'WHAT WOULD YOU SAVE?' Experts advise planning to protect library, other collections

DISASTER FORUM on protecting library and other collections held at Johnson & Wales Culinary Museum. CREDIT: Jody McPhillips

Librarians, archivists warned that steps to protect their collections should be taken well before hurricanes and other disasters strike

By Jody McPhillips
Rhode Island Library Report

      PROVIDENCE – (Oct. 10, 2012) – In June of 2008, the Iowa River overflowed its banks and damaged a number of buildings on the University of Iowa campus, including the school’s Museum of Art.
      Since rivers usually rise slowly, Iowans had some time to act. Working feverishly for a week, they managed to move 124,000 items out of harm’s way—including a massive Jackson Pollock mural valued at $140 million.
      In April of 2010, the Essex Public Library in Tiverton wasn’t so lucky. When weeks of wet weather culminated in three days of historic downpours, the library was flooded and more than 4,000 books were destroyed.
      Joe Arsenault, president of the Rhode Island Association of Emergency Managers, said successful emergency management boils down to planning. “You have to ask yourself: what if you only had a couple days? What would you save?”
      He was speaking to more than 40 librarians, curators, archivists, and historic preservationists about how to develop a good emergency plan for their collections.
      The audience at the Johnson & Wales Culinary Museum in Providence also included fire and security officials and maintenance personnel. The event was organized by the state Office of Library and Information Services.
      Arsenault said close communication between the two groups is essential.
      He said the culinary museum is a case in point: its extensive collection is housed in a World War II-era building on low-lying land very close to Narragansett Bay and well outside the Providence hurricane barrier.
      If another 1938 hurricane comes roaring up the bay, he said, Johnson & Wales had better have a good emergency plan.
      “How vulnerable are you? Where can you take your stuff? Can you reduce your vulnerability?” he said. “You need to know what hazards threaten your community.” 
        Arsenault suggested that librarians and other keepers of cultural heritage should:

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•  Draw up emergency plans and train staff on how to implement them.

• Invite first responders and emergency management officials to visit their facilities to see what’s inside and how the buildings are laid out.
• Make a list of what they have and prioritize what must be saved.
• Establish where collections can be taken for safety, and set up clear lines of communication with staff so they can find people in a crisis.     

Lori Foley of the non-profit Heritage Preservation organization said only 20 percent of US cultural heritage organizations have emergency plans and trained staff to implement them. An old plan sitting on a shelf, she said, will not be much use if nobody knows how to implement it.
      She offered a number of online tools to help organizations design good plans, including:

•  www.heritagepreservation.org/REPP/TGS.html
  
•  http://ri.dplan.org
•  www.statearchivists.org/prepare/framework/prep.htm
•  http://westpas.org/course_docs.html
• www.conservation-us.org

      Foley also noted that not all disaster recovery companies have the skills needed to restore damaged library collections, and that for a small state like Rhode Island, there may be a lot of competition for the few who do in a widespread disaster like a hurricane.
      “Try to line one up early,” she said.