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Disaster Policy and Planning Resources
Local Community Connections
Tailor your plan to your community
- Check with your local fire and police departments. Ask for their input and how to respond emergencies.
- Check with your town office and review any local ordinances in terms of compliance with them.
- Most important: Talk with your local Emergency Management Director as you write your plan. Every town is required to have a disaster preparedness plan and you should talk to your Emergency Management Director as you write your plan.
WebJunction Resources
- Many resources listed at WebJunction, examples below or type in "disaster planning" in the search box.
- TechSoup Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolkit
- "Elements of a Disaster Response Plan" from Miriam Kahn's ALA Editions book, "Disaster Response and Planning, 2nd edition"
- Prepare and Respond: Partnering with Local Emergency Management -archived webinar
Other Online Resources
- LYRASIS has been promoting their expertise in disaster planning and response, Disaster Assistance. They created a free ongoing series of steps to lead to completion of a plan. From their website, “A national leader in library preservation initiatives and training, LYRASIS Preservation Services developed ‘Have a Disaster Plan in Place by May 1, 2010,’ publishing easy steps every two weeks on its Facebook page that libraries and cultural heritage institutions can take to develop a disaster plan. The information-packed steps are freely available on LYRASIS Preservation Services Facebook page and on the LYRASIS Preservation Services website.
- dPlan for the online disaster-planning tool for cultural and civic institutions.
American Library Association
- Disaster Response: A Selected Annotated Bibliography: disaster preparedness websites, training, bibliography
Print Resources
- Field Guide to Emergency Response produced by Heritage Preservation in support of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, c2006, 58 page spiral bound manual, DVD included, available in MaineCat.
Local Conferences
- Maine Emergency Management Agency, MEMA website, “Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness”, if and when offered. It is free and it includes workshops on very technical topics for first responders, such as HAZMAT and Radio technology. But it also provides workshops for the business and school communities on bomb threats, hostage taking, and disaster plans. It also discusses services that we as libraries might offer as warming centers or volunteer clearinghouses.
