One of the characteristics of a profession is a specialized body of knowledge. If we are to consider ourselves professionals, we really should maintain our own personal reference library. This is actually a lot easier these days than you would think.

Consider your professional library as consisting of three components. The first is your actual hard copy library. There are certain books that really should be on every professional emergency manager's bookshelf, available for immediate reference. Unfortunately, we can't seem to agree on what those should be and it changes as new books are published.

This makes the second component of your professional library even more important. The second component is a virtual library consisting of documents you've downloaded in electronic format. Consider taking a few minutes to setup a directory with subject folders so you can find the documents you need relatively quickly. Don't forget that you can place the document in more than one folder if it covers multiple subjects.

The final component of your professional library is a list of resource sites where documents are stored. Examples include academic sites such as the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware or the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Professional journals such as the Journal of Emergency Management or the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management can be accessed on line. You can also get copies of articles published in periodicals such as Emergency Management magazine. Organize the bookmarks in your web browser to make these sites easier to find.

So having a professional library isn't quite as difficult as it sounds. It just takes a bit of thought and some organization.

Hurricane Katrina had a significant impact on emergency management in the United States, not the least of which was reminding the Department of Homeland Security that natural disasters can be more devastating than terrorist attacks. Hurricane Katrina also highlighted the inadequacy of preparedness measures for people with functional needs, the subject of this month's white paper. The best book I have read on Hurricane Katrina from the emergency management perspective is Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block. The authors provide context by giving a brief history of New Orleans and its levee system then provide a day by day account of the critical first days of the disaster. The book has the ring of truth about it - those things of which I have direct knowledge were accurately reported - and the tone is impartial and balanced.