Prevention & Protection
Types of potential problems
· Fire

• Have faulty wiring checked. Upgrade inadequate wiring.
• Avoid extension cords when possible
• Bring the local fire department in to provide staff training and help with evacuation plan procedures
• Install/improve fire alarms

· Water

• Outdoors: Make sure water is coming through your downspouts, do not let water pool on your roof, keep ice dams from forming, examine mortar between bricks
• Basement: Store nothing directly on the floor, even briefly. Free wooden pallets may be used
• Look for signs of persistent leakage (stains on ceiling), and move things out from underneath, as well as from under other water sources including: bathrooms, pipes, drains, air conditioning units, drinking fountains, fish tanks, upstairs apartments
• Do not fill bottom book shelves more then 80-85%. Water on the floor will wick up pages, books swell which pops the end caps off of shelving, making the rest of the shelves dump their contents into the water
• 90% of all disasters will result in water damaged materials
• Install/improve water alarms

· Mold

• Mold is a problem for your collections and an air quality hazard
• Keep humidity below 55%
• In a disaster involving water, mold will develop quickly. Dropping the temperature of the area will slow the growth

· Pests

• Prevent insects and rodents from coming in by sealing routes of entry around pipes, cracks in walls. Using chemicals will kill them but will not prevent them from coming back

· Construction

• Check the site daily during construction and renovation projects.
• Be aware of strangers

· Security

• Have a written Patron Conduct Policy and an Incident Report form (samples available at http://midhudson.org/department/member_information/library_policies.htm)
• Invite your local police to do periodic walk-throughs of your facility
• Keep a list of current key holders
• Initiate/improve closing procedures
• Install/improve intrusion alarms

· Electronic Records

• Avoid data disasters of your equipment, your records and the records in the database
• Access the security of your electronic records and your computers http://midhudson.org/resources/technology_computers/security.htm

Planning

• Planning not only reduces permanent damage or loss to collections, but also sometimes helps prevent damage form happening
• Why do disaster planning:
  • Emergencies happen all the time
  • It is your professional responsibility to protect the collection you are entrusted by the public to preserve
  • It takes years to develop a collection and minutes to lose significant parts of it
• The best plan is ineffective if: staff is not aware of it, it is outdated, you can't find it
• Identify your unique resources that you are your salvage priorities.
  • Ask: Is it important to the community? Can it be replaced? At what cost? Can you afford it? Would replacement cost be more or less than restoration?
• Check with your insurance company to see what is covered
• Clean up storage areas, so in a pack-out you don't have to pick and choose. Store papers in boxes and follow proper records retention schedules
• Outline of a generic disaster plan http://www.ieldrn.org/sample.htm
• Hazard survey http://www.ieldrn.org/survey.htm

Recovery

• Initial response
  • Primary concern is for individuals inside, though most disasters occur when the building is unoccupied and no one is there to spot a weird thing.
• Salvage & Rehabilitation
  

  Refer to your Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel, that lists the action steps for the critical stages of disaster response, such as stabilizing the environment, assessing the damage and salvage steps for nine types of collections.

  Just knowing how to salvage the collection is not enough. You have to be instrumental in preventing it from happening.
  
  

ALA Disaster Response Fact Sheet
FEMA Emergencey Preparedness Checklist