Petra Nemcova's Library Disaster Plan

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Petra Nemcova, a model, television host and philanthropist, once said, “we cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn’t have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness” (“TOP 25 NATURAL DISASTER QUOTES (of 112),” n.d.). Whether the disaster is major or minor flood, a fire or other forms of arson, a building collapse, an earthquake, or a cyclone, panic sets in and staff need to follow set procedures to ensure that evacuations occur correctly and in a timely manner, and that protection of resources transpires to keep resources out of harm’s way. This is why a disaster plan is an important document to have in the library to prepare for, prevent and recover from disasters. With the latest …show more content…

This committee, comprising of library professionals, conservators, technical assistants, security and emergency officials such as police, fire and rescue and paramedics (Kale, 2013), are in charge of devising and updating the library’s disaster plan. This committee assesses dangers in the library collection, and recommends preventative actions; set recovery procedures; assess the buildings structure and devise an evacuation map with emergency exits; and, train staff with emergency preventions and response (Kale, 2013, p. 2). For further assistance, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) have two documents, “Disaster Planning in Libraries” (ALIA - Australian Library and Information Association, 2010a) and “ALIA Guide to Disaster Planning, Response and Recovery for Libraries” (ALIA - Australian Library and Information Association, 2010b), to assist with devising and updating a disaster plan. Another important role for the committee is to appoint a Disaster Manager, Disaster Reaction Manager and a Disaster Recovery Manager (Muir & Shenton, 2002). These three roles can be taken upon by three different people or by the same person and allows for some direction before, during and after a …show more content…

1–2). Furthermore it should outline, the most valuable and rare collections; books and materials that help achieve the library’s objectives; materials researchers use at a high frequency; difficult to replace collections; and materials that can be damaged if not treated properly, such as leather bindings (Kale, 2013, p. 2). In addition, information about equipment, its sources, addresses and the telephone numbers for repairing purposes (Kale, 2013, p. 2).

Disaster management is considered to be the most important aspect of library management, however is a neglected field in librarianship (Morgan & Smith, 2014). Having a disaster plan means the library has implemented action to prevent disasters from occurring and has developed necessary procedures to effectively respond to and recover from a disaster which reduces impact on staff, the collection and the library (Heritage Collections Council - Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts & Söderlund Consulting Pty Ltd, 2000, p.

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