What roles should the school library play when disaster strikes?

"A library gives every citizen equal access.
It’s a community space. It’s a place of safety, a haven from the world."
—Neil Gaiman, ALA poster

The school library is often described as a place where children come to feel safe, where they find refuge from their hectic school life. This commonly held belief that the library is a safe place is never more critical than following an act of violence perpetrated against the school community or after experiencing a natural disaster.

Whether it is a single act tragically inflicted upon one student or a natural disaster involving the entire school, members of the school community feel a vulnerability for which they must find solace and respite. Such events provide multiple opportunities for the school librarian to offer welcome aid, services, and resources to help students and staff in the recovery process.

Disasters always require a number of adult professionals in the school to help with these critical needs. A number of these roles seem particularly fitting for the school librarian.

INFORMATION SPECIALIST

Disaster recovery begins with the need for information. Students and staff alike are often charged with contacting outside agencies to assist disaster response. Whether all members of the school or just a few individuals need resources, the librarian, as information specialist, can assume this leadership role during recovery—namely, connecting individuals to new and immediate information needs.

Oftentimes individuals may have difficulty locating critical resources. Following a natural disaster, for example, families are sometimes dislocated and need assistance finding food and shelter including temporary housing. When this need results from a sudden event, families rarely know where to begin to seek assistance. Locating necessary information or announcing information-seeking assistance, posting this service on the school or library website as a “Disaster Recovery Information” link provides welcome relief to students, their families, and staff members.

As information specialist and instructor, the librarian may volunteer to teach mini-lessons to both students and staff on how to locate needed information from agencies such as emergency response, medical and mental health professionals, and even insurance companies (See “Appendix B: Lesson Plans,” Kaaland 2014). The librarian can post links, phone numbers, contact information, and websites of agencies (e.g., FEMA or Red Cross) on the school’s emergency response webpage.

COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST

Both school officials and emergency responders cite communication as the most frequently referenced issue during the disaster and long term. Prior to a disaster, schools typically have an established emergency communication plan. While emergency preparedness drills definitely help prepare for critical events, every disastrous event is unique and the best laid communication plans often go awry.

Initial response, both during and immediately following a traumatic event, calls for the accurate and rapid dissemination of information.

In a crisis, sometimes it seems like there is too much information with no means to stop the rapid flow of that information. (See sidebar, Student Cell Phone Use, page 33). When a school is under attack, family members and the community at large learn of the event quickly via the media and personal communication devices. Although family members need to know their children are safe, this information flow often creates rumors and hyperbole and can even obstruct effective response. When students have been trained to be part of the efficient and appropriate dissemination of information, emergency response and recovery works more smoothly. Students must be taught their roles in contributing to school safety, including communication.

In schools where the librarian sees every class regularly, the dissemination of crisis response information helps ensure broader coverage. School safety protocol can be integrated with information access lessons. Lessons should be provided to inform students of appropriate cell phone use during emergencies with an explanation of why calls are limited. School librarians, skilled in communication, can model disaster information skills such as the following: gather the facts quickly, evaluate authenticity, synthesize to critical information. Crafting and posting an accurate, concise message provide welcome relief during critical initial moments post-event.

COMMUNICATION: STUDENT USE OF SMARTPHONES DURING DISASTER

Protocol for student use of smartphones during a disaster is essential:

Texting, as the current student form of passing notes in class, is a ubiquitous activity that must be integrated into the school’s emergency communication plan. Students will text. Establish standards, distribute appropriate messaging, create an emergency message FAQ template, and integrate “emergency response” texting policy with other school policy training. The more ways the school helps students understand the shared responsibility of emergency response, the more responsible their use of texting will be during those times when cooperation is most critical (Kaaland 2014).

Since the 1999 tragic events at Columbine High School in Colorado, an entire community has worked painstakingly to improve school culture and increase confidence in the school’s safety. John McDonald, Executive Director, Security and Emergency Management, Jeffco Public Schools, Golden, Colorado, worked with district personnel to respond to secondary students’ reluctance to report threats. Many students thought that reporting incidences of suicide threats, bullying, and threats of violence would be met with peer rejection and potential revenge.

An app for cell phones, “Safe2Tell,” was created, and its great success was soon followed by the text app “Safe2Text;” these technologies have helped district and local responders prevent multiple school attacks and suicides. Primarily based on the apps’ reputed and tested anonymity and also based on a district-wide promotion of a culture of respect, students now are not just confident in reporting, but they recognize the importance of their lifesaving involvement in crisis prevention.

One of the most effective methods employed for preventing school violence was to establish a hotline on which students can anonymously tip authorities of threats: Safe2Tell and Safe2Text (John McDonald, personal interview with author, March 18, 2014).

ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS WITH FIRST RESPONDERS

In preparation for possible disasters, developing a strong relationship between members of the school community and local first responders can be a godsend. Unfortunately, this, like so many concerns with regard to disaster response, is often only realized after a disaster has occurred. Whether incidences of natural disaster or a human-caused disaster such as an act of violence, schools in which the local responders are familiar with the school’s environs, personnel, and students provide more efficient assistance when seconds count.

One way to promote a cross connect with first responders is by hosting or honoring them in the library prior to a crisis or disaster. Setting up a “We Love Our First Responders” Open House or Community Tea benefits school personnel and first responders alike. First of all, it brings students together with local fire, police, and other emergency responders in a face-to-face encounter within a safe setting and, more importantly, outside the realm of disaster. Students have the opportunity to meet and talk to local community helpers in a relaxed and confidential arena where students can get answers to questions and first responders can inform students and staff about incident response. Such an event can and will pull the community closer together.

Hosting this event in the library offers that additional exposure from both within and outside the school community that is good PR for the library. Parents, emergency responders, and students alike can share a positive proactive experience in the welcome environment of the school library.

A one-time event, however, is not enough to establish a close community connection. Local fire fighters, police, and emergency responders can be invited into classrooms and to faculty meetings on a regular basis. Better yet, a First Responders Welcome Center can be established with an anonymous Questions/Suggestion Box where first responders can stop by regularly and answer questions, both anonymously and in a public forum, regarding how to stay safe, how student and staff can help with preparedness, and community response responsibilities. In this way, the school community and local first responders can become better acquainted before a disaster response is needed.

BIBLIOTHERAPY SPECIALIST

Students respond in various and often alarming ways after an attack of violence within the school. For example, some students just need an escape. Providing bibliotherapy is an excellent way to meet the needs of these students following a disaster. School librarians can initiate a temporary “Books for Recovery Book Club” or a “Lunchtime Story Hour” where students can come and hear a story of comfort. Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery in the School Library: Creating a Safe Haven contains an extensive annotated bibliography of suggested titles for response including sections on healing (“Overcoming Obstacles” and “Comfort Stories”) and post-disaster response (“It Takes a Village”) as well as examples of role models and identity (“Bravery: Children in Literature as Role Models”) (Kaaland 2014). Connecting kids and books is a primary strength of school librarians.

POST DISASTER LONG TERM RELIEF

Post-crisis, librarians may need to actively reach out to both the students and staff and offer the library as a safe haven on a long-term basis. This role is in addition to the familiar role of information access and reading advocacy. Depending upon the event, normal procedures and school policy may need to be set aside as recovery efforts take precedence.

Whether it is a furniture rearrangement in a corner of the library officially labeled “Safe Haven” or some other change in venue or procedure, spend a bit of time “advertising” the library’s role in healing. Go into classrooms and announce this along with additional roles of recovery in which the library will engage.

Teachers too may need that place of refuge. Consider invitations to staff as part of the post-disaster outreach. Perhaps provide an after-school event such as an educators’ book club or healing club where the librarian shares suggested book talks of titles recommended for reading to students post-disaster; this can be a healing event as well as a valuable resource for teachers (Kaaland 2014).

When schools are struck by disaster, everyone needs help; making the library the center of recovery can provide a welcome safe haven at a school’s most vulnerable and critical time.

KEEP IT SIMPLE
The emergency preparedness communication plan is most effective when it is less complex and more fail proof:

• Easy to read and understand
• Succinct
• Consideration of multiple possibilities

STUDENT CELL PHONE USE
During a school emergency, drawbacks to student use of cell phones, found to hinder emergency response and potentially further complicate the crises or incidents, include:

• Hamper rumor control
• Incite panic
• Promote misinformation
• Overload or increase response team duties
• Impede safety response by accelerating parental response during evacuation
• Overload cell phone systems during large scale disasters
• Hinder parent-student reunification (Kaaland 2014).