Disaster Planning 101: Seven-Steps to Preparing a Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan

Heidi Marshall, Head Archives & Collections, Columbia College Chicago

A disaster preparedness plan is designed to reduce the impact of mold, water, pests, and other issues that may affect our collections and enable us to react quickly in emergencies within your library and archive collections. Authoring such a plan isn’t difficult, especially if taken in a few key steps:   

1. Establish an internal disaster response team, define roles, and draft a plan.

Include Facilities staff in your group.

• Getting Started with a Disaster Plan – California State Library
• Worksheet for Outlining an Emergency Response Plan – Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
• Planning, Preparedness, and Mitigation – Smithsonian Cultural Rescue
• dPlan online tool – includes planning for physical and digital emergencies
• Getting Started with a Disaster Plan – California State Library
• Disaster Plan Templates – Society of American Archivists (SAA)
• Disaster Preparedness & Response Plan – American Alliance of Museums (AAM)
• Disaster Planning for High Density Storage – American Library Association (ALA)

2. Gather information & incorporate into your recovery plan.

Include plan information specific to your institutional collection needs.

• Disaster Preparedness with Limited Resources – California State Library
• Tip Sheets – National Heritage Responders
• Library Disaster Preparedness & Response – ALA
• Emergency Management, section 3 – NEDCC
• Disaster Response & Recovery, section 21 – National Park Service (NPS)
• Recovery Guides – American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
• Electronic Records Disaster Preparedness & Recovery – New York State Archives

3. Assess threats to collections from the building and take steps to mitigate risks.

Walk the outside and inside of the building housing collections

• Walk-Through Checklist – Foundation for Advancement in Conservation

4. Identify an external support network.

Build campus, local, state, and national support structures into your plan

• Disaster Assistance – NEDCC
• National Heritage Responders – American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
• National Disaster Recovery Fund for Archives – Society of American Archivists

5. Prioritize collections and items for first salvage.

Identify vital collections or items for first salvage keeping in mind what is most important to your institution such as this NARA webpage.

• Emergency Response Salvage Wheel – Cultural Heritage
• Disaster Recovery Manual – Syracuse University

6. Train all staff involved in disaster response and recovery.

Library and Facilities staff should be trained in the plan.

• Getting Your Library Ready for Disaster – California State Library
• Disaster Plan Exercise – California Preservation Program
• The Importance of Tabletop Exercises for your Disaster Plan – CARLI Preservation Committee
• Pocket Response Plan Template – Council of State Archivists (CoSA)
• Disaster Plan Template – Amigos Library Services

7. Review the disaster response plan and train staff annually.

Regular training for all involved should take place as staff leave, collection priorities change, and practice keeps staff sharp.

• Updating Your Disaster Plan – California State Library
• Emergency Management – Library of Congress

Resources

• Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project  “Ready—Or Not” (recordings)
• SAA May Day – Annotated Resource (webpage)
• Library of Congress Emergency Management (webpage)
• NEDCC leaflets (webpage)
• National Park Services leaflets (webpage)

Return to Disaster Planning 101.