Innovative Services Improvised During Disasters: Evidence-Based Education Modules to Prepare Students and Practitioners for Shifts in Community Information Needs

This paper reports on preliminary findings from the research phase and progress-to-date on the educational module-building phase of a three-year project, “Investigating Library and Information Services During Community-Based Disasters: Preparing Information Professionals to Plan for the Worst” supported by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The goal of the research project is to provide current and future information professionals with appropriate education and enhanced guidance in planning for and delivering information services to a wide range of users in response to natural or accidental community-based disasters. Using an evidence-based approach for developing the educational modules will allow the researchers to leverage the results of their study to inform future practice and will address the real-world needs of current and future information professionals who are all too likely to face some sort of disaster, whether natural or man-made, during the course of their careers.