This request came from Lisl Zach and Michelynn McKnight of the Louisiana State U. School of Library Science by way of the METRO-L listserv a short while ago:
As
part of a research project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we are
collecting first-hand accounts of information professionals’ responses to a
range of community-wide disasters such as the recent Pacific
Northwest ice storms and the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes.These
experiences will be used to develop case-based guidance material to help
prepare information professionals to face similar events in the future.If
you, or somebody you know, have had an experience responding to a disaster, we
hope that you will take a few minutes to complete our brief online survey. We are particularly interested in hearing how
information professionals have met the needs of their users at a time of crisis
by providing new or customized services. These services could include extending library hours, providing Internet
access to displaced persons, developing outreach services for people in
shelters, or any other library responses to suddenly changed
information needs. This research effort
goes well beyond the traditional focus of disaster planning-that is, the preservation
of the physical plant, collections, and staff-and concentrates on the potential
role of information professionals as important "first responders"
during community-wide disasters.The
survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. The results of the survey will enhance our
understanding of the types of disasters in which information professionals have
been involved as well as the ways in which they have responded. Please pass
this survey on to anybody you think might be interested.
You can take the survey online here, and more information regarding the project can be found here. There’s also a letter of consent, which I’ve put behind the link.