When emergencies escalate, knowing what to do in advance is the key. Libraries that are equipped with ready contact information, talking points, and spokespeople at hand are prepared to limit damage from big events or ensure small problems don't escalate.

Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding provides an integrated approach to crisis communication that spans the entire crisis management process and crosses various disciplines. Drawing on firsthand experience in crisis management, author W. Timothy Coombs introduces a three-staged approach to crisis management—pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis. A truly integrative and comprehensive text, this book explains how crisis management can prevent or reduce the threats of a crisis, providing guidelines for how best to act and react in an emergency situation. The Fifth Edition includes new coverage of social media, social networking sites, and terrorist threats and includes expanded discussions of internal crisis communication and intuition in decision making. Visit the author′s blog at https://coombscrisiscommunication.wordpress.com.

The Definitive Guide to Communicating in Any Crisis “When facing an already difficult crisis, the last thing a company needs is to make it worse through its own communications – or lack thereof. As one who has lived through a number of [business] crises and served as an independent investigator of the crises of others, I consider Steven Fink’s book to be an excellent guide to avoiding collecting scar tissue of your own by learning from the scar tissue painfully collected by others.”—Norman R. Augustine, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin There are few guarantees in business today. Unfortunately, one of them is the inevitability of a crisis having a potentially major effect on your business and your reputation. When your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, the ripple effects can disrupt lives and business for the foreseeable future if public opinion is not properly shaped and managed. Skillfully managing the perception of the crisis determines the difference between a company’s life or death. Because in the pitched battle between perception and reality, perception always wins. Fortunately, there is a solution. Crisis communications and crisis management legend Steven Fink gives you everything you need to prepare for the inevitable—whether it’s in the form of human error, industrial accidents, criminal behavior, or natural disasters. In this groundbreaking guide, Fink provides a complete toolkit for ensuring smooth communications and lasting business success through any crisis. Crisis Communications offers proactive and preventive methods for preempting potential crises. The book reveals proven strategies for recognizing and averting damaging crisis communications issues before it’s too late. The book also offers ways to deal with mainstream and social media, use them to your advantage, and neutralize and turn around a hostile media environment Steven Fink uses his decades of expertise and experience in crisis communications to help you: UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC PERCEPTION AND REALITY CHOOSE THE BEST SPOKESPERSON FOR THE CRISIS PROTECT YOUR BRAND AND REPUTATION THROUGH CRISES LARGE AND SMALL MAKE WISE, VIGILANT, AND DEFENSIBLE DECISIONS UNDER EXTREME CRISIS-INDUCED STRESS TELL THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW TEMPTING IT MAY BE TO MISLEAD USE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT A CRISIS The explosion of the Internet and, especially, social media, has added a new layer to the business leader’s skill set: the ability to handle a crisis quickly and professionally within moments of its occurrence. Livelihoods depend upon it. With in-depth case studies of Toyota, BP, and Penn State, Crisis Communications provides everything you need to successfully lead your company through today’s rocky landscape of business—where crises large and small loom around every corner, and the lives of businesses and management teams hang in the balance. PRAISE FOR STEVEN FINK’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT “Every major executive in America ought to read at least one book on crisis management. In this way, he or she might be better prepared to deal with the disasters striking organizations at an ever-increasing rate ... The question is: ‘Is Steven Fink’s book one that busy executives ought to read?’ The answer is a resounding yes.”—LOS ANGELES TIMES, FRONT PAGE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW

This step-by-step guide shows how to best incorporate public relations techniques into the library and reap the benefits of well-planned and executed campaign. Chapters explain how to write, review and update a communications plan; develop a corporate identity; make the most of media coverage; use volunteers; get a message out at programmes and events; create effective newsletters, brochures, posters, and other print communications; and use the Internet World Wide Web, online services, and local bulletin board services for publicity. Throughout, examples and case studies illustrate effective communication techniques and strategies for all kinds of libraries. Appendices offering sample news releases, lists of library press, state and national public relations networking opportunities, and online services appropriate for library publicity are also included.

Provides the tools librarians need to prepare for disasters that can ruin their holdings of books, journals, audio and videotapes, and CDs, describing the steps to planning for and implementing a workable disaster response plan.

Effectively marketing libraries by persuasively communicating their relevance is key to ensuring their future. Speaking directly to those in senior leadership positions, Anderson lays out the structural and organizational changes needed to help libraries answer the relevance question and maximize their marketing and communications efforts. Focusing on big-picture strategies, she shares lessons learned from her 20+ year career in library marketing and communications. No matter what type or size of library you help to lead, by reading this book you will - gain insight into why libraries need to tell their stories more effectively than they are today; - be able to craft a strategic roadmap for marketing your library and communicating its value in a variety of ways that resonate with key audiences; - see why improvements to the structure of your marketing and communications team can lead to better results; - learn practical methods for incorporating audience research into your planning; - know how to remove customer barriers and discontinue practices that are thwarting your marketing efforts; - receive guidance on preparing for potential crises; - understand how to be more community-focused by forming and sustaining partnerships; and - feel confident in engaging with stakeholders so that they become your library's best ambassadors. This book will shake up your marketing and communications approach, helping you implement real changes for lasting results.

Security planning, part of disaster response and continuous operations planning, is the key to proactively addressing potential safety issues.