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. A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>