PALCI Disaster Preparedness Workshop: Philadelphia

Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI) is providing a spring workshop for disaster preparedness training on March 12, 2010 at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.
Registration form can be found at: regform-dpw.html. Details of the workshop are below:

* Registration for these programs is completely free.
* Although multiple sessions are offered, you will only need to attend 1 session.
* Training materials, a continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks are included with registration and, again, are at no cost to participants.
* This project has been funded with federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries. PALCI received an LSTA grant for 2009-2010 to provide disaster preparedness and response training sessions.

The training program

* The day’s program will run from approximately 9 am to 4:30 pm; exact times and meeting locations will be spent after registration.
* Some of the topics we hope to address in these sessions include risk assessment, disaster plan writing and preparation, health and safety precautions, and disaster recovery methods.
* PALCI is contracting with Tom Clareson of Lyrasis to conduct the sessions. We are also adding further disaster preparedness presenters as we finalize the program.
* This training should provide an excellent baseline of disaster preparedness knowledge for all institutions and create a solid foundation to build upon for future collaborative disaster preparedness efforts.

Who should attend?

* Staff with responsibility over or interest in disaster preparedness, risk management, and emergency response for cultural heritage organizations (such as libraries) should attend.
* Our goal is to have at least two library staff members (professional or paraprofessional) from each PALCI member institution participate. More attendees from an institution are welcome, as space allows.
* Colleagues from non-PALCI institutions are also welcome to attend. There is no charge for them to do so.