What about the Library? The Value of Libraries Before and After a Major Disaster (sponsored by the Library of Virginia)

From the Library of Virginia:

What about the Library? The Value of Libraries Before and After a Major DisasterLibraries have served many roles in communities affected by disaster.   Have you considered what important roles your library could play in emergency response for your community or institution?

 Join us on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, at the Twin Hickory Branch of the Henrico Public Library in Glen Allen, Virginia for a half-day conference (9 -12 or 1-4)  on roles libraries can play before and after a major disaster.

Featured speakers:

Rebecca Hamilton, State Librarian, State Library of Louisiana, will be the keynote speaker.  Her talk will focus on emergency preparedness and response lessons, issues, and strategies for public librarians, based on her experience with Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall on the Gulf Coast just 60 days into her tenure.

Dan Wilson, Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine’s (NN/LM) Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative, will highlight the many risks inherent to Virginia.  He will also introduce conference participants to a one-page emergency response plan designed for the continuation of core services and resources following a disaster.  During lunch, Dan will provide instruction in designing and implementing a table-top exercise for your library, using a Category 3 hurricane as the scenario.

The conference will be presented twice on October 6th.  The morning session will run from 9 AM to Noon, followed by lunch from Noon until 1 PM.  The afternoon session, including lunch, will run from 1 PM to 4 PM.  (Those participants from both sessions who can stay for lunch will be together during the lunchtime table-top exercise session.)

Seating is limited to 25 participants at each session, so please register early.  The cost of the conference is $15, which will help to defray lunch and meeting expense costs.

Special Note:  all participants attending the Twin Hickory Branch conference will receive a free emergency radio.  The radio is excellent to have on hand in the event of power outages and other emergencies because it can be re-charged by cranking a handle, and includes an LED flashlight.  It will also power a cell phone via adaptor, and issues NOAA severe weather alerts as well as transmitting AM/FM radio and NOAA weather channels.

For those of you who cannot attend the Richmond meeting, Dan Wilson will be speaking to groups to be convened in Southwest Virginia and the Tidewater areas of Virginia later in the fall.

The conference is sponsored by the Library of Virginia and has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. NO1-LM-6-3502 with the University of Maryland Baltimore.

To register for this event, please visit Virginia Libraries Event Calendar and choose either the morning or afternoon session on Wednesday, October 6th: http://host5.evanced.info/lva/evanced/eventcalendar.asp