Information Roles in Disaster Management

Information Roles in Disaster ManagementDay 1July 18, 20121300 1400 CTRobin Featherstone, MLISLiaison Librarian (Medicine)Life Sciences Library, McGill Universityrobin.featherstone@mcgill.caCourse materials: http://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/info_roles.html

welcome!

Introduce yourself

Debra Cavanaugh from MLA for technical questions

Siobhan Champ-Blackwell for questions about the DIS specialization program

Experiment 50 plus participants

1Activity 1Consult your completed hazards checklistUsing your chat box, share:your geographic location the three hazards you identified

You should all have received via email a hazards checklist activity. You were asked to identify the three most likely hazards to impact your community

Please use the chat feature in Adobe Connect to share the three hazards that are most likely to impact your community.

one of the things that I find reassuring about disaster management activities is the knowledge that, once I know about a hazard, theres something I can do about it.

Please remember the hazards you identified, as you will participate in a tabletop exercise on day 2 that relates to your chosen hazard.

2AgendaDAY 1Disaster information specialistsDisaster managementHOMEWORK: Reflection exercise DAY 2Librarian roles HOMEWORK: Tabletop exercises

The webinar version of this course is broken into two parts: the first half is mostly lecture and aims to provide you with definitions, to summarize recent research findings about the roles of librarians and disaster information needs, and to focus your thinking on the application of librarian skills in the arena of disaster medicine and public health preparedness.

Tomorrow we will be covering the specific roles that librarians have taken. Ill summarize some recent research on the disaster management functions of librarians within their organizations and their communities. And also the disaster outreach activities of librarians.

3Disaster Information Specialization 1www.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? Its free!

Who can participate? Anyone.

4Disaster Information Specialization 2 How do I take a course? In-person and online (all available online)What courses are there? Basic level:Disaster Health Information Sources: The BasicsUS Response to Disasters and Public Health EmergenciesInformation Roles in Disaster ManagementNational Incident Management System, an Introduction Introduction to Incident Command System Advanced level:Disasters in an International ContextEthical and Legal Aspects of ResponsA Seat at the Table: Working with Local RespondersCBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear] and Hazmat Information Resources

New classes are under development. RML funding available for course developers.

5Disaster Information Specialist 3 Provides disaster-related library or information services as part of their ongoing job functionsPossesses knowledge and skills to support disaster managementDoes more than protect library collections and maintain library operations

To begin gaining a shared understanding of a disaster information specialist and the goals of MLAs specialization program, I want to emphasize that a DI specialist is an outreach position for someone who will provide services to their institutions or communities. The DI specialist will possess knowledge and communication skills to provide valuable assistance to members of the disaster workforce.

The DI specialist may participate in efforts to plan for and recovery from disasters affecting library buildings and collections, but it is not their main role. Continuity of operations will not be the focus of todays class.

6Selected Continuity of Operations ResourcesNN/LM Emergency & Preparedness Toolkit http://nnlm.gov/ep/Halsted, Deborah D., Richard P. Jasper, and Felicia M. Little.Disaster Planning: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2005.

To assist with your efforts to learn more about continuity of library operations during a disaster, I recommend the National Network of the Libraries of Medicine Emergency & Preparedness Toolkit, and the excellent manual by Deborah Halsted, which is about to be released in a new edition.

7ObjectivesAt the end of the webinar, you will be able toIdentify members of the disaster workforce and understand their patterns of information useIdentify professional roles for librarians during all stages of the disaster management cycleArticulate how librarians historically viewed their roles in disastersRecognize the valuable roles librarians have played in disaster management

To assist in gaining the credentials of a DI specialist, the objectives for the class are to provide you with basic knowledge of disaster management and an overview of the roles librarians have played, the ability to identify disaster information needs which can be met by librarians professional skills, and the confidence to market librarian services to members of the disaster workforce.

Tomorrow you will gain the ability to describe the historical view of librarians roles in disasters and well contrast that with research describing the actual work of librarians,

8DefinitionsDisaster: 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

There are many definitions of disaster related concepts, but some basic ones include the following.

Additional definition of a disaster: Disasters are a state in which the social fabric is disrupted and becomes dysfunctional to a greater or lesser extent. Fritz, C. (1961). Disasters. in Contemporary Social Problems, Edited by Robert K. Merton and Robert A. Nisbet. New York: Harcourt. pp 651-694.

You can see how these three terms are related. An event can escalate into an emergency, and an emergency into a disaster.

9Disaster CategoriesNaturalMan madeEarthquakesChemical spillsHurricanesIndustrial accidentsTsunamisTerrorist attacksEtc.Etc.Natural or Man made? FloodsForest FiresAvalanchesEpidemicsOnce a hazard or event becomes a disaster, it can be categorized in numerous ways: natural, public health emergency, unintentional, intentional, man-made, etc. But for the purposes of todays workshop, well consider two broad types under which most disasters can be classified: Natural and man made. This is how the European Commission on Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection defines disaster types: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/civil_protection/civil/vademecum/menu/1.html

[Note: click to reveal the second table]

Some disasters that cannot be so easily categorized are floods, forest fires, avalanches. You can see how a natural hazard can turn into a disaster as a result of a man-made intervention, like a lit cigarette discarded on the floor of a dry forest.

It is also important to remember that many disasters produce cascade effects that lead to situations that may fall into both categories. For example, a naturally occurring tsunami caused an nuclear accident in Japan in 2011.

Finally, the term All-Hazards preparedness is commonly used in the fields of disaster medicine and emergency management. There is a recognition that many of the actions we take to prepare ourselves can be effective in any kind of disaster.

10Disaster Management Cycle

All experts agree that disaster management has distinct phases. How many phases (or stages) depends on whom you ask. For the purposes of todays workshop, however, were going to discuss the simplest three-stage model. And for the workshops exercises, Ill ask you to reflect on the different information needs of the planning, response and recovery phases.

Key point: the vast majority of the time is preparedness times and many people will never encounter a disaster situation that affects their immediate area. But that doesnt mean there isnt some way in which they can participate in local preparedness or in response/recovery from a distance.

Another key point is that for every day of response, there are 40 days of recovery. These phases may be cyclical, but the recovery and planning phases are much, much longer than the response phase. If they choose to become a DI specialist, it is far more likely that librarians will be involved in planning and recovery efforts.

11Disaster WorkforceLicensed or trainedPaid or volunteerPermanent or as-needed workers

who play a defined role in

All-hazards preparedness, response and recovery

In implementing Emergency Support Functions 6 & 8: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-esf-intro.pdf Mass care, Emergency Assistance, Disaster Housing & Human Services; Public Health and Medical Services

Now that we have a shared understanding of disasters and the stages of disaster management, just who are the individuals who plan for, respond to and aid in the recovery from disasters?

Emergency Support Functions 6 & 8 See: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-esf-intro.pdf

12Disaster Workforce: Licensed/credentialed health professionals (ESAR VHP, 2011)

Note: Click to start animation. Click again to see the next photo.

Photo 1 - Nurses: Advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, clinical nurses specialists) ; Licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses ; Registered nurses

Photo 2 Behavioral Health Professionals: Marriage and family therapists ; Medical and public health social workers ; Mental health and substance abuse social workers ; Psychologists ; Mental health counselors

Photo 3 EMTs: Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics

Photo 4 Veterinarians

Photo 5 Dentists

Photo 6 Pharmacists

Photo 7 Physicians: Physicians ; Physician assistants ; Emergency physicians and other first receivers

Photo 8 Radiologists: Radiologic technologists and technicians

Other: Cardiovascular technologist and technicians ; Medical and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians ; Respiratory therapists

Source: Who is Eligible? Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP). http://www.phe.gov/esarvhp/pages/registration.aspx

13Disaster Workforce: Additional licensed or trained professionals

Note: Click to start animation. Click again to see the next photo.

Photo 1 Trained community volunteers: Red Cross, Community Emergency Response Teams

Photo 2 Firefighters: Firefighters, including hazardous materials responders

Photo 3 Emergency Managers: Hospital and other health center administrators ; Public Information Officers (as defined in Incident Command System)

Photo 4 Military and civilian humanitarian assistance workers

Photo 5 Librarians: Librarians, library staff, informationists, information specialists

Photo 6 Support Staff: Administrative and support staff for Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT), and Disaster Mortuary Teams (DMORT) ; Social work assistants ; Laboratory support staff, administrators

Photo 7 Clergy

Photo 8 Disaster Mortuary Team Members: Medical Examiner/Coroners, Forensic Pathologists, Forensic Anthropologists, Fingerprint Specialists, Forensic Odontologists, Funeral Directors/Embalmers, Dental Assistants, X-ray Technicians, Mental Health Specialists, DNA Specialists, Medical Records Technicians, Evidence Specialists (DMORT, 2011)

Other: Health educators, Toxicologists, Environmental Health Workforce, Epidemiologists, Public Health Workers, Health profession and allied health students,

14Selected core & sub competencies for disaster medicine and public health4.0 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)An important document was recently published by the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. After many years of consultations, disaster medicine experts defined a core set of competencies for professionals in the field of disaster medicine and public health.

In thinking about the support function of librarians, it is important to recognize that a core competency is related to effective communication and includes the sub competencies: to identify authoritative sources for information and to identify strategies for sharing information.

Sounds right up our alley, doesnt it?

Before I move on to the next section of the course, Im going to administer a short, three question quiz.

15Disaster Health Information Peer-reviewed scholarly literature Journal articles Books

Grey Literature Reports Summaries Surveillance data Training materials Conference proceedings

Imagine this triangle represents the body of disaster health information. It can be split into two parts:

CLICK 1: Peer-reviewed scholarly literatureCLICK 2: Grey Literature

Note: the amount of grey literature is much larger than the peer-reviewed, scholarly sources.

According to Turoffs study of emergency managers information needs: Respondents reported use of a diverse range of [[, with the diversity due partly to the varied specializations in particular types of emergencies. Current sources included primarily websites and journals, but other types of print resources were also identified. With the journal literature, there is a tremendous scattering of the literature over many different sources. Hundreds of web sites were mentioned, with little overlap. The most frequently mentioned was the CDC's http://emergency.cdc.gov/ site, with eleven mentions. The next most frequently cited was the Department of Homeland Security general site or its Lessons Learned Information Sharing (LLIS) site, followed by Relief Web. The FEMA and Radiation Event Medical Management (REMM) sites were next, with three mentions each.

[] Other needed resources deal with the "gray" literature that is not formally published and can exist in either print or web-based form, or both. Many respondents believe this type of literature often contains the most up-to-date and most relevant content. Examples include forms, procedures reports or assessments, operations plans, databases of personnel and other resources, and best practices and case reports.

16Role of Social MediaClearly, 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)

In addition to becoming experts in sources of disaster information, librarians can assist members of the disaster workforce in the use of social media to access and share evidence. Social media in disasters is a hot topic. For some librarians, knowledge of Twitter and other information sharing tools may provide an avenue for working with emergency responders. In addition, librarians abilities to monitor information sources and provide alerting services have proven invaluable to health care administrators in a disaster.

17Information use by disaster preparedness professionalsInfluenced by their trainingViewed information as a decision-making toolConsidered information to include observable environmental data and conversationsRelied on social networks and the InternetRevisited trusted organizational sites (i.e., CDC)(Folb, 2011)

Lets discuss for a moment how the disaster workforce uses information. In a study conducted by Barbara Folb, she observed that previous training influenced the methods used to locate information. Information was seen as a decision-making tool. Synthesized and brief information summaries were desired. Emergency managers used published information in conjunction with what they perceived in their environments and what they learned from talking to people. Social networks were an important source of information and the disaster workforce highly valued relationships built upon face-to-face interactions. Trusted information sources, like the CDC (which was the most popular source cited in Murray Turoffs report), were preferentially selected.

18Desired information typesPeer organization experience, lessons-learned documents (case studies)StandardsOperations, procedures, manualsLegal, regulatoryGrants, fundingPotential local hazardsVulnerable populationsEmerging hazards, novel eventsNewsCurrent conditions

(Folb, 2011)The kind of information found useful by the disaster workforce included case studies of peer-organizations, often referred to as lessons-learned documents, standards of practice and clearly presented procedural information. An important information need was identified as legal or regulatory information. In addition, they were seeking funding opportunities. Risk assessments identifying local hazards and data on vulnerable populations in their regions were also sought. Current information about emerging hazards potential threats to the community were monitored. And related to monitoring current information, news sources were an important source. From other studies, we know that local news sources are a vital source of on the ground information.

19What do emergency managers see as the roles of librarians? 1 Creating and maintaining taxonomies with expert inputServing as a clearinghouse of knowledge concerning the different aspects of disastersEquipping libraries to access real-time emergency telemedicine networksWorking with specialists to identify high-quality informationDeveloping easy-to-use methods of delivering specific content (Turoff & Hiltz, 2008)

The National Library of Medicine commissioned research on the information needs of emergency managers. The following are suggestions emergency managers for librarian contributions to disaster management activities.

It is clear that emergency managers are interested in leveraging librarian skills to organize, identify and deliver disaster information.

20Producing annotated bibliographies and synthesesParticipating in call centers taking questions from the publicDeveloping FAQs for local emergency preparedness and response and making them easy to locateAssisting in text and data mining, aggregating and compiling information to support public health decision-makingSharing expertise with those in developing countries through an international network of librarians and archivists (Turoff & Hiltz, 2008)What do emergency managers see as the roles of librarians? 2In addition, emergency managers are looking to librarians to synthesize and deliver information in just in time situations, to work with information officers to select and prepare information to be disseminated to the public, to discover new methods for interpreting data from available evidence, and to participate in international collaborations.

21Recommendations for librariansBecome part of the networkPartner with trusted organizationsGet involved in pre-career training(Folb, 2011)Be part of your organizations disaster planMonitor information using alerting servicesBe strategic in your communication plan consider audience capacity and use appropriate technologies Evaluate your services(Featherstone, et al. 2012)

Before we describe your homework exercise to conceptualize how librarian skills can be utilized to answer some of the challenges in disaster planning, I just wanted to summarize some recommendations for librarians that have been made by researchers evaluating the success of information service provision to the disaster workforce.

The more integrated you are, the better. Become part of the social network and utilize the opportunity to provide needed information. Leverage the credibility of trusted organizations; partner with recognized authorities. And the best place to start is from the ground up. Being integrated into training programs is an excellent place to teach fundamental information literacy skills.

Another set of recommendations includes being part of a institutional disaster plan. Specify the role of the library and the librarians so that you can respond when needed. Be prepared to utilize search alerts and other current awareness tools like RSS, Twitter, and email lists. Know your audience and find out what technologies they are using to access the information you are sharing. And approach each service with the goal to assess it. You want to make maximize your efforts to make them as effective as possible.

before I describe your homework exercise, Im going to give you another short quiz to see how youre doing.

22Homework - Activity 2Read 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 provideNow, before tomorrow, please read Erik Auf der Heldes article The Importance of Evidence-Based Disaster Planning.

Once youve read the article, complete Activity 2 to identify potential librarian services that would support his recommended interventions for hospital preparing for a disaster.

Tomorrow, you will begin the class by sharing one of your interventions.

23ReferencesRobert 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 WAFEMA (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/PMC2568836/24References 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=10102Merchant, 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.htmWalsh, 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=1010225Image CreditsPlanning the programmes.jpg image by David Brewer: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planning_the_programmes.jpgRadiologist in San Diego CA 2010 by Zackstarr: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Presentation Slides & Course Materialshttp://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/info_roles.htmlProgram Informationhttp://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/AcknowledgementThis project is funded by the National Library of Medicine under contract HHS-N-276-2010-00782-P26QUESTIONS27