M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries

Site map

Reaction (Commentary)

Procedures for Initial Action on Discovering a Disaster

These will vary according to local conditions, but should include procedures for both during and outside opening hours, alerting the Library’s chain of command, alerting other institution departments (e.g. Security), how to contact emergency services and the circumstances under which the building should be evacuated. The responsibilities and duties of staff members should be made clear. It should be noted that disasters which occur out of hours may well be discovered by non library staff, such as security, cleaning or maintenance staff. These staff should have access to the Procedures for Initial Action on Discovering a Disaster. They should also have been made aware in advance of the need for prompt action in the event of all types of disaster.

Contact Details

Include contact details of the Disaster Managers and also the Press Officer. The Disaster Reaction Manager will call out the Disaster Reaction Teams if necessary and their contact details should be included. She/he may also contact other internal departments and the appropriate personnel and contacts should be listed.

Initial Assessment of the Disaster Situation

On arrival, the Disaster Reaction Manager will need to establish contact with those in control of the site, whether from within the institution or from the emergency services. As soon as it is safe the extent of the damage must be assessed and the scale of response decided. If necessary other personnel from the list of contact details should be summoned and briefed on their arrival at the site.

Careful briefing of Disaster Reaction Teams is essential. Staff who have not previously experienced a similar disaster may find it unexpectedly upsetting and/or exhausting. Experience has shown that regular breaks are absolutely essential with a maximum work period of one and a half hours between breaks. Refreshments should be made available as close as possible to the work areas. The Disaster Managers will need to be on the look out for signs of shock or emotional problems amongst staff and react to them immediately by giving extra breaks or sending affected staff home. In some cases counselling may be provided by emergency services (disaster and After, 1999). on the first day but after that it will be up to management to put in place measures to help staff cope with the aftermath of a disaster.

It is essential to establish a Control Point early on to act as clearing house for communications between the various teams who may be widely dispersed; for example suitable facilities for drying material or for the bibliographic team may be on another site. The Control Point staff should also monitor the rotation of Disaster Reaction Teams, their location within the disaster area and the work in progress.
Depending on the scale of the disaster the Disaster Recovery Manager will need to implement the contingency plans laid to allow the library to maintain some level of service during the disaster. In the event of a disaster affecting IT, backups will need to be obtained from their safe storage location and procedures implemented to restore the service.

Guidelines for Disaster Reaction Team Members

It may be useful to include a short laminated pullout section in the Disaster Management Plan to cover guidelines for the Disaster Reaction Teams. These could then be consulted easily before leaving home and during the salvage operation.

Master Copy of Disaster Report Form

Keep master copies of the Disaster Report Form in the Reaction section of the Disaster Management Plan. Stocks of blank forms, and blank paper in various colours, should be kept with the emergency equipment.

Procedures for Salvaging Library and Archive Materials

NB The procedures for salvage contained in the template assume that all types of material is to be salvaged, they will need to be modified according to institute policy; see Preparedness - Salvage Priorities section.

Water damage

Water damage is the most common form of damage to library and archive materials and a side effect of fire based disasters. However, improved technology and awareness by the fire service has greatly reduced the amount of water damage, which follows a fire. It is essential to work quickly as mould growth can be expected on the wet stock within 48 hours. In hot humid weather mould will appear in less than 24 hours. Refer to BS5454 : 2000 for safe temperature and humidity ranges.

Depending on institutional salvage policy, decisions will need to be made as to how to dry the wet material. Specialist firms exist, which will dry material using the techniques listed:

Air-drying of damp books can be successfully undertaken in house, providing that there is sufficient space and staffing available.
Dehumidifiers can be used to speed the process of air-drying. The equipment allows the final water content of the materials to be carefully controlled.
Freezing books and records begins the drying process and damp books will dry completely if left in a freezer for several weeks. The process will be speeded up if the books are spread out on racks. This process results in some distortion of books.
Vacuum drying involves placing books in a chamber with a heat source and then drawing a vacuum. It often produces distortion of books and is totally unsuitable for coated paper. It is also relatively expensive.
Freeze drying takes place at temperatures below 0 degrees. A heat source is introduced and a vacuum is pulled. Ice crystals in the books vaporise without melting (sublimation) thus reducing the risk of distortion. This has proved a useful technique but is relatively expensive. It is generally recommended for rare and unique material, but is not suitable for vellum or parchment or documents with seals. It has the added advantage that mud, dirt and soot are lifted to the surface making cleaning easier.

Non book materials including archive material are likely to need specialist treatment. Where serious damage has occurred to archive material deemed worthy of rescue, [see Preparedness - Salvage Priorities section] the use of specialist firms during salvage is likely to be essential. The services of a conservator on site would be very useful during any disaster and at a minimum a specialist should be contacted for advice.

Fire damage

Unlike single sheets books do not burn easily, since there is little oxygen between the pages of a book. Most damage is caused by smoke contamination, which can be cleaned using chemical sponges. There are specialist firms which will undertake this work, but ordinary industrial cleaners should not be used. The sooner cleaning is started the more successful it will be; so speed is of the essence. It is claimed to be extremely cost effective at "an eighteenth of the cost of true replacement" (Thorburn, 1993) i.e. including cataloguing and processing costs. It should be noted, however that the cleaning process has been known to remove stamped labels from the spines of volumes bound in buckram (Institute of Education, 1996). Re-labelling or rebinding these volumes adds to the expense of the salvage operation. The material may also need to be treated to remove the odour of soot and smoke, although experience at the Dalhousie fire (Feinstein, 1989/90) showed that the well ventilated conditions provided to air dry the books much reduced the smell without further treatment.

Non book material is much harder to clean and may need to be replaced. This will not be an option for unique archive material and may justify efforts at salvage depending on institutionally set salvage procedures. [see Preparedness-Salvage Procedures]. This will necessitate the use of specialist firms and is likely to be expensive.

Mould/Pest Infestation

Treating any form of infestation is a specialist job, as it involves the application of chemicals. Specialist advice should be sought after isolating the area.

IT

In the event of the building having been evacuated, or a disaster occurring out of hours, the library system may not have been shut down properly. Procedures for the restoration of the computer should be included in the written plan, and training for Disaster staff provided beforehand. Where hardware has become wet or been damaged by fire the damage will need to be assessed and a report prepared for insurance purposes. It may be useful to seek expert advice to help assess damage to hardware. Damaged hardware should be removed from public access as soon as possible and quarantined until it can be assessed.

Bombs

Any member of staff could find a suspect package or answer the telephone and receive a bomb threat. It is therefore important to have procedures and training in place before the event. Many institutions will have procedures in place and libraries should consult the relevant department and seek expert advice. In the event of damage resulting from an explosion, the Disaster Management Plan should be implemented in the normal way. As with any disaster, the safety of library personnel is paramount and the disaster area should not be entered until it is declared safe to do so by the emergency services.

[ Back ]