[Web4lib] Could library automation systems track evacuees?

[JOHN MARQUETTE]

The May 25, 2006 "Morning Edition" program on NPR said that a recent
disaster drill in New Orleans was canceled because nobody could figure
out who was in charge.  While libraries and librarians are not the
people to take over an orderly evacuation, I can't think of a group more
capable.  We have a powerful tool at hand to manage the movement of
evacuees - our automation systems.

 

The NPR story said that for future evacuations, people would not be
housed at the SuperDome, just processed there.  They mentioned barcodes
and played the sound of a volunteer giving personal information and a
"bleeping" barcode reader. If this is a FEMA-designed product, I'm not
sure if I'd trust it.

 

Libraries might be able to participate in identifying and tracking
evacuees by managing them as we do with our circulating items in a
multi-branch system.  An evacuee would arrive in the SuperDome
(Technical Services/Central Library), provide personal information
(patron module is included in the circulation system), be issued a
barcode as a bracelet or a necklace, and dispatched to a remote branch
via some form of public transit, mirroring our inter-branch book
movements.  (Joe checks in, is dispatched to Houston Central, and is
checked back in at Houston Central when his bus, train, or car arrives.)

 

Once arrived at Houston Central, the evacuee could be "borrowed" by a
temporary housing facility ("Houston East Relocation Center #2").
Evacuees can then be accounted for using our standard library
circulation modules with some cross-matching on home addresses to find
family members.

 

Use of a circulation system should NEVER look like it came out of a
library - we don't want to lose our hard-earned reputation for keeping
patrons' personal data private.  Perhaps it would be even better if
local disaster teams were trained to operate the system.  

 

We professionals understand logistics on this magnitude, the technology
is proven, and it's available immediately.  Vendors might even offer
this as a free offer as an inducement to purchase.  

 

I seem to recall reading that Sirsi/Dynix libraries had some of their
Gulf Coast systems moved to offsite locations, with the vendor acting as
an ASP.  As long as a center for displaced persons has power, an
alternate Internet connection (high-speed connections through Sprint,
Verizon, and Cingular might work shortly after a disaster) to reach the
ASP's site, and staff who have been trained to gather information, we
could make a tool familiar to us work to the greater good of the
community.

 

John Marquette

 

I speak for myself, not my employer.