Sunday Reflections: When the Tornado Warning Comes, things I’ve learned about a library in crisis

It rained a lot this summer in Ohio. A lot. But on this day, it was sunny, for just a while. The Mr. had called and told me he was taking the girls to the local park. They had some monkey bars that Thing 2 was anxious to see if she could cross, having grown quite proud of her monkey bar accomplishments.

I sat back in my office working on something. A book order maybe. Or creating inventory sheets for our new circulating maker kits. It’s hard to recall exactly. But then all of the sudden an alarm on my phone went off. I assumed it was an Amber Alert, but this time it was a tornado warning. I stared at my phone for a couple of seconds, trying to recall what the difference between a watch and a warning is. Then I called Mary, the assistant director, and told her a tornado warning had just gone through. She said they had all gotten it as well down on the main floor and they were moving everyone into the basement.

The first thing I did, of course, was call The Mr. and tell him to get the girls to the library and into the basement stat.

The second thing I did was to start clearing the second floor of the library.

I stood at the front door once the floor was clear and begged The Mr. to get here with our kids while I watched the sky darken overhead. The rumor was that a tornado had been spotted just 10 minutes to the East of us and was heading our way. As they rushed in the door we took shelter into the basement with the rest of the library staff and patrons.

Everyone set up shop in the programming room and the mood was anxious. Thing 2, now six, clearly remembers the day tornadoes came through our Texas town and she was marginally terrified. So I went into the storage closet and got out our Legos, inviting all the kids in the room to play.

Also tuned in to the anxiety in the room, Mary went into the staff lounge and showed up with a cart full of candy, pop and water to hand out to the patrons. She talked with them. She calmed everyone down. She turned a crisis into a manageable moment. I was in awe as she worked the room and calmed everyone’s fears.

Some staff sat right outside the room checking the weather alerts and updates on their smart phones. Another staff member turned on the TV in the staff lounge to track the storm. It turns out the circulation staff had thought to grab the money out of the registers on the floors. A couple of staff members chose to stay up on the main floor to direct any people who came in seeking shelter down to the basement.

All together we spent about 45 minutes in that basement room waiting to see what would happen. Between staff and patrons there were maybe around 50 people. A tornado never hit our town that day, but that time we spent together down there waiting to see what would happen could have gone much differently. I learned a lot in that moment about crisis management and calming the fears of people in a tense situation. Although to be honest, I would kind of like to never have to apply what I learned again, I’m kind of done with tornadoes.

Filed under: Sunday Reflections