14.6 Disaster Recovery Report

After each disaster, no matter how minor, you will want to write a disaster recovery report detailing the event and the recovery.

• the date and time of the disaster;
• a description of the disaster;
• an approximate number of documents affected;
• immediate response taken;
• long-term actions taken;
• amount of time spent on the recovery;
• results or impact of the disaster;
• a description and number of pieces discarded, if any;
• recovery budget and amount spent; and
• photographs or videos made by the photographer.

You should send a copy of this report to your library administrator, the regional depository library, LSCM, and the disaster response team leader. Keep a copy filed in the Master Plan notebook.

14.6.A Notification to Library Services and Content Management (LSCM) when your Depository Library cannot Receive Depository Shipments

• If damage to the building where the depository shipments from LSCM are received is extensive and interrupts the normal delivery of mail, you should notify Depository Distribution in the Office of Collection Management and Preservation as soon as possible to make appropriate arrangements. These arrangements may include LSCM holding your depository shipments.
• Contact askGPO regarding shipments.
• You should also contact your local United States Postal Service office, other delivery services (for example, United Parcel Service (UPS)), and the mail delivery system at your institution to make temporary arrangements to hold shipments or deliver them to an alternate location.

14.6.B Resumption of Public Service

• Public services, including access to and service in the use of Federal Government information resources, should be resumed as soon as possible after a disaster. If the public service points for the Federal publications have been extensively damaged, temporary service points should be established within the building or in another library or building on campus or in the community. The public should be kept informed of the status of the depository through available media sources as well as the depository’s Web page.
• If your depository cannot provide public service, arrangements for providing public service should be made with a nearby depository or with the regional depository library. In any case, the information about the temporary public service location and contact information should be communicated to LSCM, the other depositories in the state, and other libraries that may rely on your services.

14.6.C Communicating about the Availability of Government Publications

• The Federal Government information resources should be made accessible to the public as soon as the building has been declared safe for occupancy and public use.
• If the resources are located in areas that are heavily damaged and that will require extensive repairs or renovations, you should make arrangements to retrieve publications for public use from these damaged areas or from an offsite facility if one is established. Referrals to nearby depository libraries and the regional depository library can also be made in order to provide the public access to Government information.

14.6.D More Information for Evaluating the Damages and Assessing the Losses in your Depository Library

• Federal publications are distributed by LSCM in a variety of formats: tangible, microfiche, tangible electronic (audio, video, CD-ROMs, DVDs, floppy diskettes), and maps. In some depository libraries, all Government publications, regardless of format, are housed together in one location. In other depositories, the format determines where the material is located.
• Some depository libraries choose to integrate their Federal publications into the main collection using a cataloging and classification system other than the Superintendent of Documents system. Determining the extent of the damage or loss of publications in this case would be part of the evaluation of the damaged materials in that location in the library.
• The condition of the damaged publications will be assessed following the established procedures in your library’s disaster plan. If the damage is extensive and experts determine that the collection is a total loss, there would be no reason for further assessment of the condition of the material. If the damage is not extensive, publications should be examined on an individual basis to determine their condition. For example, publications damaged in a fire may be evaluated and categorized as:
  
  
  • Unsalvageable/To be replaced; or
  • Salvageable/To be rebound; or
  • Salvageable/To be cleaned.
• Ideally, staff performing the evaluation should be familiar with Federal publications. In any case, guidelines for the evaluation process should be written and retained for future reference. Training should be provided to staff who will be evaluating the material.
• When evaluating individual publications, be aware that the damage may not be as extensive as it appears. Some depositories place small brochures (for example, National Park Service brochures) in manila envelopes to help in stack maintenance. In a fire, the envelope may be partially destroyed, while the brochure itself has survived. Bindings that appear completely charred on the outside may have contents that were only slightly damaged in a fire. Carefully examine and evaluate older publications (such as Serial Set volumes) that contain brittle paper and folded leaves before the final assessment is made.
• In assessing losses, you should consider that even if a publication has been rebound or cleaned, this does not preclude further damage to the material. In a fire, the high heat and smoke shortens the life expectancy of the damaged documents. Deterioration will be evident in the black staining that appears on the text edge of newly rebound books, audible cracking of damaged adhesive when volumes are opened and heavy soot deposits remaining on page edges and along fold out creases. This rate of deterioration cannot be predicted but is something that NEEDS be monitored on a regular basis.
• When depository library materials are badly damaged or decomposed as the result of a natural or man-made disaster, regional librarians may authorize the bulk disposal of such materials and bypass the Needs & Offers lists. Considering the state of decomposition of those items, LSCM does not require damaged materials be offered to other depositories.

14.6.E Prioritizing Treatment/Replacement

• After the damaged publications have been evaluated and categorized, the method of treatment outlined in your library’s disaster plan should be followed or a process should be established to fit the specific circumstances of the situation.


• Some questions that NEED to be considered in the treatment process:
  
  
  • Who is doing the treatment (library staff or members of the disaster recovery service)?;
  • Where will the treatment be done (on-site or off-site)?;
  • What timetables need to be followed?; and
  • What outside factors may influence the process (institutional or insurance company requirements)?
• Establishing the priority for replacing material that cannot be salvaged should follow your depository’s collection development policy for U.S. Government publications and the priorities established in the library’s disaster plan.

14.6.F Bibliographic Control

• Records of the disposition of the publications MUST be kept. Notations should include information that will assist the public in determining the status or location of a publication. The status or location might read, for example,:
  
  
  • destroyed;
  • sent to bindery (date sent); or
  • sent for treatment at an offsite facility (date sent).
• These notes could be entered in the cataloging records in your depository’s online catalog so that the status of a publication can be determined. In depositories that have paper or electronic shelf list records for some of the documents in their collections, the status notes should be entered in the shelf list.
• A spreadsheet listing those publications that were destroyed will probably prove useful. This record could be used to provide easy access to the status information of a publication not listed in the depository’s catalog and would be useful when searching for replacements in disposal lists or through the Needs and Offers List.