We were on the coach travelling back from the Library Show 2009 at the NEC when we ran into a cloudburst just outside Chesterfield. It was raining cats and dogs; stair-rods, buckets (don't we have some lovely expressions for heavy rain?).
Meanwhile, at the Central Library in Sheffield something interesting was happening. The amount of water falling from the sky onto the flat roof of the library was more than the drains could carry away. Behind the parapet wall a lake was beginning to form. As the water level rose it found another outlet - the ducting for the old heating and ventilation system to the building. These ducts ended in ornate grilles high on the walls of the reference library on the ground floor - a library that had only just been refurbished.
Soon water was puring out of these grilles creating spectacular waterfalls. Not what you want to see in your library especially when you have just had a new carpet laid!
You can seldom anticipate or prevent such disasters, but you can plan to cope with them. The SINTO workshop Disaster! How to plan and how to cope will show you how to deal with the unexpected. It features contributions from people who have had to deal with the effects of fire, flood and locust (I made that last one up) in libraries, archives and museums.
No doubt Sheffield Libraries will block up these ventilation ducts - but the next disaster will come in a different form.
Perhaps it will be locusts!
Are you prepared?
Showing posts with label floods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label floods. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Thursday, 11 June 2009
More Sheffield Floods!
I was at the Library Show yesterday with a SINTO coachload of librarians. The LIS could be called the "Not as good as last year show" which is what people always seem to say but it does still perform a useful role. Perhaps the idea of running it every other year might work.
I attended Phil Bradley's presentation about twitter . Phil gave a basic introduction to using Twitter and then looked at how it could be used by librarians for professional development and as a source of information. As Phil said - the first reaction to Twitter is "What is the point?" but as you get into it you find it is a useful tool and should not be ignored.
I will post some more about the show later but at one point I was at the Harwell Support Services stand, who specialise in restoration of collections after fire and flood damage, suggesting that SINTO might run an event on disaster planning.
On the trip back we ran into very heavy rainfall but I don't think anyone realised how bad it was. I got off the coach at Meadowhead (and was then stranded there for a couple of hours) so I don't know how everyone else managed. There was severe local flooding causing traffic disruption and I imagine many people found it difficult to get home. Sheffield Central Library suffered flooding and is closed until further notice.
Although it was not of direct help to us at the time (no-one having mobile internet access), Twitter was to be a useful source of information on developments. As Phil had pointed out earlier, Twitter is good for breaking news. A local blogger @sheffieldblog provided regular tweets on developments and the Sheffield City Council's Press Office @SCCPressOffice also provided valuable information including first news of the Central Library closure. The University of Sheffield used Twitter for news of the closure of the Information Commons.
I have always thought that public libraries should have a more active role in such situations. They could act as a valuable source of information to their local communities by seeking out information from websites, blogs and Twitter and passing it on. They are the link between the information rich and the information poor.
I attended Phil Bradley's presentation about twitter . Phil gave a basic introduction to using Twitter and then looked at how it could be used by librarians for professional development and as a source of information. As Phil said - the first reaction to Twitter is "What is the point?" but as you get into it you find it is a useful tool and should not be ignored.
I will post some more about the show later but at one point I was at the Harwell Support Services stand, who specialise in restoration of collections after fire and flood damage, suggesting that SINTO might run an event on disaster planning.
On the trip back we ran into very heavy rainfall but I don't think anyone realised how bad it was. I got off the coach at Meadowhead (and was then stranded there for a couple of hours) so I don't know how everyone else managed. There was severe local flooding causing traffic disruption and I imagine many people found it difficult to get home. Sheffield Central Library suffered flooding and is closed until further notice.
Although it was not of direct help to us at the time (no-one having mobile internet access), Twitter was to be a useful source of information on developments. As Phil had pointed out earlier, Twitter is good for breaking news. A local blogger @sheffieldblog provided regular tweets on developments and the Sheffield City Council's Press Office @SCCPressOffice also provided valuable information including first news of the Central Library closure. The University of Sheffield used Twitter for news of the closure of the Information Commons.
I have always thought that public libraries should have a more active role in such situations. They could act as a valuable source of information to their local communities by seeking out information from websites, blogs and Twitter and passing it on. They are the link between the information rich and the information poor.
Friday, 29 June 2007
Floods latest
Flooding in the Don Valley. Picture from Business Link South Yorkshire.
Over the last few days the floods have moved down the Don Valley from Sheffield and Rotherham to Doncaster. Rotherham station is still closed and there is disruption to travel around Doncaster. However, the sun is shining at the moment and the waters are receding. But there is still the possibility of more heavy rain at the weekend.
The Don Valley which suffered the brunt of the flooding on Monday is a major industrial site and industry in Sheffield has been seriously hit. Unfortunately, Business Link South Yorkshire which might have been a major source of help to affected companies is also located in this area and was itself badly affected. Today they were able to circulate an e-mail update containing a list of useful contact numbers. The above picture is taken from this e-mail and I have added the list of numbers below. (Stop press. I have added two extra numbers given out by Radio Sheffield)
Useful Telephone Numbers
Public helpline to co-ordinate all requests for help with the clean up operation.
All South Yorkshire
0800 915 6912
Sheffield Council Surrey Street Sheffield S1 2HH
Emergency Planning Department
0114 272 6444
0114 273 6844
Sheffield Business Floodline
0800 915 6913
Doncaster Council 2 Priory Place Doncaster DN1 1BN
Emergency Planning Department
01302 734444
01302 736901
Barnsley Council Town Hall Barnsley S70 2TA
Emergency Planning Department
01226 770770
01226 772099
Rotherham CouncilBailey House Rawmarsh Road Rotherham S60 1TD
Emergency Planning Department
01709 823870 01709 823877 01709 823876
Environment Agency
Floodline
0845 988 1188
South Yorkshire Police
If traffic is causing waves to further flood your property
0114 220 2020
Yorkshire Water
If flooding is being caused by a public sewer
0845 124 2429
YEDL
Electricity Supply
0800 375 675
National Grid
Gas Supply
0800 111 999
Yorkshire Water
Water Supply
0845 124 2424
Yorkshire Forward
Grants for SMEs affected by floods
0800 0226201
Health and Safety Executive Edgar Allen House 241 Glossop Road Sheffield S10 2GW
Covers all South Yorkshire for health & safety issues.
0114 291 2300
0114 291 2379
Environmental Health Department
Rotherham
01709 382 121
Environmental Health Department
Sheffield
0114 273 4611
Environmental Health Department
Doncaster
01302 734 444
Environmental Health Department
Barnsley
01226 772 498
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Quietly flows the Don
The river Don by Lady's Bridge, Sheffield, today.
It is flowing quietly at the moment but the forecast is for heavy rain at the weekend and the danger of more flooding. Apart from that things are getting back to normal.
SINTO is organising its programme of CPD events for the second half of the year. At the moment some of the dates are provisional but I am starting to put information on the SINTO web site. It is a wide ranging programme and there should be something of interest to everyone. I will be posting about individual events in more detail later on. I decide on the courses we are going to run in consultation with the SINTO special interest groups but if you have any suggestions for courses please contact me. It was recently suggested that SINTO should run a course for CILIP Chartership candidates. I will get in touch with the CILIP Career Development Group for Yorkshire & Humber about this but I am keen to do something. If you are a Chartership candidate or know of any please get in touch.
I got into work this morning to find the campus was closed because of impending power cuts. I walked into town, took a picture of the Don (above) on my mobile phone, e-mailed it to myself and then went to the Central Public Library to use the people's network. Here I logged into Blogger to access Sintoblog and downloaded the photo for this post. Nothing remarkable in this and I am still very much a digital immigrant with a very strong accent (see previous posts), but it does show how far we have come in the past few years.
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Floods of information
I am back in the office today - I was working from home yesterday. My colleague Gilly Pearce was in yesterday so SINTO did not close!
It seems that library services in our area escaped without too many problems. Obviously there was a lot of disruption over the past few days but actual damage to buildings has been slight and only a few closures of branch libraries have been reported. However there is the threat of power blackouts in Sheffield today.
One feature of a major incident like these floods is the way in which people need information. At the moment people in Sheffield need to know which roads are open, when the power will come back on and where they can get help. So what is the role of public libraries in providing information?
In a situation like this the first source of information is the media and Radio Sheffield and the other local radio stations provide a vital service. Their web sites, such as BBC South Yorkshire, are an important part of this service.
The local authority web sites such as Sheffield.gov.uk are another vital source of information and have tried to keep up with the changing situation in the aftermath of the flood.
A good example of community information on the Internet is the Sheffield Forum: a discussion forum where people can post messages about any topic related to Sheffield. This quickly set up a thread about the floods which as attracted a lot of postings. Many of these contain very useful information, links to further information and offers of help. However, as it is a discussion forum, it also contains a large amount of general chat which can make it difficult to find specific and reliable information.
So where do libraries fit in? Hopefully they are able to act as an access point for people who do not have Internet access and I expect that librarians are able to refer people to reliable sources of information. It would be nice to think that libraries are providing a proactive service in making information available to their communities.
What does concern me is that libraries have a very low profile in all this. I have heard nothing on the radio to suggest that people could use their local library as a source of information. The local authority websites do not refer people directly to libraries as a source of information and the library web sites are not carrying special links to flood related information. As far as I am aware libraries do not feature in the local authorities emergency plans. For example Sheffield City Council has set up a Humanitarian Assistance Centre in the centre of the city to provide advice and information. Are library staff involved in this? Given that many people can not get into the centre are the branch libraries acting as local contact points? If they are then why is this not being advertised on the library web site or advertised on the radio?
It seems that library services in our area escaped without too many problems. Obviously there was a lot of disruption over the past few days but actual damage to buildings has been slight and only a few closures of branch libraries have been reported. However there is the threat of power blackouts in Sheffield today.
One feature of a major incident like these floods is the way in which people need information. At the moment people in Sheffield need to know which roads are open, when the power will come back on and where they can get help. So what is the role of public libraries in providing information?
In a situation like this the first source of information is the media and Radio Sheffield and the other local radio stations provide a vital service. Their web sites, such as BBC South Yorkshire, are an important part of this service.
The local authority web sites such as Sheffield.gov.uk are another vital source of information and have tried to keep up with the changing situation in the aftermath of the flood.
A good example of community information on the Internet is the Sheffield Forum: a discussion forum where people can post messages about any topic related to Sheffield. This quickly set up a thread about the floods which as attracted a lot of postings. Many of these contain very useful information, links to further information and offers of help. However, as it is a discussion forum, it also contains a large amount of general chat which can make it difficult to find specific and reliable information.
So where do libraries fit in? Hopefully they are able to act as an access point for people who do not have Internet access and I expect that librarians are able to refer people to reliable sources of information. It would be nice to think that libraries are providing a proactive service in making information available to their communities.
What does concern me is that libraries have a very low profile in all this. I have heard nothing on the radio to suggest that people could use their local library as a source of information. The local authority websites do not refer people directly to libraries as a source of information and the library web sites are not carrying special links to flood related information. As far as I am aware libraries do not feature in the local authorities emergency plans. For example Sheffield City Council has set up a Humanitarian Assistance Centre in the centre of the city to provide advice and information. Are library staff involved in this? Given that many people can not get into the centre are the branch libraries acting as local contact points? If they are then why is this not being advertised on the library web site or advertised on the radio?
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