Patrick Ngulube asked about the views of this Listserv as to whether
disaster preparedness should be a major concern for public librarians.

In my professional opinion, it is a "major concern" only if you want
your institution to survive.  

Although I'm an archivist and a records manager, my wife works in a
public library and we were the first to enter her building in June 2001
the day after record-setting rains flooded areas (including this
library) that had not been under water in living memory.  Only an inch
or two covered the floor and only a few books on the floor or in the
book drop were damaged by the flood water, but the damage was extensive.


The particle board furniture and the dry wall absorbed the water
swelling and splitting the furniture and destroying the walls.  The
books had to be evacuated while the building was restored.  Furniture
was discarded, carpets and walls torn out, building dehumidified, mold
brought under control, systems replaced, etc.  The library was closed
for a year until the refurbished building was ready to receive the
collection.  Unhappily not all the books survived.  Some were lost while
others had been destroyed by mishandling and mold that had been
undetected when stored.  

This is what happened in a reasonably well managed county and prepared
institution that had access to plenty of expertise and assets to respond
to a fairly minor problem.  The county library system was even able to
place the staff at other libraries while the building was restored.

In view of this any librarian, archivist, records manager who is not
ready to cope with the risks facing their institutions is guilty of
dereliction duty.

Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
Records Management Officer
Harris County, TX

This posting reflects my opinions and not the opinions of Harris
County--but Harris County does have a very active Risk Management
program.

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