Quick Tips for Disasters & Emergencies: Salvage Priorities Roadmap

Rob DeLand, Head Librarian and Archivist, VanderCook College of Music

An important aspect for disaster planning is to identify the most at-risk or valuable collections, the objects, collections, and records that are vital to your institution, and to have a plan in place to make sure those items are cared for as well as possible. 

“When disaster strikes, confusion and chaos often replace thoughtfulness and deliberation. By having action steps outlined in advance, you don’t have to think about every detail; you can use these steps for guidance and to ensure that you are not overlooking any important activity. What are these action steps? How do you prioritize them? In many cases, it may not be possible to save all your collections. What goes into determining salvage priorities for collections?” (Page, 2013)

One example guideline for setting salvage priorities shared by Julie Page includes:  

“To create the lists of priorities, identify the collections or the objects, note their location and include any security and display information that will allow for speedy removal. Both the list of prioritized collections and security information should be considered sensitive information. Consider carefully what information to include in the distributed plan. If kept [in a] separate [document or location from your overall disaster plan], make it easily accessible by the salvage team and share with the local fire department in case of an event. Floor plans with priority collection areas highlighted and/or pictured can be especially useful during a response.”

A list of priority collections within a library or archives should include the priority level, a collection identifier (accession number / call number / collection name), location, material type, size, and any notes that might be relevant.  Factors to consider include: irreplaceability; importance to the core collection; significance to the organization; historic, scholarly, or monetary value; and condition.  If information such as institutional records have been digitized and backed up off-site, then salvaging the original items may a lower priority.

Priorities during an emergency may depend on circumstances, such as building stability.  A top priority item that is not in danger might not be as high a salvage response priority in an emergency situation as another item which IS in danger, perhaps near a source of water.

It may be helpful to identify boxes of priority items in an archive with day-glo tape that can be easily seen in the dark or during a power outage.  Label the box, not the shelf since the box could be moved.

Finally, an assessment of collection priorities may provide a valuable opportunity to assess where priority items are stored.  Would they be better off somewhere else?  Can they be evacuated quickly if necessary?

Resources:

Archives At Risk Help Desk, “Disaster Response” is an excellent list of disaster planning resources made available by the Archives At Risk Committee at the University of Southern California. 

FAIC. Connecting to Collections Care. Protecting Your Collections: Writing a Disaster Response Plan course (all webinars). 

Page, Julie. “PReP™ Side B: Action Steps”, Webinar 3 of FAIC Connecting to Collections Care webinar course series Protecting Your Collections: Writing a Disaster Response Plan, 2013.

Webinar resource: “Guidelines for Establishing Salvage Priorities”

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