Webinar presented on July 18, 2012 as part of the Medical Library Association's Disaster Information Specialization Program.

1. Information Roles in Disaster
Day 1
July 18, 2012
Management
1300 – 1400 CT
Robin Featherstone, MLIS
Liaison Librarian (Medicine)
Life Sciences Library, McGill University
robin.featherstone@mcgill.ca
Course materials: http://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/info_roles.html

2. Activity 1
• Consult your completed hazards checklist
• Using your chat box, share:
– your geographic location
– the three hazards you identified

3. Agenda

4. Disaster Information Specialization
www.mlanet.org/education/dis
What is it?
Medical Library Association continuing education program funded
by the National Library of Medicine
All program courses and activities earn MLA continuing education
credit and may also be used toward AHIP
How much does it cost to students?
It’s free!
Who can participate?
Anyone.

5. Disaster Information Specialization
How do I take a course?
In-person and online (all available online)
What courses are there?
Basic level:
1. Disaster Health Information Sources: The Basics
2. US Response to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies
3. Information Roles in Disaster Management
4. National Incident Management System, an Introduction
5. Introduction to Incident Command System
Advanced level:
1. Disasters in an International Context
2. Ethical and Legal Aspects of Respons
3. A Seat at the Table: Working with Local Responders
4. CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear] and Hazmat
Information Resources

6. Disaster Information Specialist
• Provides disaster-related library or
information services as part of their ongoing
job functions
• Possesses knowledge and skills to support
disaster management
• Does more than protect library collections
and maintain library operations

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

8. Objectives

9. 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

10. 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

11. Disaster Management Cycle
Planning
Recovery
Response

12. 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

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

14. Disaster Workforce: Additional
licensed or trained professionals

15. 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)

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

17. 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)

18. 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)

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

20. 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)

21. 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)

22. 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)

23. Homework - Activity 2
• Read the article by Erik Auf der Helde, The
Importance of Evidence-Based Disaster
Planning
• Reflect on his recommended interventions
(summarized on the handout labeled Activity 2)
• Identify a professional service you could provide

24. 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/

25. 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

26. Image Credits
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/
Presentation Slides & Course Materials
http://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/info_roles.html
Program Information
http://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/
Acknowledgement
This project is funded by the National Library of Medicine under contract HHS-N-276-2010-00782-P

27. QUESTIONS