Methods

1. Good Information in Bad Places: Discovering the Information Needs of Disaster & Emergency Response Professionals in Disaster Situations Results Background • Four overarching themes were identified: • One Size Does Not Fit All: • Every disaster or emergency is unique in its scope, nature, and environment. The experience of response professionals also varies. Therefore, one information resource cannot serve all information needs. Responders use their best judgment to assemble a customized information arsenal as they depart for an event. • Centralized Access: • The creation of comprehensive and integrative portals may prove most useful. These portals should provide access to a variety of types of information in specific disaster categories (i.e., chemical, biological, radiological) with links to relevant local, state, and federal disaster planning.  Other avenues to explore include social networking technologies such as wikis, blogs, and shared workspaces to download information and reduce the time spent searching for dispersed information tools.  • Technology - A Double-Edged Sword: • To facilitate access in sub-optimal situations, disaster and emergency information resources should be centrally located, avoid use of firewalls that require logins and passwords, and provide small file sizes that facilitate downloading.  The methods or formats used to deliver information to disaster and emergency professionals must be innovative, cost-effective, and easily adapted to the event’s environment. • Grey Literature: • Several of the informants identified grey literature as an important information resource for disaster and emergency response. Unfortunately, the ephemeral nature of grey literature, along with its inaccessibility and lack of indexing in major commercial and public databases, makes it difficult to find by conventional database searching. One of the greatest services that librarians and libraries can offer disaster professionals is to provide access to grey literature in a systematic, accessible, and enduring fashion. When a disaster or humanitarian emergency strikes, what information resources do disaster and emergency response professionals turn to? A literature search in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases retrieved articles related to information technologies used in disaster medicine (i.e. PDAs, pre-loaded laptops, and wireless routing networks) but none addressed the actual information requirements or behaviors of disaster response professionals (i.e. policy planners, physicians, fire fighters). The investigators hypothesized that interviews with experienced disaster and emergency professionals will provide librarians insight into the information needs and challenges of response professionals, and help libraries provide useful and functional information services.  (c) 2005 Hector Guerrero Skinfill, Courtesy of Photoshare (c) 2005 K. K. Santhosh, Courtesy of Photoshare Introduction • Two medical libraries in Bethesda, MD, participated in a small pilot project to interview military and civilian professionals with response experience in public health, humanitarian, and disaster situations. The four interviewees have experience responding to events in the U.S. (the Gulf Coast for Hurricane Katrina) and abroad including Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Southeast Asia tsunami. • Two interviewees were from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). One worked with the Center for Disaster & Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM) while the other coordinates the course “Military & Humanitarian Assistance Medicine.” • Two interviewees were from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). • Both groups receive library services and have previous experience working with the librarians. • Three of the four informants have first-hand experience responding to disasters or emergency situations. FEMA News Photo Courtesy of Photoshare Methods • A survey instrument consisting of nine questions was developed and used.  Questions were open-ended to encourage narrative and extensive answers. Interviews were conducted in February and March of 2008 and lasted approximately 15-30 minutes each. Answers were captured with a digital voice recorder and transcribed. • Questions were designed to explore: • the specific types of information used by informants, • the information that would have been useful if available, • the tools that participants would include in an idealized information resource, • format and delivery options, and • current activities in disaster and emergency response and preparedness.  • Investigators independently coded the transcripts and identified major themes.  Upon completion of individual coding, the investigators met to review and discuss their individual results. Themes were identified and assigned into categories using a card sort methodology. In the event of disagreement on a theme, the topic was further discussed until consensus was reached.  Conclusion Four major themes were identified from the responder interviews: information needs are unique to each disaster or emergency, a centralized access point to the required information is desired, technology is important but still has many problems to overcome, and finally that the non-indexed grey literature is an important source of information and guidance although it can be difficult to access. Over the previous eight years, significant investments have been made in national security and disaster preparedness and response. Little attention, however, has been paid to identifying the information needs and seeking behaviors of the disaster and emergency professionals responsible for coordinating and implementing emergency response efforts. Further research should delve deeper into responders’ information needs and searching behaviors. Existing information tools should be identified and reviewed, and, potentially, redesigned or re-packaged to ensure disaster and emergency response professionals are equipped with the most accurate, authoritative, and useful information available. FEMA News Photo (c) 2005 Sean Hawkey, Courtesy of Photoshare