Friday, October 4
1:00pm
Registration
A library’s role as an “essential community function” during disasters is now encoded in U.S. law, positioning them to aid communities in real ways during times of adversity. Guest speaker Mary Grace Flaherty has researched (as professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and lived (as a public library director in NY) emergency response and recovery, and will present for us on Friday, October 4th at 1:00pm to share hard-won knowledge and experience.
This session will familiarize attendees with the six phases of disaster response and offer three essential factors that shape the form of a disaster plan. Mary Grace has tips on building much-needed community support should disaster strike, using federal government planning resources, and working with state and local governments. You’ll leave motivated to create, improve, or complete your library’s plan that you can trust will save you time and stress later on. No matter where your library is in the disaster planning cycle, join us for this talk.
Read a sample of Mary Grace’s 2021 book, “The Disaster Planning Handbook for Libraries” published by ALA Editions at https://alastore.ala.org/