Disaster Recovery At The Morgan University Library

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necessary and important for library managers to carry out disaster drills and exercise. Drills will keep the disaster plan current and fresh in the minds of library staff. Disasters are unpredictable;
Disaster Reaction Response is the immediate reaction to disaster. It may occur as the disaster is anticipated, as well as soon after it begins. Hence, reaction is the initial response to an emergency. In this stage, actions to deal with the disaster event take place (Coombs and Holladay). This action protects staff and patrons in emergency and equipped them with the knowledge and skills to function effectively and efficiently in the event of disasters. Aburuki states that the response stage leads to actions being taken to protect staff …show more content…

According to Buchanan, this component of the disaster plan must be organized and prepared very carefully. It should also be noted that the recovery processes can be quite time consuming while others may recover in a short period (Brown). This stage of the plan can determine the failure or success of the recovery effort. For example, July 27, 1997, Fort Collins, Colorado, suffered flash flooding and, in a period of four hours, received 6.5 inches of rain. The Morgan University Library was hit hard. All the bound journals housed in the library were damaged and had to be removed from the building, as were all the monographs located on the lower level. Afterward many subject disciplines had no materials available for researchers. Although, the disaster struck three weeks before the fall semester, the university president mandated that all buildings damaged must be operational by the first day of classes, unfortunately Morgan Library was the hardest hit building on campus. Most importantly the library was able to go into recovery mode immediately after the disaster because they see the value in having a Disaster Management Plan (Alire). She further state that not only did the library's disaster recovery team have a disaster plan and recovery document, but it also had gone through disaster recovery practice drills. Even more important, several members of the team had served as presenters at disaster-planning workshops earlier in the year. Morgan Library staff was prepared for the disaster which facilitate an effective recovery process. In this case, the recovery process will allow the library to resume its function after a disaster. During this stage of the disaster management plan library managers carries out the salvaging and repairing of library

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