communication strategies, we typically don’t have that kind of time when we first address the issues. The best approach is to ramp up to integrating best practices and approach emergency management projects in a progressive way, that is, all initial steps (“at the very least” and any first year in chapter 1) are the initial steps but are foundation for bigger projects. These first steps don’t meet the needs of more serious events or even the long term but they raise awareness and stimulate initial plans as well as educate a team to carry out critical practices very quickly.
This monograph—therefore—assists you in your planning for “at the very least/right now” and “in the next year,” and then is helpful in looking at and planning for the bigger picture of emergency management and disaster planning for years two and three. To accomplish, however, a faster look at understanding all steps and stages, scenarios are used throughout the text beginning with a formal process of steps and how those steps might be handled and then including a list of steps specific to the cases that are proposed and then taken.
In addition, scenarios assist with the more formal process of addressing scenario elements in order to provide examples of critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making specific for emergency
