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Gulf Coast Recovery Summit

On September 24th and 25th at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta, SOLINET held a disaster recovery summit entitled “The Business Side of Recovery.” The summit was an invitation-only event attended by representatives from southeastern academic libraries. The topics included: Emergency Training and Communication, Business Continuity Planning for Libraries, First Responder Preparedness, and Risk Assessment Strategies for Libraries. Speakers included representatives from libraries directly affected by Hurricane Katrina or similar disasters, the Library of Congress Collections Care Division, archivists, preservation specialists, FEMA personnel, firefighters, and risk managers. Overall, the speakers were informative and several very emotional for some who spoke on the Katrina aftermath.

After listening to the various presentations, the following questions came to mind for our Disaster Team to consider:

  • Do we have relationships established with the first responders both on our campus and from our community long before a disaster happens? Have we taken a firefighter to lunch?
  • Do our first responders on campus have a copy of our disaster plan? Does our disaster plan include a blueprint of the building with floor plans, room names and room numbers?
  • Would our library disaster team be allowed on campus? Are any disaster team members certified in Community Emergency Response Training (CERT)? (Persons with this training are often the first and sometimes only ones allowed in the building or on the campus.)
  • Do we maintain an inventory of our collection somewhere off campus?
  • Do we have a memorandum of understanding with emergency responders that spells out the chain of command? (library contacts for who to call first, second, etc.?)
  • Do we have photos of all staff that may be used to identify those who may be missing or injured?
  • Does our plan address the business continuity side of recovery? (This includes strategies for continuing to meet patron needs, tactics for meeting contractual obligations and a plan for providing administrative services- I know several people are working on parts of this.)
  • Do we have a low tech way to keep essential contact information and basic recovery plans with us at all times? (Consider the Pocket Response Plan, or PReP).

I have a notebook from the conference which includes a “Field Guide to Emergency Response” that I plan to pass along to our Disaster Team. If anyone would like more information concerning the summit you may visit the SOLINET homepage.

North Carolina Library Association Biennial Conference

Like many others from ZSR, I attended our state association’s 57th biennial conference held in Hickory last week. I attended three programs sponsored by the Library Administration and Management Section (LAMS). The first was a pre-conference called “Planning for Library Excellence: How to Tell Your Strategic Story.” Mark Livingston, president of Strategic Management Systems, served as the facilitator for this session. Ideas were shared on how to create a one page strategic plan designed to communicate library priorities and align key stakeholders with both the mission and vision statements. The audience was introduced to the concepts of strategy maps which create a long range vision for personal excellence within the library and balanced scorecards that translate the library’s strategic priorities into measurable and actionable outcomes. Attendees viewed examples of strategic plans generated by other libraries. The afternoon portion focused on an actual case study where breakout groups created strategy statements and priorities of their own.

LAMS also featured Dr. Larry White of East Carolina University in a session titled “Contenders or Pretenders: Competing for your Library’s Customers.” White informed the audience that we are not the only providers of information resources and we are certainly not the best. We all compete for staffing, resources and collaborative partners. He warned librarians that if we study something to death, death was not our original goal: don’t spend too much time planning, exploring and deciding, just do it. Call in the cavalry: our customers and our stakeholders, along with the customers and ideas from our competitors. Consider joint ventures with Amazon, with Barnes and Noble, and others. While working in a library’s access services department, White threw away much of the current circulation policies except for two items: take all the library resources you like as long as you agree to be financially responsible for any you don’t return, and renew as many times as you like as long as someone else is not waiting. One marketing suggestion White offered was to set up stations in the campus community and survey potential customers, asking questions such as ‘how frequently do you visit the library’ and ‘what can we do to get you there?’ to possible users. Simple rewards of candy or five minutes of play time on a popular gaming system were thrown out as possible hooks to have a large pool of responses.

“Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace” was the final LAMS-sponsored session in which Lynn Unsworth, Third Region Manager for Capital Associated Industries (CAI), addressed issues with having four generations converging on the workplace. Comments solicited from the audience included such statements as ‘I’m supervising my mother’, ‘you’re wired, I’m not’ and ‘what’s up with that dress?’ I felt that the presenter spent way too much time talking about generational differences and too little on how to actually manage across those generations. Finally, she offered the M.E.E.T. approach that suggested strategies which most of us are familiar:

  • Making time to discuss.
  • Exploring and appreciating differences.
  • Encouraging mutual respect.
  • Taking individual responsibility.

I have two copies of the CAI brochure on “Four Generations Working Together” that I would be happy to share with anyone who would be interested.

Representation at the conference by ZSR staff was great. Steve managed the NCLA conference store and several staff members including Caroline, Susan, Carolyn and Cristina gave presentations during the conference. (My apologies if I have accidentally omitted someone from this list.) Heather received a travel grant and momentarily represented UNC-G. The ZSR staff is a spectacular group, one of the finest in the state, so I applaud you all for sharing your expertise and your experiences with the rest of North Carolina. Go DEACS!