Disaster Preparedness

-Look through the websites of preservation and conservation units in museums
and find out if they have a disaster preparedness plan in place. Choose two,
identify their main characteristics and compare them.

I chose to look at the disaster preparedness of the conservation department at the National Archives and Cornell University.

Both institutions are first and foremost concerned with the safety of the employees before any of the collection materials although the National Archives had step by step actions to take in cases of:

Severe Storms

Hurricane Warning

Tornado Warning

Winter Storm

Utility Failure

Flood

Hazardous Material Accident

Civil Disorder and Demonstrations

Terrorism

Bomb Threat and Checklist

Explosion

Major Transportation Accident

Earthquake

The Cornell site simply stated to seek other sources from administrators for such instructions. The National Archives disaster preparedness plan was also very thorough in explaining how certain disasters such as water and fire can affect the different types of materials within the archive, what to do before trying to salvage items and what to do within the weeks follow salvage to prevent further repercussions of the disaster from occurring. There isn't any mention of exactly what to do first in the event of a disaster other than to save personnel then begin disaster treatment of material. There are several mentions of disaster preparedness drills for both the staff evacuations as well as scenarios involving materials. The Cornell plan is not as involved but it allows for each head of each library, museum or collection to tailor the plan to their own needs. For example, the disaster preparedness plan states:

Each department, unit or library should identify those parts of library
collections which must be protected or salvaged first after an emergency. On the
attached form, list, in order of priority, those library materials, records and collections which should be salvaged first. Along with this priority list, attach a floor plan indicated locations of fire extinguishers, alarms, etc. It is best to list in detail what the collection priorities are in an appendix. Establishing priorities within collections is equally important (e.g. call numbers of specific items within collections). Consider the following points in establishing priorities What is the monetary and intrinsic value of the collection as a whole or its individual items? How fragile is the material? (e.g. brittle, unbound issues of serial, etc.) How vulnerable is the material to damage from a disaster? (e.g. location, under pipes, near water Is the material replaceable? Can the majority of items be replaced in the same or a different format, such as microfilm? What are the economics of replacing items? Which materials can be replaced more economically than they can be salvaged? The estimated average replacement of a monograph is currently $75.00. What are the costs of de-accessioning materials? What materials can be discarded instead of salvaged? What are the legal requirements, if any, for retention of documents/material? Why is preservation of this material critical? The relative importance of collections, to university programs. In addition to the collections, what other items are valuable (e.g. catalog, shelflist, computer terminals.)

(http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/emergencies/ word doc.)

I like the idea of obtaining input from those who know most about particular collections. This way a little bit of everything can be saved first. The plan seems to have enough structure in it to guide the staff but enough flexibility to be helpful to everyone.

Overall I would say that the National Archives disaster preparedness relies on hands on drills of procedures while Cornell has a more traditional preparedness manuals. Both realize that human life is more important than material objects. The National Archives appears to deal with materials that are in more need of rescue or are in more immediate danger while Cornell relies on curators/conservators to list what is most important and irreplaceable.