Emergency Preparedness in the Legal Librarian Community in the United States: Current Culture and the Need to Expand Collaboration

Abstract The frequency of natural disasters hitting populated areas is increasing, and due to society’s increased dependency on modern infrastructure, the impacts of disasters have also escalated. I interviewed librarians and law librarians who work or have worked in libraries that were impacted by natural disasters as well as experts in the disaster management field. From their comments and insights, shared in this article, it is clear that there are lessons that can be learned from the larger community in the area of disaster management in law libraries. The law librarian community needs to expand the scope of the national discussion to include disaster management. The key lessons obtained in these national forums, like those shared by the subject matter experts I interviewed, will enable law libraries to become a more resilient and an even more valuable asset to the communities we serve when a natural disaster strikes.