Mutual Assistance Proposal

[Richard Boyden <richard.boyden@sanbruno.nara.gov>]

Below is the text of my presentation on the mutual aid network that I
made at the Barbara Will meeting.  I would like this or a revised version of
it to go on the home page.  I would appreciate any comments or
suggestions for improving it before I submit it, especially from Disaster
Committee members.  Thanks

BAPNet Program, January 12, 1996, Mills College Library

Why We Need a Disaster Mutual Assistance Pact
Presentation by Richard Boyden
BAPNet Chair and Appraisal Archivist,
NARA Federal Records Center, San Bruno  

We all worry about disasters, especially in this part of the country. 
Collections and institutional records are the life blood of what we do, and
all of our institutions are at risk from fire, water, and hazardous
materials, to say nothing of earthquakes.  For these reasons, there has
been increasing emphasis in recent years on disaster planning, but most
of our institutions still have a long way to go.

And my hunch is that this is even more true of archives and records
management programs than it is of libraries.  In Contra Costa County last
Fall, for example, arsonists attacked three government buildings and
caused $15 million damage, almost half of that in document recovery
costs alone.  Partly this is because, despite an otherwise sound disaster
plan, they made no provision for records, probably their most vital asset
after their staff.  And they were and are by no means unique, far from it.

This experience and others like it have convinced many of us that more
and better planning is imperative.  And an important element is mutual
assistance networks.  A key goal of BAPNet is to establish such a
network in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We want a network to do four
things.  First, develop a corps of professionals trained in records
recovery which can assist an allied institution where a localized disaster
has occurred.  Second, establish common stockpiles of disaster
recovery supplies.  Third, create a local supplement to existing national
and regional suppliers/vendors directories by combining the existing
products of our members.  These suppllements will be invaluable to
people preparing disaster plans.  Fourth, and probably most important of
all, we want to raise the consciousness of management and staff
concerning these issues.

We look to Southern California for most of our models.  Two networks
were established following the catastrophic 1986 fire at the Los Angeles
Public Library.  The Los Angeles Preservation Network - LAPNET, which
includes such institutions as LAPL, UCLA, Huntington Library, Jet
Propulsion Lab, and Warner Studios, has developed a
supplier/vendor/consultant directory and puts on excellent education and
training programs.  The Inland Empire Libraries Disaster Response
Network, based at UC Riverside, has common supplies storage sites. 
Both provide people assistance and expertise in case of disaster. 
IELDRN has already proven its effectiveness by assisting one member
institution, when allied staffs reshelved 300,000 volumes after an
earthquake in 1990.

The bottom line is inexpensive insurance against catastrophe.  It means
partnership.  It means effective, low-cost training for staff.  It means
doing more with less by reducing expensive duplication of effort and
resources.  It means sharing of ideas among conservators, librarians,
archivists, records managers, and systems people.  And I believe we
can sell it to administrators and policy makers. 

Today, I want to talk about IELDRN's mutual assistance pact, the text of
which is available on the Conservation On Line (COoL) web page.  Here
are some salient elements:

1.  Member institutions share in the purchase of common supplies either
in cash or in-kind.  With the help of a grant from the California
Preservation Program, institutions bought in for only $200 each!  (In the
Bay Area, because of the diversity of types and sizes of institutions we
are trying to reach, we may want to establish a sliding scale for buying
in.  We are also going to seek grant funding.)

2.  Member institutions may quit, but they leave their financial or in-kind
contributions behind.  If the pact votes to disband, the constituent
institutions take back what they put in.

3.  Member institutions draw on the common supplies if needed for
disaster response, then replace them within 90 days.

4.  Member institutions agree not to hold other member institutions liable
for injuries or damages arising out of the operation of the pact.

5.  Member institutions commit to assisting affiliated institutions in case of
disaster, but such assistance remains voluntary and may be withheld at
the option of those called on for assistance.

6.  And here is language that sums up the spirit in which the agreement
was created:

"No party to this agreement shall be required to pay any compensation to
any other party to this agreement for services rendered hereunder, the
mutual advantages and protection afforded by this agreement being
considered adequate compensation to all of the parties."

These Southern California examples, as well as other experience from
around the country, will greatly assist us in establishing our network. 
Building on the efforts of others, I propose that we consider the
following steps:

1.  Obtain cargo containers and set up two common supply sites initially. 
These will store large quantities of items for packing out and drying
books and archives.  For example,  stockpile 1000 standard
one-cubic-foot boxes at each site, enough to pack out water soaked
materials in a significant disaster.  Lack of such boxes caused serious
problems in the initial phases of the Contra Costa disaster recovery.

2.  Apply for grants to help purchase supplies.  Because most of the
funding we seek is granted to libraries only, one of our member libraries
would have to serve as grant recipient and administrator.  Because the
funding, if available, will be modest, we would identify an institution that
will not require administrative overhead.  For example, UC Riverside,
which administered the initial LSCA grant for IELDRN, waived overhead
charges on the grant.

3.  Develop local supplements to existing directories of disaster recovery
suppliers, vendors, and consultants.  For example, important local
resources include supermarkets, cold storage plants, and trucking
companies.  These must be utilized early in a disaster requiring blast
freezing of large quantities of water-damaged materials.  Rather than
member institutions re-inventing the wheel in constructing lists of such
resources, collective directories will save disaster planners hundreds of
hours of duplicated work.

4.  Contact institutions, including libraries and library systems, archives,
government agencies, and private companies to consider forming a
mutual aid pact.  We hope to start that process at this meeting.

A guiding principle of BAPNet has been to keep things simple and flexible.
 We should develop our network according to circumstances as we find
them.  We don't expect to perform miracles over night - in other words,
we will probably start small and build from there.  In the meantime,
BAPNet is planning a series of educational programs and workshops
which will be crucial to creating awareness of the need for mutual
assistance.

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