Risk Assessment and Salvage Guide

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6.0 Assessment

Once all material has been re-located then the emergency team need to determine whether the original area can continue to house the collection, and if not then appoint an alternate location. The team then need to review the record of events, compare notes and determine the success of the operation. If parts of the plan were found to be unsatisfactory or ineffectual when applied to actual emergency conditions, then it should be amended, and all staff informed. Finally, it is important that the emergency plan be an on-going concern and it should be reviewed annually and revised as often as necessary.

7.0 Conclusion

An emergency, typically, is unexpected, dramatic and disruptive. As such its occurrence can cause panic, confusion and upset. The consequences in terms of loss can be enormous and are greatly exacerbated if the institution is unprepared. Having a plan can restore calm, minimise confusion and limit the effects. Having trained staff following a predetermined course of action will significantly reduce the amount of time lost and therefore increase the possibility of salvaging the maximum amount of material. The purpose of this guide is to provide some general guidelines for drawing up an emergency plan for your institution. We hope that it will be useful in helping you formulate your emergency plan, as well as providing you with access to further information through links and an attached bibliography.

The procedures discussed on this site are not intended to be definitive; however they should provide a useful starting point for developing an emergency plan specific to your institution/library. The websites listed in the bibliography section of this document provide examples of existing and tested plans, all of which include extensive bibliographies.