Managing Disasters: Developing & Exercising Your Disaster Plans

1. Managing Disasters:Developing & Exercising Your Disaster Plans

2. Objectives • Raise your awareness of the role that all library staff have in disaster prevention & preparedness • Provide you with key resources to help you initiate or refine emergency planning in your library • Learn training techniques for keeping your plans up-to-date & responsive

3. Emergency vs. Disaster Emergency An unanticipated or threatening event that requires immediate action Disaster An emergency that gets out of control Large-scale calamity that requires immediate action. May result in significant loss, damage or destruction. An emergency can become a disaster if immediate action is not taken to protect staff, patrons and collections

4. Illinois Preservation Survey 2005 • 52% of respondents have no written disaster plan for the recovery of damaged materials • Only 36% of the respondents had a written plan • 19% said their institution has experienced a disaster that damaged materials in the past five years • Leading causes were water leakage and mold outbreaks Prepared by Planning and Education Unit, OCLC Digital Collection Services

5. MANMADE DISASTERS Vandalism/arson Water leaks/sewage Electrical/construction accidents Bombs/terrorists Chemical explosions NATURAL DISASTERS Fire/wildfires Smoke/ash Earthquake Flood/rain storms Tornado/high winds It CAN happen to you!

6. Key Steps in Disaster Preparedness Prevention Preparation Response Recovery Follow Through

7. Assign responsibility Coordinate with agencies/personnel Assess potential sources of emergencies & identify hazards Assess collection assets & set priorities Assess prevention/protection needs Consider fiscal implications Implement when possible Prevention

8. Preparation • Prepare immediate response summary & telephone tree • Identify insurance & emergency funds • Identify sources of supplies, services, experts • Purchase & distribute in-house supplies

9. Preparation • Document & post emergency procedures • Write an adequately specific Disaster Plan • Train staff

10. Follow Through • Distribute written documentation & plans to all appropriate personnel • Educate staff/fire/security personnel • Test the plan & evaluate • Review, revise & update the plan at least annually

11. Assessment & documentation Communications Security Financial issues Salvage operations Supplies & equipment Building issues Personnel issues Responsibilities during Emergency Response & Recovery

12. Health & Safety • Account for all personnel • Care for injured • Protect workers during recovery • Consider the building/collection guilty until proven innocent

13. Freezing buys time … • “Buys time” to make decisions • Only response for some materials • Inhibits mold growth • Does not affect inks BUT… • Special equipment needed • Not suitable for all materials • Expensive $$$

14. Establishing Salvage Priorities Priority for pack-out & salvage given to records & collections having information: • Needed to establish/continue operations • Aid the recovery operations • Fulfill the insurance requirements

15. Considerations for Priorities • Bibliographic/accession records • Staff/personnel records • Collections • Emphasis in collecting • Current needs to support programs • Difficulty/cost of replacement • Format of material

16. Prioritization HIGH Collections most frequently used, vital records without back-ups, irreplaceable & most important, collection materials critical to ongoing operations MEDIUM Important, but replaceable with costs exceeding salvage expense LOW May have high monetary value, but are low in other measures

17. Purpose of a drill To test procedures looking for problems & discussing solutions. • Drills should teach success, not failure • Build confidence, not apprehension

18. Why Exercise? • Reveal planning weaknesses • Reveal resource gaps • Improve coordination • Clarify roles & responsibilities • Improve individual performance & confidence • Build emergency management team

19. Keys to a Successful Exercise • Top level support & involvement • Good exercise design team & leader • Positive learning plan & clear objectives • Realistic scenario • Thorough preparation & attention to detail

20. Keys to a Successful Exercise • Clear intro & instructions at start of exercise • Chance for participants to comment during critique • Follow-up on what went well plus actions to improve plans, procedures, facilities, etc.

21. Sample Scenarios • Library is the site of a protest by an angry mob • An earthquake hits while the library is holding a Friends of the Library event • A crazed person is shouting obscenities & begins splashing books with an unknown liquid • A basement storing collections is filling with water & electricity is still on

22. Responding to emergencies… People react in three ways: Freeze Unable to cope, may behave irrationally, can’t think through, may panic, are in shock Flight In shock, may panic, will leave situation for someone else to deal with Fight Remain calm, controlled, clear thinking These are your workers!

23. Initial Situation Report • Who’s in charge? • Safety issues? • What has happened? • Cause? • Nature & extent of damage? • Who discovered/reported? • What’s been done so far? • Security status? • Who’s handling the media?

24. Emergency Event Debriefing Information gathering Assessment of response The human factor

25. Administrative support & decision-making Preparedness makes good sense: • Minimizes damage • Expedites response & recovery • Saves time, trouble & expense • Replaces chaos with thoughtful response & recovery • Allows for prompt resumption of service

26. Stumbling blocks to a successful recovery • Poor management • Poor communication & updates • Poor stress management • Lack of flexibility • Isolation • Overly ambitious • Lack of inventories/priorities • No practice • Failing to harness goodwill & funding opportunities event provides

27. What hinders disaster preparedness? • Psychologically difficult • Overwhelming nature • It can’t happen to us • Financial/personnel resources • Not a priority • Lack of administrative support

28. Resumption of Service What do you need to do to get back in “business”? What resources are vital? What if your site can’t be used? Will staff continue to be paid?

29. How do you continue? • Accounts payable/receivable • Administrative files • Catalogs • Donor lists, Friends lists, mailing lists • Employee records, time sheets, payroll • Critical software • Critical support equipment & supplies

30. Tom Clareson Julie A. Page Program Director for Head, Preservation Dept. New Initiatives UC San Diego PALINET Geisel Library 3000 Market Street 9500 Gilman Dr. 0175N Suite 200 La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 Philadelphia, PA 19104-2801 jpage@ucsd.edu clareson@palinet.org 858-534-7695 614-439-1796 Global Product Manager, Planning and Education Digital Collection Services OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. 6565 Frantz Road Dublin, OH 43017-3395 tom_clareson@oclc.org 800-848-5878Tom Clareson Resource People