The Getty Conservation Institute wrote a workbook called “Building an Emergency Plan:  A Guide for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions,” in 1999.  The publication is now out of print, but a free PDF version is available from their website.  It is very well organized and thoughtfully written.  Check out page 2 of the Introduction for an impressive table of disasters that have occurred to cultural institutions around the world in the past 20 years. 

The above quote is from this article, which provides some very helpful suggestions for maintaining services after a disaster, taken from a business model, but they can also be applied to a library setting.

The above quote is from this article, which provides some very helpful suggestions for maintaining services after a disaster, taken from a business model, but they can also be applied to a library setting.

Last month’s big snowstorm in Buffalo, New York, exposed some weaknesses in disaster planning. Here’s an article from the University of Buffalo addressing the issue.

Lawrence Wein, professor at Stanford’s graduate school of business, wrote an interesting op-ed column on pandemic influenza in today’s New York Times.  (Note: I believe you need to be registered at nytimes.com in order to view the article.)

Here’s an article that Richard Boss wrote back in 2002 entitled Disaster Planning for Computers and Networks. It will give you a good general understanding of computer networks and disaster planning. In our disaster plan, our local procedures are covered in LTSD (Library Technology Services And Development) Recovery Plan. The University of Virginia’s ITC (Information Technology & Communication) department handles the broader issues related to network recovery.

The ready.gov site has a nice page on how to shelter in place.

The US Department of Homeland Security has a nice pdf brochure called “Every Business Should Have a Plan.” While this is not specific to libraries, it provides a good rationale for disaster planning as well as some valuable information that we can all use.

Here’s a great disaster planning page from The National Library of Australia. It features a good general description for a plan and even includes success measures.