| Contents | Idaho Librarian |
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Libraries,
Water Damage,
&
the Need for a Plan
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“Court
disaster long enough, and it will accept your proposal.” |
IntroductionLibraries are as prone to disaster as any other institution, and a disaster involving water can cause a tremendous amount of damage to a library’s collections, records, and equipment. Because of the nature of paper, the medium on which much of our information is still stored, a disaster by water (flood, roof leak, plumbing failure, fire- or heat-related sprinkler and hose damage, etc.) in a library can be truly devastating. Paper can absorb a tremendous amount of water (pre-1840s materials may absorb 80% to 200% of their original weight [Waters, 2]), leading to such extreme swelling of the textblock, in the case of bound items, that the binding can be irreparably damaged. When books swell this much they may force themselves off the shelf and onto the floor, which further damages them. If the water carries with it any particulate matter (mud, asbestos, chemicals, deteriorated ceiling tile, other dirt), that can also damage the paper. At the very least, water-damaged books will have “high-tide” marks and some cockling of the paper if the pages were not uniformly immersed. In recent decades, and especially since the
1966 flood in Florence, Italy caused such tremendous damage at the
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, some librarians have begun to
seriously consider that a disaster might occur in their own library, and
to make plans regarding how to handle such emergencies should they
occur. A body of literature
now exists regarding “Disaster Planning” or “Disaster
Preparedness;” even so, such plans are by no means ubiquitous.
In this article I would like to define the “Disaster Plan” as
it pertains to libraries, discuss the reasons why all libraries should
have a plan in place, who should be involved in the planning, what the
elements of a Disaster Plan might be, and when libraries should take
this step. A bibliography
of information sources to help you create a Disaster Plan for your
library is also included. I. The Library Disaster Preparedness Plan Defined The library disaster plan can vary a great deal from one institution to the next, but basically, as stated in Kahn, a disaster plan or disaster response is a set of “…procedures and processes whereby a team of trained individuals responds to a disaster and determines how to best recover the damaged materials so that ‘business as usual’ can resume as quickly as possible.” [Kahn, p. 2] The plan should be flexible and simple, yet comprehensive enough to cover any eventuality; it should be designed to provide complete information and save time. [Patkus, in Ogden, p.152]. During a crisis it is not always easy to think clearly; the disaster preparedness team should do as much thinking as possible in advance, so they may be ready to take appropriate action when needed. II. Why a Disaster Plan is Necessary Careful planning is not possible during an emergency, and writing a disaster response plan in advance, when those involved can calmly determine what the potentials for disaster might be, what the responses to each kind of crisis should be, who ought to be involved, and what the repercussions for each action might be, is a very important task. When disaster does strike, the plan will guide the main players and assist in directing volunteers as well. It can save a great deal of time and assure that the proper steps are taken for salvage and recovery of library materials. The actual elements of the plan (what should be included) will be covered in section IV below. III. Who Should Design the Plan? The plan should involve a committee or team
of “professionals and supporting staff selected from various areas of
the library” [Higginbotham, 10] to develop the plan; this team might
also include, depending on your institution and community, some of the
following: security, physical plant, maintenance staff, and even police
and firefighters. A chain
of command within the disaster team should be established, with two team
leaders designated if possible, in order to distribute the workload and
ease any scheduling problems. (Make sure the plan’s execution does not
depend on one particular person, as he or she may be away, hurt, or
otherwise unavailable.) Outside authorities might also be consulted, such as
emergency consultants, preservation professionals, fire department
personnel, etc. For the sake of simplicity, it may be easiest for
one person (perhaps the library’s director or someone appointed by the
director) to actually write the Disaster Recovery Plan, but that person
should have a team with which to consult as the plan is being created. Experts and anyone who might be involved should check the
plan to make sure nothing in it is unclear and that it covers all
eventualities. All
personnel and agencies listed in the plan must be informed of their
inclusion so that there are no surprises, and training should be
provided where necessary. In large libraries, the plan may ultimately involve several separate teams working together. Dorge and Jones suggest a Safety and Security team, a Collections team, a team for Buildings and Maintenance, and an Administration and Records team, all working under the Emergency Preparedness Manager and Committee [Dorge and Jones, 14 ff]. This spreads the work out among informed experts and assures that all concerns are addressed. Of course, that’s not practical in smaller libraries where a few people share the entire burden of the library’s operations. IV.
The Elements of the Plan The bibliography at the end of this article lists
several works that I hope will be useful in taking a library’ planning
committee through the steps of devising a plan. The process of assessing
the library’s situation and creating the plan is a fairly complex one
and can’t be covered in detail here.
But here are a few elements to make sure you include. § The plan should be simple and focus on the most likely disasters (depending on the library), but it should also be flexible enough to cover unanticipated situations. § It should include aspects of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. § It should cover evacuation or relocation of staff, the public, objects and records. § It should ensure the safety of staff and visitors. § It should deal with security matters and protective matters such as turning off utilities. § It should involve administration (library director, board, city managers, etc.) § It should plan for assessing damage. §
In all cases, specific personnel should be named so that
everyone knows what is expected of them. Your library’s emergency plan handbook can
include such things as procedures for staff, evacuation, communications,
an organizational chart showing the chain of command, checklists, fact
sheets, on-site supplies, off-site resources, and training information.
[Dorge and Jones, 64-7]. Brown, in Ogden [Section 3, Leaflet 4], has created
a “Worksheet for Outlining a Disaster Plan,” which is a simple
fill-in-the-blank form for names and phone numbers of people and
organizations like security, fire department, professional conservator,
freeze-dry service, document recovery/salvage service, legal advisor,
locksmith, photographer, etc. (It
is available online at http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/tleaf34.htm.)
A list like this can be tremendously helpful for an organization
in the beginning stages of the planning process, as it is difficult to
know where to start. V.
When to Plan for Disaster
Now! The assessment and planning process will take some time, especially since it will involve many people. The sooner the planning begins, the more likely it will be that the plan will be in place if disaster strikes, and that it will be dealt with smoothly and efficiently. Some of the case studies presented in this issue of the Idaho Librarian help illustrate how disasters can happen: unpredictably, at any time, and in the most unlikely manner; the best way to deal with them is to be prepared. Bibliography:
Useful Sources for Disaster Preparedness Planning Alire, Camila (Ed.). Library Disaster Planning and Recovery Handbook. New York: Neal Schuman Publishers Inc., 2000. Blades, William. The Enemies of Books. Rev. & enlarged. London: Elliot Stock, 1902. Includes chapter on “Water,” pp. 17-26. Candee, Mary E. & Casagrande, Richard, eds. PREP. Planning for response and emergency preparedness: A disaster preparedness/recovery resource manual. Austin, TX: Texas Association of Museums, 1993. Dorge, Valerie & Jones, Sharon L.,
compilers. Building an
Emergency Plan: A guide for
museums and other cultural institutions.
Los Angeles, CA: The
Getty Conservation Institute, 1999. Fortson, Judith. Disaster Planning and Recovery: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians and archivists. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 1992. George, Susan C. Emergency Planning and Management in College Libraries. Chicago, IL: ACRL, 1994. CLIP Note #17. Higginbotham, Barbra Buckner & Wild, Judith W. The Preservation Program Blueprint. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2001. Includes a couple of sections pertinent to disaster recovery plans. Kahn, Miriam B. Disaster Response and Planning for Libraries. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998. [This one publication may be all you need; brief but complete.] Ogden, Sherelyn (Ed.). Preservation of Library & Archival Materials: A Manual. 3rd ed. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, 1999. Includes substantial section “Emergency Management” (pp. 125-247), with subsections on Disaster Planning, Worksheet for Outlining a Disaster Plan, etc. Waters, Peter.
Procedures for Salvage of Water Damaged Library Materials;
Extracts from unpublished revised text by Peter Waters, July 1993, The
Library of Congress. Retrieved
from the World Wide Web 7/19/02 at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/primer/waters.html Other Internet resources: Northeast Document Conservation Center http://www.nedcc.org/ Conservation OnLine (CoOL) http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/ They include links to the disaster plans of other libraries, at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/plans/
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