Emergency Preparedness, Response & Recovery
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![Collections recovery room](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121022094705im_/http://www.loc.gov/preservation/images/subheaders/emergprepindex.jpg)
Mitigating the impact of emergencies and disasters is essential to preserving collections and family heirlooms. Whatever the disaster or emergency may be, water exposure is one of the most common problems and though not necessarily catastrophic, can result in total loss. Sound emergency planning, response, and recovery reduces this risk.
Effectively mitigating emergencies and disasters involves risk management and disaster planning, response, and recovery.
Because water expsoure -- and the subsequent mold growth it fosters -- is common to various emergencies and disasters, library disaster planning necessarily emphasizes reducing the threats posed specifically by water to collections.
Risk Management and Insurance
Risk management deals with the concepts of avoiding, preventing, and minimizing loss, and includes insurance.
Planning
Planning makes it possible to effectively respond to emergencies and disasters and successfully recover affected materials. Planning means identifying threats, developing a plan for how to proceed during an emergency or disaster, and knowing what to do afterwards to reduce further damage and to recover affected materials.
Response and Recovery
What to do when collections and family heirlooms are damaged during an emergency or disaster.
More about Response and Recovery after a Disaster
Additional Resources
The Library of Congress organizes programs and workshops covering emergency information, training, and review exercises for federal libraries and other federal cultural heritage agencies.
As a regional center for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions - Preservation and Conservation (IFLA PAC), the Library of Congress coordinated the formation of a North American network and put together a call list for expert guidance.
The links below point to additional helpful resources for emergency planning, response, and recovery.
The American Library Association (ALA) Carnegie-Whitney Award helped to support the creation of these emergency web pages.