Institute of Museum and Library Services 2020 Grants to States All States Conference May
13, 2020 Virtual Proceedings by: CASET Associates, Ltd. caset@caset.net
Agenda Item: Disaster Preparedness: Learning from your peers
MS.
FARRELL: Welcome everyone.
Rob Favini is the Head of Library Advisory and Development at the MA Board of Library
Commissioners.
There he serves as the LSTA coordinator and leads the agencyís team of grant consultants.
In addition, he oversees outreach services to library directors, trustees, and friendsí
groups.
Rob also serves in his spare time as a trustee at the Fitchburg Public Library in Fitchburg
Massachusetts.
Our second speaker and superhero is Denise Lyons.
Denise has been Deputy Director of Statewide Development at the SC State Library since
2008.
She has an MS in Public Service Management and Nonprofit Administration from DePaul University
in Chicago, and an MLIS in the University of South Carolina.
Denise was a TIA leadership fellow in 2010, and is currently part of IFLA Evidence for
Global and Disaster Health Special Interest Group.
And while Iím speaking about the South Carolina Library, Iíd like to do a little shout out
and congratulation to J. Caroline Smith who is the Diversity and Inclusion Consultant
at the South Carolina State Library.
She was named as one of the 2020 LJ movers and shakers.
So lots of superheroes going on in South Carolina.
Our final superhero speaker for this afternoon is Mark Smith.
Mark is Director and Librarian at the TX State Library and Archives Commission and has served
his home state since November 2013.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts and English and a Master of Library Science from the University
of Texas at Austin.
Mark has over 35 yearsí experience in the library field and has worked in three states
and in a variety of library settings.
I will mention here that we will let each one of the speakers speak and then we will
take questions.
So now Rob, if you want to start us off.
MR.
FAVINI: Thanks, Michele.
Also, Iím excited to be on the last program of the day and not worried about people running
out to catch flights at the airport, so this is a very exciting time to present.
What I want to do today is walk through our disaster preparedness planning at the Massachusetts
Board of Library Commissioners.
It has been a bit of a journey, I want to talk a little bit about how we were setup
before the pandemic and how we are really realizing that what we were setup for really
needs to change, and so weíre shifting gears very quickly, weíre evolving, and weíre
trying to be as flexible as possible.
One thing we came to realize, the old military adage is that generals arm up to fight the
previous war, and in our case the previous war was Hurricane Katrina.
This was the defining event that really informed our disaster preparedness services that we
developed, many which under the eyes of Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, longtime member of the MBLC
staff.
It really was a program that defined it in that we were very much concerned with buildings,
we were very much concerned with collections, and very much concerned with all things physical.
And in particular we were really concentrating on the impact of water events and the aftermath
of these water events, so we were talking a lot about mold and drying things out and
repairing things to get them before an event like a water event would happen.
So a lot of our systems plans that have been in action really reflected this.
And again, it had to do with physically teaching librarians to process things, talking directly
to librarians, archivists, records custodians.
We were concentrating on things like cleanup kits, emergency supplies located all across
the state and encouraging folks to have some on hand.
We also had a way to help with technical assistance if it was an emergency on-call, if something
happened, if a flood happened, if pipes burst over collection, we were really setup to do
that, we had a lot of partnerships with that in some organizations such as Polygon, Belfor,
BMS CAT and New England Document Conservation Center.
In addition to that, we tried to have folks setup for success in their own world and be
prepared as they can.
MBLC was an initial partner in the creation of dPlan, which is a disaster planning software.
This enables libraries of all sizes to put in their particular collection and requirements
and their physical environment, and then with the software create a plan.
So really it gave a lot of capability to everyone throughout the state no matter the size.
On a side note there is a new version of dPlan coming out which is being developed by Northeast
Document Conservation Center.
So keep an eye out for that.
But this proved to be a very useful tool for our libraries, and weíre happy to be part
of it.
The other thing that we found is that Katrina had a rallying effect to start partnerships
that maybe wouldnít have started before.
A good example of this is COSTEP Massachusetts, we are key partners to this day, and really
the mission of this organization is to bring together our libraries, cultural institutions,
and pair them up with state and regional organizations and agencies to provide disaster relief.
I would recommend anyone going to it we do have national and regional resources listed.
Right now the focus of this group has been on programming and networking as opposed to
specific events, but theyíre also another ever-evolving organization.
And finally, even throughout subgrants you can see that our concentration really was
on protecting collections and really preserving and digitizing things with an idea again that
physicalness of it.
All of that of course changes a couple months ago with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Massachusetts was hit rather hard.
Right now, todayís case log, we have slightly over 79,000 cases reported, with slightly
over 5000 deaths due to the COVID-19.
Like everyone else it really presented us a challenge of moving to remote locations,
working remotely, and really not having a playbook.
And we were immediately dealing with libraries who had a lot of questions to answers we just
simply did not have, because this was something that was so new and so different that we couldnít
pull anything off the shelf, nor could our existing disaster planning satisfy a lot of
the questions they had.
Just to walk you through the timeline of how weíve been working through this, March 10
was the day the world changed, certainly for the MBLC.
A state of emergency was proclaimed.
Our office shut down, we moved to remote locations.
And that proved to be a challenge in and of itself, remobilizing as a remote organization.
March 23 was another big date, here the governor declared a stay at home advisory in keeping
only essential businesses open.
They did not mention libraries specifically, so that created a lot of debate whether libraries
were essential.
We never want to say libraries are not an essential part of the town, but for these
purposes it really didnít fit the plan, but we still had a few libraries that were opened
up.
On March 31st they extended the declaration of essential businesses only.
By that point most of the libraries in Massachusetts had been closed.
Weíd started seeing furloughing and layoffs of staff, and we just saw an overall anxiety
level raise, because on Marsh 31st the governor had put a pin in to say on May 4th we would
be looking at a reopening date.
That did not hold true, because on April 28th the governor had another statement where he
was extending the closure to May 18th, and then announced a Reopening Advisory Board,
and thatís the position weíre in now.
Again, causing more anxiety because a lot of people are wondering where do libraries
fit into this, and we have not had specific representation on this reopening board, but
we have been connected with a lot of people who are involved in it.
So how we have been working with this particular disaster, we partnered with our affiliate
Massachusetts Library System, and decided to have one place to put all of our resources.
We were really concerning ourselves with getting any kind of announcement that came out or
any kind of examples of how people are doing things and putting them in one location that
people across the state have access to.
In addition, using the connections that we had made through COSTEP, we are also able
to distribute the Massachusetts Emergency Planning Daily Situation report to all of
our libraries.
So weíre trying to keep them informed as best we can as we find information.
But as we got closer to the May 4th date, we really got the pressure from across the
state of trying to open, what will be the next plan.
So a lot of libraries are looking to any help with an advisory or some sort of a guidance
in the planning of coming back to full services, restoration of full services.
We donít like to say reopening because in a lot of ways libraries have never closed,
theyíve just not had their buildings able to serve their clientele.
So to better inform us we partnered again with our affiliate Massachusetts Library System
and the 10 automated library networks across the state.
We hosted (audio cuts out) MS.
FARRELL: I think Rob will rejoin us in a few minutes.
It was interesting to see his slide, how it unfolded in such a short period of time.
Iím really amazed at how the State Library was able to move forward very quickly.
Rob is in the process of calling back.
But Iím sure at the end of these three presentations youíll have plenty of questions, because
thereís a lot thatís been covered and will continue to be covered by the other two speakers.
MR.
FAVINI: Hello everyone.
I was disconnected.
Iím hoping Iím back on, Iím going to continue.
We had 10 sessions with about 575 attendees, and we wanted to get some guidance around
three specific areas of what people might have questions about.
One of those was collections.
We used a software package called Padlet, that was really just creating a major, almost
like recreating a room where you could put sticky notes on large flip charts and capture
peopleís input.
On collections we found out that a major concern was materials handling, and decontamination
was top of the list, people wanted to know how safely they could handle their collections.
Another part was they wanted to look for guidance around PPE, how can they get it, who was supposed
to be in charge to get it and things like that.
Another section that we looked at was the service delivery.
This took into account how you were going to provide services once you got back into
your building.
We had a lot of questions around here were building occupancy, rules about excluding
populations, is it okay to not have elderly people come in with the general population,
is there a way to monitor children, is it okay to close to children because children
canít really social distance and wear facemasks on a consistent basis.
A lot of these things weíre hoping that libraries are able to connect with their local boards
of health to get some guidance around these parts.
And finally, we had a section around staff concerns, what folks are going to do once
they get their staff into their libraries, what vulnerable populations are among their
staff and how do they deal with that.
And again, this is one where weíre driving people to go to their local health departments
to find out what their rules are around staffing buildings and how they can let people in there.
And again, throughout this whole thing one of the things that we learned is people are
really looking hard for really library specific guidance, and that has been the hardest part,
is that now weíre finding more examples out there, but for the longest time there really
wasnít anything available that said specifically libraries should do X, Y, or Z.
So right now, weíre working very hard on resumption to full-service guidance.
Weíre talking about using a phased approach where the first phase is limited opening with
just staff and then moving closer to opening full services.
And also, the date for Governorís Reopening Advisory Commission, which is promising to
give us a lot more guidance specific to what we can do.
And then prepare for being flexible to prepare for some possible fall shutdowns, and then
working on our own agency contingency of service plans.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you, Rob.
Now we will take Denise Lyons.
MS.
LYONS: Hello everyone.
I am here to share some information about a research project that the South Carolina
State Library has been working on, with faculty from the University of South Carolina, and
then Iíll move into some information about our Statewide Emergency Preparedness Committee
and work during this pandemic.
We began this specific research project on librariansí roles in emergencies and natural
disasters after the catastrophic flooding in South Carolina in 2015.
Weather events here have not only increased over the years, but they have increased in
intensity.
We hosted two studies between 2015 and 2017, and then went to Houston to interview Houston
Public Library Staff and administrators about their role during Hurricane Harvey.
Since librarians have long been first responders during all kinds of situations in the community,
we felt it was important to learn about what professional librarian knowledge, skills,
and competencies were used during several years of weather events.
Our goal is to use the finding to enhance curriculum development at the School Of Library
And Information Science of the University of South Carolina, and continuing education
offered by the state library.
To show you the severity of the flooding, these photos show Columbia in 2015, Charleston
in 2016, and a photo showing the same site in Houston before and after Hurricane Harvey.
Our intention is to examine and document the dynamic phenomena related to public libraries
and their social responsibility in times of disaster.
We developed our project from a public health framework because with it we can find clear
guidelines in people, processes, and partnerships.
Also, our lead researcher works with those in public health, and we felt if we wanted
those colleagues to understand and support our work a common framework they use would
help.
Situation specific case research was utilized to design all three of the studies.
The methodology consists of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including focus groups
and a survey.
In the first set of focus groups information was collected regarding the librarianís activity,
such as what information they gathered and distributed, library partnership, and information
needs and the use of technology, including social media.
The study in 2017 consisted of a survey on community membersí use of disaster information
sources and evaluation of the informationís credibility during and after the 2015 flooding
and 2016 Hurricane Matthew.
For the third project we conducted five focus groups for a total of 50 librarians and administrators
of the Houston Public Library.
Our questions focused on three areas.
The first was public librariansí use of multiple channels and technology for information distribution
and services.
The second was the public libraryís collaboration with multi-level agencies to facilitate emergency
response and recovery, and the third was community membersí use of disaster information sources
and evaluation of the informationís credibility before, during, and after Hurricane Harvey.
If you have worked in a public library, you will see that our results yielded challenges
that are probably not surprising.
We learned the general publicís lack of skill in using technology to access information
was a significant problem.
We already know that low literacy and functional literacy are challenges here in South Carolina.
Even the FEMA agent agreed that their paperwork and processes are complicated.
Another challenge we encountered was that the public libraries were not fully prepared
to provide sufficient essential disaster and health information for adult users online.
They were not proactive in disseminating and promoting access to critical disaster information
in English and other languages.
One library administrator specifically mentioned wishing for health sciences librarians to
help with health information during this time.
We also learned that 14 percent of the stateís FEMA applications were filed at the Richland
County Public Library System in 2015, and that the Internet is absolutely necessary
for all of these processes.
The lack of access to internet across the state, especially in rural areas, is a problem
that continues today.
Social media served as main channels to provide real-time information services.
We learned there was a lot of sharing of pages posted on Facebook and retweets on Twitter.
Some libraries run their own social media updates, such as the statewide library, and
our nearby Richland and Lexington County Libraries, but in Houston social media is centralized
and goes out through the cityís communication division.
When conducting our surveys and interviews of public health partners we came across several
instances of the library being an integral part of the community.
The FEMA agent stressed what a positive experience he had working in the library.
In South Carolina, the libraries have strong relationships which were valuable during these
disasters and remain important today.
In Georgetown for example during emergency the staff from the library regularly serves
in the countyís emergency operation center.
This slide shows some of the required competencies and skills that we learned through the research.
Public libraries are in a vital position to serve their local community information needs
and to reach community members whose everyday lives have been affected by a crisis, because
the community trusts libraries and librarian services in times of crisis.
We do note however that many of these on the slide are not directly incorporated into the
LIS curricula, but we believe that the professional degree should include coursework to cover
them.
We also believe that the LIS program should provide mentoring to enable public librarians
to deliver training programs to support staff membersí professional development.
Our findings also indicate there are a few provisions of critical information services
that public libraries and librarians should provide.
Itís very important to make sure that there are trustworthy digital health resources for
adult users.
In addition to that point we believe in providing health information and technology literacy
training to the general public will be helpful.
They should also promote the use of credible resources and multiple languages and services
by the public librariesí websites anytime.
Partnerships with medical librarians and public health staff and agencies can support these
efforts.
At the time several public librarian participants in the study did not feel it was necessary
for the library and information science education program to cover disaster preparedness response
and recovery in the LIS curricula, although further research will study whether this still
holds true.
Current plans for the school include at least one new course to address some of these competencies.
It was agreed however that continuing education offerings such as those provided by the state
library are essential to better prepare librarians to provide disaster and health information
services.
The state library regularly provides webinars, training classes, and multiple day training
for mini conferences, as well as up to date resources on our website and in our catalogue.
From this and other learnings of the agency we decided we would create a Statewide Emergency
Preparedness Committee to help with ongoing needs for preparedness and planning, especially
when itís not during our typical bad weather season.
We have a few members of our state library staff and some of the public library staff
who have been a part of various emergency preparedness trainings in recent years.
Our first tasks are to build a network of resources and create a replicable toolkit
as well as update the lib guide.
We plan to include not just weather emergencies but safety, and of course now pandemic.
Secondarily, we will be hosting an emergency preparedness and facility summit modeled on
the one from the Georgia Public Library Service and their team of Nate Rall and Angela Stanley
have offered their support.
We also want to replicate the FEMA Preparedness Ambassador program from Region Two in New
Jersey, which you may have heard Michelle Stricker from the New Jersey State Library
talk about at PLA.
The committee will also continue to work on continuing education needs, such as those
listed on the slide, and developing stronger relationships with partners and experts in
the field.
Usually Iíll show you some of the resources that we use, but with our lack of time today,
I just listed some of the websites that you can review and use in the future.
This is a screenshot of the lib guide that we put together with our COVID19 resources.
It includes our general information, reopening information, and while not on this screenshot
thereís also a communications guide and clinical posters in English and Spanish.
What we have been doing as a state library focuses a lot on continuing education, professional
development, and general guidance for library staff and administrators.
We hold weekly informal chats, launched some interactive training, and believe it or not
the jugglers actually have a piece that addresses mindfulness, and have greatly expanded online
learning offerings.
With our CARES funds weíre distributing MiFi devices and supporting more permanent solutions
for bookmobile wireless services as well as some direct subgrants.
We continue to offer our guidance on reopening plans and communication plans as our agency
is still fully working remotely.
Weíve been working at the federal and state level with our representatives on broadband
expansion and other topics that will benefit the library.
So we will continue to move forward with our projects and programs, surveying our libraries
regularly to assure that weíre keeping up with special needs, and to see how all this
progresses over the next few months.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thank you.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you, Denise.
I really appreciate all your thoughts on this.
And our next speaker is Mark Smith.
MR.
SMITH: Thank you, Michele.
Good afternoon everyone.
I appreciate having the opportunity to participate in the panel today.
I learned a great deal from the speakers.
Iím going to briefly touch on a lot of the points that they talked about, although I
also wanted to start out talking a little bit about our agency, how we responded as
an agency to the situation.
With dealing with the crisis we have been essentially guided by two sets of documents.
The first is our Continuity of Operations Plan, or COOP, which is a required document
for all state agencies in Texas, and which we review and revise every year.
The COOP defines major disasters that could disable large parts of our operation and lays
out structures for emergency management and communication during those periods.
The COOP in Texas as you might imagine has been very geared towards natural disaster,
which until now has been mostly what we have had to deal with.
But on a more basic level we also have a loose set of documents for our agency that we call
the Business Continuity Plan, and thatís a policy and procedure that defines how to
maintain essential services under kind of more normal circumstances.
Now I wish I could say that either of these documents planned for a pandemic, as I have
heard that some other organizationsí policies have done.
They did not.
So weíve had to basically adapt from our COOP as we defined which of our operations
were considered essential and needed to stay open and which were not.
And our response to the pandemic I will say has sort of fallen between these two documents,
and weíve had to kind of anticipate where we needed to take the agency in response to
the situation as it developed, and under somewhat conflicting guidance I would say from time
to time from state and local agencies.
I will say that fortunately for us until recently the governor had mostly left it up to state
agencies to develop their own responses, and gave us a lot of latitude to do that, which
weíve appreciated and has allowed us to respond as we needed to.
Now, shifting to kind of our response in terms of the libraries of the state, I was listening
with great interests to Robís and Deniseís comments about Katrina, and Deniseís comments
about lessons learned in Harvey.
We too were able to learn a lot of really valuable lessons during Hurricane Harvey and
afterwards.
Hurricane Harvey was of course an incredibly devastating weather event in Texas and in
national history.
We learned about many resources that we had not been aware of before.
Most notably we learned to our surprise, maybe nobody elseís, that libraries are specifically
designated in FEMA as essential services, which means that they can go to the head of
the list for recovering funding needed to reopen libraries if theyíve been badly damaged.
The other thing that we learned about is the Heritage Emergency National Task Force or
HENTF which is a unit of FEMA tasked to respond to the impacts of a natural disaster on cultural
heritage institutions, including libraries.
And we were able through HENTF and their very responsive administrative Lori Foley to connect
with a network of people across Texas who were also responding to the emergency.
They connected us with folks in museums, archives, art institutions, historic preservation and
humanities who were also coping with the same types of impact.
Also, during Harvey, we greatly benefited from the prior experience of other states,
most notably New Jersey where they had just recently dealt with Hurricane Sandy.
Our colleagues at the New Jersey State Library, we met with them immediately following the
initial impact of Hurricane Harvey and were able to really learn a lot of great lessons
from them and really chart our response.
And finally, I want to say we were really grateful to our colleagues at the IMLS who
allowed us to use maximum flexibility to extend LSTA funds to be able to award libraries small
grants to help them recover.
Those were great lessons we learned after Harvey, and they did help us somewhat in this
crisis.
But as the other speakers have explored there are similarities and specific differences
between recovering from a hurricane emergency and the kind of pandemic situation weíve
had with the Coronavirus.
I have to say that being a different kind of emergency, and frankly one that our library
community and we were really not fully prepared for.
So most of the rest of the society, I think on some level we have been reactive in this
situation more than proactive in terms of the pandemic aspects of it.
But I will say that I think our reactions have been ahead of the curve of the guidance
that weíve received at least through official channels, and we sort of stayed a little bit
ahead of that.
But like with Harvey we learned some very key lessons from Coronavirus, have learned.
So under FEMA libraries are considered essential services, thatís still true, but what does
that mean to be an essential service if all library services are closed, which most of
ours have been and still are?
We maintain and have maintained publicly that the current crisis has shown that libraries
are more essential than ever, and we have observed that libraries who are the most progressive
in terms of virtual and remote services are the ones that have best been able to serve
their clientele during a crisis.
Our libraries still have access to FEMA funding, but itís now rolled into funding for cities
and counties and administered on the state level by an agency in Texas called the Texas
Department of Emergency Management.
Lori Foley is still with FEMA and we have been in touch with her, but she has not been
quite as direct a player this time around.
Much of the preparation that libraries have done around disaster recovery, which involves
paper and books as well as furniture and equipment and structures and other tangible resources
has not been as applicable in this emergency.
I think as Denise suggested and the other speakers, the lessons that have been applicable
are the ones about how to keep the staff and the public safe, how to connect to information
resources, how to be a conduit to recovery information, and thatís a somewhat different
thing under the virus situation.
This is a little different threat in that weíre not dealing with wind and rain damage,
itís an invisible deadly threat that has required a response, and frankly in some parts
of our state that has seemed sometimes like overkill to some people, especially in areas
that havenít been as touched.
And I have to be honest and say itís compounded at times by conflicting guidance from different
levels of government, and now we have this kind of partisan divide issue that is complicating
things as well.
Specific to libraries weíve seen that many libraries lack sufficient remote access, lack
of broadband of course is always a problem, as well as lack of devices with which to access
online services.
And weíve been concerned by a lack of consistent messaging for libraries about how theyíre
responding, how to communicate their value and how they can be and should be part of
the solution for recovery.
So in light of that unique challenge of the pandemic weíve tried to provide libraries
with specific tools and response.
Like many states we have tracked closure in our states and reported that information to
national groups.
Weíre also trying to track libraries that are reopening.
We very early on put up a resource page for libraries with links to relevant documents,
the URL is listed there.
Our library development and networking group convened a series of conversations with libraries
statewide, including a kickoff webinar that had nearly 1000 people participating, and
that was followed by a series of virtual regional meetings across the state to share information
and to find out what libraries were coping with.
We developed a communications plan for libraries to use during the crisis, and that has proved
quite helpful.
We created a resource guide for library reopening as some of you have, and weíve cribbed from
other states liberally, I can assure you.
We were also I have to say very grateful for the CARES grants.
We are using those funds to provide subgrants to libraries to address COVID response as
well as digital inclusion for our libraries.
So just to kind of conclude our story and bring you up to date, on April 27 Gov. Abbott
went on TV to announce that he would be opening up Texas, and specifically identified libraries
and museums among the services that were allowed to reopen.
Of course, we welcome the governorís implicit judgment that libraries are among the most
needed services in society.
However, most libraries in Texas are city or county libraries and have not been opened.
But the governor did specify that state-run libraries would open for service.
So since last week we have been offering limited services in our reading room here in our building,
but weíre doing that very cautiously, and on an appointment only basis.
So thatís where we are with our work on the COVID response, both as an agency and in support
of local libraries, as they work through the issues.
But Iíll just close with the observation that in times of crisis we know that people
look to libraries for help in recovery, and libraries in turn look to their state libraries
for support.
This situation is so different from other disasters weíve faced in terms of a lot of
people are hurting, some have lost love ones, some have been touched by illness, loss of
jobs and incomes, people donít know where theyíre going to live or even how theyíre
going to live, how theyíre going to cope.
People are deeply uncertain about the future, they are scared that the situation is going
to get worse, weíre certainly dealing with that on a staff level, on a societal level,
and certainly with our libraries.
But I really believe, and I know everybody on this call does as well, that libraries
can be very helpful in the crisis.
But I think itís going to be more demanding emotionally and psychologically than most
of what weíve dealt with in the past.
Our disaster response is going to have to rely on our ability to develop community sustainability,
some of the things Denise was talking about apply here of course, helping people find
jobs, helping them retool for transition to different types of work, supporting remote
learning, information access, and just to help them connect to recreational reading
and viewing that I think is important to nourish their souls.
So itís a strange new world weíre facing, libraries are uniquely situated I think though
to help people to cope with that, and of course our state libraries will help them cope as
well.
So hereís my contact information, Iíll join my colleagues in being happy to answer any
questions.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you, Mark, we really appreciate all your experience and knowledge.
It has been wonderful to hear Rob and Denise and Mark talk about how the various libraries
have been handling this crisis, and it is a very different animal than what weíve had
in the past.
I see one question form Colleen just asking Mark if she can have a link to the FEMA site
that mentions libraries as essential services.
Iím sure there are other people who want that so we can get that out to you, and probably
send it along in a follow-up email.
Iím looking for other questions.
I do want to say as subgrants are givem out and everything thereís excellent resources
that youíve been mentioning, and I think the thing to think about is when you give
a subgrant to a library or a museum that you make sure that theyíre using the recommended
resources from the EPA that are approved, because there are a lot of scam artists out
there.
And so I think a lot of people are trending to the state libraries for leadership, and
I think a lot of the materials as weíve seen here today in this presentation, a lot of
work has been done on this kind of topic.
And as we get more information, as each speaker has said itís a moving target, so it has
been amazing to see how much people move forward.
I see a question here from David Beach, how did you prepare your staff for the emotional
difficulties facing during the opening.
Denise, do you want to address that?
Or anyone else?
MS.
LYONS: Sure, I can answer.
We are not open yet.
We are still working remotely.
But while weíve been away, I think that some of the things that have been most helpful
are our CE coordinator has been doing weekly chats with public library staff, directors,
just real drop-in kind of thing.
One week had a specific focus, but really it is just a place for them to be able to
come around and talk about things in a way that maybe they havenít been able to find
other places to share.
Obviously, we send out as many resources from the state as we can, and we encourage them
because all of our libraries are county based to find similar resources at county level.
Weíve done some mindfulness webinars, actually the childrenís coordinator did the juggling
training, which was a way to try to lighten some of the mood, and again talked about mindfulness,
and weíve had other staff related lunches and drop-ins and slack conversations and things
to try to keep people engaged while theyíre working remotely and maybe feeling a little
disconnected from their colleagues, so those are a couple things off the top of my head.
MS.
FARRELL: Rob, do you have anything to add to that?
MR.
FAVINI: Sure.
We are targeting our CARES Act money, weíre just trying to figure out when would be the
best time, but we want to do a series of, for our library staff, mindfulness and mental
health programming.
And weíre targeting that to a little bit later in the year, only because weíre really
not sure when the Massachusetts libraries are going to be having full staff back in
their libraries.
So possibly late fall, early winter, weíll be looking into some of those direct grants
or subgrants to address those issues.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you.
How about you, Mark, anything that you can add?
MR.
SMITH: Well we certainly have been struggling with that, certainly with our own state library
agency staff as well as staff across the state.
In terms of state library agency staff, I think one of the challenges when everyone
is working remotely is keeping people kind of connected with one another and making them
feel part of the team.
Weíre having weekly, weíve never had all staff meetings before, we had seven in a row
with our agency now, we have frequent meetings on a divisional level, on a unit level, organizationally,
just to try to keep people in touch with each other and connected, so thatís been important.
We have of course been sharing EAP information, weíve been sharing other types of information
to help people deal with it.
On the library level thatís obviously harder, and we canít really address that so much
directly, but just trying to be there as much as we can for our libraries statewide, be
a resource that they can use, steer them towards materials, weíve got a wonderful library
development and networking team that is very empathetic and compassionate and clued into
the needs of the library.
So we know them, obviously in all the states we know our librarians really well, a lot
of them we know personally, so how to utilize as much human support as we possibly can during
this time.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you, Mark, I can tell you we have been doing virtual coffee breaks and
also virtual tours of museums, surprise, surprise, as a way of the staff connecting and just
feeling weíre all together.
And we did have a staff person who had an in quotes mild case of COVID, and he is now
back at work and weíre all happy and pleased to have him back, and we had an all staff
meeting today, and he said during it, he said the symptoms and everything, he goes this
is serious.
And that coming from somebody who has had it is a real statement.
So Iím real amazed at how much people are hanging in there and doing the best that they
can during these very difficult times for a lot of people.
Iím seeing another question by Claudia who says please ask Rob to repeat the software
he is using to aggregate responses from his library.
DR.
FAVINI: The product is called Padlet.
There is a free version.
Actually, our affiliate Mass Library System had a subscription to it.
Itís really neat, it really does recreate that sticky note thing, and we also could
have people electronically vote on things, so it also recreates placing dots and has
comment areas, you can drop in pictures, videos.
It worked out very nicely for a remote situation and kept people engaged beautifully.
MS.
FARRELL: Thank you.
And we have another question or more of a comment from Maura Walsh.
Actually, I think a lot of us could use this citation link to FEMA essential services.
Could we get it -- MR.
SMITH: Definitely Michele, in fact Iím looking for it right now, but I canít quite find
it, but if I find it before weíre off the call Iíll share it.
MS.
FARRELL: That is fine.
And I will mention that IMLS has a link to the FEMA site on our COVID page on the IMLS
website.
So I strongly suggest you look there because we are putting information that we feel our
grantees can use related to COVID, and certainly some of the many grants and other information
that we have available now on COVID.
Now let me see if I have any other questions here.
Janet McKinney asks can you spell that Rob.
DR.
FAVINI: I just typed it in chat, but itís Padlet.
MS.
FARRELL: Do we have any other questions?
I think weíve almost covered all the questions from what I can see.
IMLS, obviously we covered a lot of information here and I canít thank Rob, Denise, and Mark
enough, you are truly superheroes to us, coming forward in this very difficult time for state
libraries and taking your time to make this presentation.
We are so grateful at IMLS for this.
And now I would say that weíd like to have my wonderful boss, Teri DeVoe, come back online
and do the conference wrap-up and closing remarks.