Disaster can strike any time of the day or night. It can ruin an entire building’s worth of materials or affect only a few items. No institution is immune. Some disasters are caused by nature such as tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, heavy rains, ice storms or melting snow that can cause flash flooding. Or damage can occur from leaky or busted plumping (inside the building or out), furnace malfunctions, poor construction (such as flat roofs) or faulty wiring which can potentially cause a fire resulting in smoke-damaged and waterlogged collections from the local firefighters’ response. Knowing what to do, how to do it, and who to call can make all the difference between successfully recovering collections with minimal loss and risking the loss of an entire collection.
In an effort to provide institutions of all sizes with the necessary tools to write a disaster plan, this
Disaster Plan Manual Template (pdf)/alt50.jpg)
was created for distribution at regional workshops in Pennsylvania starting in 2001. The information found in the template represents the current thoughts on what should be included in such a manual. Eleven years of personal experience and knowledge of disaster planning and recovery, mixed with tidbits of data learned along the way, formed the basis of the document presented here. The template has been updated and is reproduced here for your use.
The template may be reproduced without permission, provided that the Penn State University Libraries are credited. As you write your own institution’s disaster plan, consider this document a living guide --- living in the sense that it will need perpetual care to keep it useful and useable.
Read about the Penn State Libraries’ own brush with disaster in the 1993 Pattee Library Water Emergency.
For additional information, contact Sue Kellerman, Head, Preservation Department. You can also find more disaster planning resources on our Additional Online Resources page.
