Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Revisiting Emergency Preparedness - Louisville Flooding

Back in February I wrote about emergency preparedness with scenario filters and mentioned
Including these as part of an emergency procedures binder (maybe even a wiki!) could be a very valuable and easy way to provide information to colleagues at other institutions who are often eager to help you after disaster strikes.
Disasters aren't neat and tidy when they strike though.


This gut-wrenching image from Greg Schwartz is what the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in Kentucky looks like today. There is at least 1 million dollars worth of damage to at least 10,000 items in the collection (read on for the equipment and facilities damage) as the result of a flash flood this morning.

Servers for any internal staff wikis? Currently submerged in sewage backup. Emergency procedures binders? Probably floating around in there too. I'll keep an eye out for additional lessons to be learned during the 10 Steps to Service Continuity Planning webcasts.

You can help: Donations to a recovery fund can be sent to

The Library Foundation
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203

My thoughts are with the staff and community both now and in the months ahead with recovery.

4 comments:

Greg Schwartz said...

Yup, neither a binder nor a wiki will help us this time.

Nikki Dettmar said...

Nope, however LFPL are members of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) per http://nnlm.gov/members/profile.html?l=KYUEFR Please encourage the LFPL contact to get in touch with NN/LM http://nnlm.gov/gmr/member/emprep/ It's not just for hospital libraries!

Amanda said...

Greg, Eagle, who should checks be made out to? "The Library Fund" "Louisville Library"?

Nikki Dettmar said...

Great question, Amanda, my guess is The Library Foundation is the correct name per the details 'The Library Foundation, 301 York St., Louisville, KY 40203, Attn: Flood. Or they can call, 574-1709 for information'