Workshop given at the Medical Library Association Conference in Seattle WA, May 24th, 2012. This course is part of the Medical Library Association's Disaster Information Specialization Program.

1. Information Roles in Disaster
13:00 – 17:00
May 24, 2012
Management
MLA 2012
Seattle, WA
Robin Featherstone, MLIS
Liaison Librarian (Medicine)
Life Sciences Library, McGill University
robin.featherstone@mcgill.ca

2. Activity 1
• Complete the hazards checklist
• Introductions
– What is your name?
– Where are you from?
– Which three hazards did you identify?

3. Agenda
Disaster information specialists
Disaster management
Librarian roles
Reflection exercise
BREAK – 30 mins
Tabletop exercises
Planning recommendations - role playing
Summary quiz
Resolution & questions

4. Disaster Information Specialist
• Provides disaster-related library or information
services as part of their ongoing job functions
• Possesses knowledge and skills necessary to
support their libraries, institutions and
communities in times of disasters or other
emergencies
• Does more than protect library collections and
maintain library operations

5. Selected Continuity of Operations
Resources
• NN/LM Emergency & Preparedness • Halsted, Deborah D., Richard P. Jasper,
Toolkit http://nnlm.gov/ep/ and Felicia M. Little. Disaster Planning:
A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians.
New York: Neal-Schuman, 2005.

6. Objectives
At the end of this workshop, you will be able to
– Define a “disaster” and distinguish disasters from hazards
– Classify disasters into two distinct types
– Name three stages in the disaster management cycle
– Identify members of the disaster workforce
– Articulate how librarians historically viewed their roles in
disasters
– Recognize roles librarians have played in disasters
– Identify professional roles for librarians during all stages of
the disaster management cycle
– Present your skills to members of the disaster workforce

7. Definitions
Disaster: a serious disruption of the functioning of society,
causing widespread human, material or environmental
losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope
using only its own resources.
Emergency: a situation that is out of control and requires
immediate attention.
Event: an occurrence that has the potential to affect living
beings and/or their environment; a realization of a hazard.
http://www.wadem.org/guidelines/glossary.pdf

8. Disaster Categories
Natural Man made
Earthquakes Chemical spills
Hurricanes Industrial accidents
Tsunamis Terrorist attacks
Etc. Etc.
Natural or Man made?
Floods
Forest Fires
Avalanches
Epidemics

9. Disaster Management Cycle

10. Disaster Workforce
Licensed or trained
Paid or volunteer
Permanent or as-needed workers
… who play a defined role in…
All-hazards preparedness, response and recovery
In implementing Emergency Support Functions 6 & 8:
Mass care, Emergency Assistance, Disaster Housing & Human
Services; Public Health and Medical Services

11. Disaster Workforce: Licensed/credentialed
health professionals (ESAR – VHP, 2011)

12. Disaster Workforce: Additional
licensed or trained professionals

13. Selected core & sub competencies for
disaster medicine and public health
4.0 Communicate effectively with others in a
disaster or public health emergency
4.1 Identify authoritative sources for
information in a disaster or public health
emergency
4.3 Identify strategies for appropriate
sharing of information in a disaster or public
health emergency
(Walsh et al., 2012)

14. Disaster Health Information
Peer-reviewed scholarly literature
• Journal articles
• Books HazLit
Database
“Grey” Literature
• Reports
• Summaries
• Surveillance data
• Training materials
• Conference proceedings

15. Role of Social Media
“Clearly, social media are changing the way people communicate not only in
their day-to-day lives, but also during disasters that threaten public health.”
(Merchant, 2011)

16. How have librarians seen their
primary role?
• 66% - protecting, preserving, and providing
access to collections
• 10% - fostering community relationships and
providing support
(Zach, 2010)

17. Planning Roles
(Zach, 2010)

18. Response Roles
(Zach, 2010)

19. Recovery Roles
(Zach, 2010)

20. What have been the roles of
librarians?
1. Institutional supporters
2. Collection managers
3. Information disseminators
4. Internal planners
5. Community supporters
6. Government partners
7. Educators and trainers
8. Information community builders
(Featherstone, Lyon & Ruffin, 2008)

21. New Recognition of Libraries’
Roles: The Stafford Act
• Libraries are “essential community services” eligible
for federal assistance “for the provision of temporary
facilities”

22. Hospital librarians
(Donohue, 2012)

23. Hospital librarians
(Donohue, 2012)

24. Hospital librarians
How did you get involved?
 Invited myself onto the Emergency Management
Committee
 Required to be involved as a department manager
 New committee chairperson took over emergency
management committee and wanted library involved.
Previous group had not involved library
(Donohue, 2012)

25. Case example
Missouri Baptist Medical Center Medical Library
… and Incident Command Center

30. Information use by disaster
preparedness professionals
• Influenced by their training
• Viewed information as a decision-making tool
• Considered information to include observable
environmental data and conversations
• Relied on social networks and the Internet
• Revisited trusted organizational sites (i.e., CDC)
(Folb, 2011)

31. Desired information types
• Peer organization • Potential local hazards
experience, lessons- • Vulnerable populations
learned documents • Emerging hazards,
(case studies) novel events
• Standards • News
• Operations, procedures, • Current conditions
manuals
• Legal, regulatory
• Grants, funding
(Folb, 2011)

32. What do emergency managers
see as the roles of librarians?
• Creating and maintaining taxonomies with expert input
• Serving as a clearinghouse of knowledge concerning the
different aspects of disasters
• Equipping libraries to access real-time emergency telemedicine
networks
• Working with specialists to identify high-quality information
• Developing easy-to-use methods of delivering specific content
(Turoff & Hiltz, 2008)

33. What do emergency managers
see as the roles of librarians?
• Producing annotated bibliographies and syntheses
• Participating in call centers taking questions from the public
• Developing FAQs for local emergency preparedness and
response and making them easy to locate
• Assisting in text and data mining, aggregating and compiling
information to support public health decision-making
• Sharing expertise with those in developing countries through
an international network of librarians and archivists
(Turoff & Hiltz, 2008)

34. Recommendations for librarians
• Become part of the network
• Partner with trusted organizations
• Get involved in pre-career training
(Folb, 2011)
• Be part of your organization’s disaster plan
• Monitor information using alerting services
• Be strategic in your communication plan – consider audience
capacity and use appropriate technologies
• Evaluate your services
(Featherstone, et al. 2012)

35. Activity 2
• In pairs, identify a skill-based service you
could provide to address these disaster
interventions
• Present one service idea to the group

36. BREAK

37. Preparation time
Most warning Less warning Least warning
Hurricane Tornado Earthquake
Infectious disease Active shooter Hazmat incident
Flooding Building fire Bridge collapse
Etc. Etc. Etc.

38. Tabletop Exercise – 45 mins
• Designate one person to read the disaster scenario provided
• Designate roles
• Listen to the scenarios and the questions
• Talk aloud as you make decisions
• Assume an equal level of preparedness within your group
• The tabletop exercise simulates a disaster situation and
requires you to function in the capacity expected of you in a
real event (FEMA, 2012)

39. Role-playing Exercise
• In your groups, discuss the tabletop exercise
• Prepare a brief (5 min) presentation to your institution’s
safety committee
– Report on what happened
– Make recommendations that address preparedness, response and
recovery
• A representative from each group will present to the class
• Assume your audience is your institution’s safety committee.

40. Summary quiz

41. Summary quiz
1. A disaster is ___________
2. A hazard is ___________
3. Two distinct types of disasters are ________ & _________
4. Three stages in the disaster management cycle are
_________, __________, & _________
5. Librarians have historically seen their role in a disaster as
__________
6. Roles librarians have played in disasters include:
__________
7. Professional roles librarians can play during
Preparedness: ______________
Response: ______________
Recovery: ______________

42. Resolution Exercise
• On the handout provided, write three resolutions of disaster
management activities you will undertake in the next 6
months
• Sign the form to permit the instructor or the project
evaluators to contact you in 6 months to inquire after your
progress

43. Resolution Exercise
Some possible resolutions:
• Planning: I resolve to contact the chief of security at my
institution with a list of disaster management services I can
provide
• Response: I resolve to maintain a current list of aid
organizations and to direct members of the community to the
nearest shelter in the event of a disaster.
• Recovery: I resolve to lend support to libraries in neighboring
communities to aid them in providing services following a
disaster.

44. QUESTIONS

45. References
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93-288 as
amended), http://fema.gov/about/stafact.shtm
Donohue, A. (May 21, 2012). Emergency Preparedness and Librarians: A Match Made
in Hospitals! [Poster Presentation given at the Medical Library Association
Conference, Seattle WA]
FEMA (2012). Tabletop Exercise. Accessed April 7, 2012 from:
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/watersecurity/tools/trainingcd/Pages/intro.html,
Featherstone, R., Boldt, R., Torabi, N. & Konrad, S. (2012). Provision of Pandemic
Disease Information by Health Sciences Librarians: A Multisite Comparative Case
Series. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 100(2), 104-112. Accessed May
12, 2012 from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3324800/
Featherstone, R., Lyon, B. & Ruffin, A. (2008). Library roles in disaster response: an
oral history project by the National Library of Medicine. Journal of the Medical
Library Association, 96(4), 343-350. Accessed April 3, 2012 from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2568836/

46. References cont.
Folb, B. (March 30, 2011). Information Needs and Practices of Disaster Response
Professionals: Findings and Implications. . [Presentation given at the Disaster
Information Outreach Symposium, Bethesda, MD). Accessed April 2, 2012 from:
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?Live=10102
Merchant, R.M., Elmer, S. & Lurie, N. (2011). Integrating Social Media into Emergency-
Preparedness Efforts. NEJM. 365(4). 289-291.
Turoff, M. & Starr, R. (March 6, 2008). Information Seeking Behavior and Viewpoints
of Emergency Preparedness and Management Professionals Concerned with
Health and Medicine. [Report prepared for the National Library of Medicine].
Accessed April 2, 2012 from:
http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/FinalReportNLMTuroffHiltzMarch11.htm
Walsh, L., Subbarao, I., Gebbie, K., et al. (2012). Core Competencies for Disaster
Medicine and Public Health. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
6(1), 44-52.
Zach, L. (March 30, 2011). Librarians’ Perceptions of Roles in Disaster Activities.
[Presentation given at the Disaster Information Outreach Symposium, Bethesda,
MD). Accessed April 2, 2012 from:
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?Live=10102

47. Image Credits
Missouri Baptist Hospital Library photos shared with permission of Sandy Decker
Planning the programmes.jpg image by David Brewer:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planning_the_programmes.jpg
Radiologist in San Diego CA 2010 by Zackstarr: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/