26.1 Writing on the wall

Regional catastrophes claim the attention of our news media. It seems that if reporters and commentators aren’t covering a hurricane, terrorist act, or pandemic, then they’re predicting one. Smaller events—referred to as disasters or emergencies—receive less attention, but remain newsworthy.

Librarians complain that when a catastrophe or disaster wrecks the infrastructure of a major city, reporters seldom pay attention to the plight of local libraries. For example, the libraries of New Orleans and parts of Florida sustained serious damage during the hurricanes of 2005, but it was the local hospitals, retail areas, and other public spaces that attracted the TV crews.

26.2 Risks and their effects

Fortunately, librarians have developed techniques to mitigate risks to their operations. Wiping out risks completely is impossible, but we can lessen their effects to the point that they no longer pose so great a threat; they may cause us grief, but we might not suffer as much.

The first step in dealing with future catastrophes and disasters is to analyze their possible effects. The risks that threaten your library are often so easy to spot that you might miss them altogether, but now is the time to belabor the obvious. A library beside a river may be situated on a flood plain. A library in an earthquake zone might be in danger of collapsing because of ground motion. Where it rains and snows heavily, libraries leak. If you store your servers in a damp basement, your data are in peril.

Why do we tend to ignore the obvious? Because like the dog down the block, it hasn’t bitten us yet, and if we ignore it, it’ll probably ignore us. This is the sort of thinking that allows us to live with the abundance of risk in our lives. In fact, we focus on things that are less likely to hurt us so that we can avoid thinking about more frightening threats to our personal safety. For instance, we may worry about another 9/11, but we’re far more likely to be injured in a car accident than die in a terrorist attack.

In the library, we may set up committees to discuss slip-and-fall accidents in the parking lot, but a greater threat could be the roof leak that’s drenching the electrical circuitry in the server room.

26.3 Mitigation measures

Once you’ve identified the risks to your library, mitigate them. You can’t stop the wind from blowing or the earth from shaking, but you can prepare your buildings, collections, and staff to survive the worst. You can mitigate any risk as long as you identify it before it turns into an active threat.

Mitigation measures involve preparing personnel and assets for all risks noted in the risk analysis. Every day, leaky roofs and plumbing cause enormous damage to library assets. You can mitigate this risk by inspecting roofs and plumbing regularly. If a small crack appears on a pipe or roof section, repair it without delay. Keep library drains clear. It sounds simple. That’s because it is.

In an earthquake zone such as southwestern British Columbia, library employees should be trained not to run outside during the shaking. If they remain inside and “duck, cover, and hold” as current disaster preparedness guidelines recommend, they are far less likely to be hit by falling masonry, the cause of many earthquake fatalities.

Librarians can mitigate fire risks by ensuring that electrical circuitry is in good condition, and that employees leave the building when the fire alarm sounds. (How obvious! But in Canada, many libraries no longer bother with fire drills. If they hear the alarm, librarians might assume that a prankster is at work.)

Data loss? Back up essential data from your technical services department and store the backup media in a secure off-site location. Medical emergencies involving elderly patrons? Train employees to recognize signs and symptoms of heart attacks and strokes, and encourage them to learn first aid. Power outages? Store flashlights in all departments.

Most mitigation measures are easy enough to arrange. The challenge is to motivate ourselves to take responsibility for their implementation.

26.4 Response measures for life safety

The appropriate response to an emergency, disaster, or catastrophe is to protect life and limb, not data, carpets, and shelving. Life safety procedures can be laid out in a brochure small enough to fit into a wallet or purse. Brochure instructions should cover all items listed in your library’s list of risks.

It’s wise not to stuff big binders with emergency guidelines. Few of us bother to read any policy document longer than a few pages, so the compilation of hundreds of pages is usually a waste of time. Prefer the small brochure with advice in point form. Hand out your library’s brochure with the pay stubs, or distribute it during employee training and orientation sessions.

To motivate librarians to take life safety measures seriously, ask them to imagine themselves in different kinds of danger. Get them to think not only about themselves, but also about their families. A librarian with these personal concerns will be more inclined to read that brochure and take the necessary first aid and disaster response training than one who assumes that the mayor will quickly come to the rescue. We become more self-reliant when we realize that most civil authorities will be unable to respond to our calls for help during a disaster, and that we’ll probably be on our own.

26.5 Resumption measures

After an event that disrupts library operations, you should resume operations as soon as possible, by developing measures to decrease downtime and to facilitate ongoing activities. These may include damage assessment guidelines, collection preservation strategies, service resumption processes, arrangements for alternative sites, and public relations procedures to reassure patrons that their library will survive.

Librarians should organize strategic alliances with key suppliers. Most libraries are unable to resume or continue operations after a catastrophe or disaster without external assistance. Even a minor emergency such as a small flood can shut down a library for days, unless a qualified moisture control vendor is available to repair the damage. Many moisture control vendors are also qualified to handle damage from fires, toxic spills, and high winds. These vendors offer invaluable services after different kinds of events.

A strategic alliance shouldn’t cost your library anything until you require the vendor’s services. You can prearrange prices, site access, equipment delivery, and clean-up schedules to meet your library’s needs. Without an alliance, you might wait days for a vendor to start drying out your collections. It might be too late for many drenched items, which you might have to discard. Particularly after a region-wide catastrophe, a strategic alliance has saved not only a collection, but also an entire library system.

26.6 You’ve already made a start

With catastrophes hitting the headlines so frequently, you and your colleagues are probably interested in developing plans to deal with them. You’ve made a start by asking your local fire department to inspect your branches annually, establishing a conservation program for fragile and rare items, and storing your vital data off-site.

You might already have strategic alliances with your regular vendors. It makes sense to build on these practices and arrive at a comprehensive risk management plan. You might think that you’re merely postponing the inevitable. And so you are. But your patrons are still eager to browse in your stacks, to ask reference questions, and to attend Children’s Storytime. Plan to postpone the inevitable for their sake, as well as your own.