Throughout the country and especially in Texas, local communities opened their arms to hurricane Katrina evacuees. Like the federal government, emergency health and mental health entities were unprepared for the massive numbers of people needing assistance. Mental health professionals, though armed with a wealth of crisis intervention information,…

In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused devastating damage to states along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of the storms, many questions were raised about the status of the thousands of children living in the affected areas. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared this preliminary information under the…

In this article, the author discusses disaster-recovery planning in light of his personal experience following Hurricane Katrina. He relates the advice he received from Captain Joseph R. Castillo, Chief of Operations for the U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District in New Orleans: Focus on the process of planning, and not on building a plan. The author…

Disaster preparedness is an important issue in library management today. This article presents a general overview of the theoretical aspects of disaster planning in libraries. The stages of disaster planning are a circular process of planning, prevention, response, recovery, preparedness, and training.

The Gulf Coast region suffered an unusually severe hurricane season in 2005: Hurricane Katrina (August 28-29, 2005) devastated much of southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Approximately 2,700 licensed early care and education facilities in those states and in Alabama were affected by Katrina, in addition to an unknown number of family child care…

George Mason University has four campuses in Northern Virginia and 30,000 students, of whom 40 percent are graduate students. One of its campuses is just one mile from the Pentagon. On September 11, 2001, when terrorists struck the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, no one knew the extent of the damage, how many people had been killed or…

This manual is a looseleaf guide to handling emergency situations within the McConnell Library of Radford University (Virginia). It provides instructions for identifying, monitoring, and addressing issues of the safety of patrons and employees at the library, describing emergency procedures, safety equipment, and the evacuation process, and…

This packet serves as an introduction to and overview of the complex issue of identification and preservation of rare government documents. It is intended as a starting point, not a comprehensive guide, for all questions about government documents. Part 1 is a selective bibliography of resources to identify rare and valuable documents (50 sources)…

It is necessary to identify nonstructural hazards at the school site to reduce the possibly of injury in the event of an earthquake. Nonstructural hazards can occur in every part of a building and all of its contents with the exception of structure. In other words, nonstructural elements are everything but the columns, beams, floors, load-bearing…

Intended to be used in conjunction with the Portland State University handbook entitled "Safety Guidelines and Emergency Procedures," this manual provides guidelines to be followed in the event of library emergencies involving fire, flood, fumes, smoke, and water leakage, with special attention given to the processes required for the…

Risks of lightning losses and casualties can be minimized by a lightning protection system. (Author/MLF)

This manual provides guidelines for those who are responsible for disaster planning for libraries and archives. Limited to fire-and-water-related disasters involving books, manuscripts, and photographs, the manual is primarily concerned with planning. Divided into two major areas, disaster preparedness and disaster recovery, the manual covers…

This eight-chapter publication considers the man-made and natural causes of natural disasters. Following an introduction, Chapter 1 outlines the increase in natural disasters in the past decade and discusses the ratio of disasters from one continent to another. Chapter 2 discusses man-made factors such as deforestation and overused soil in causing…

Notes on various topics, such as how the Virginia Higher Education system can cut costs; the University of South Carolina's personnel recruitment system; a cooperative program between a college and a hospital; and preparations for tornadoes at an Indiana college. (JF)

This bulletin describes a set of general guidelines for developing contingency plans that prepare school systems to cope with expected and unexpected disruptions in the educational process. Typically, contingency plans are prepared to anticipate consequences of school desegregation, natural disasters, bomb threats, or mass demonstrations. The…