Mutual Response Network

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

Greetings.  At Helene Whitson's suggestion, I have patched together a
statement for use by members in persuading their institutions to make
tentative commitments (or expressions of interest) in joining a disaster
response mutual assistance network.  The idea is that individuals can
download this and use it or parts of it as something concrete when they
go to management.  Please suggest changes if you have them.  It is now
fairly urgent that we get a number of institutions to express strong
interest because we will want to provide the State Library with a list of
institutions as part of our grant proposal.  This doesn't mean signing an
agreement at this point, but we would want institutions to know that we
would be using their names in this way.  If you have questions please
email or phone me at (415) 876-9084.  I will be at home on March 21, but
will be calling in for messages.



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Bay Area Preservation Network
BAPNet

Mutual Assistance for Localized Records/Library Disasters

Floods, fires, and other disasters take a yearly toll on our nation's
heritage as represented in records, books and artifacts. Too often,
institutions are unprepared to cope with such events.  In response to this
challenge, archivists and librarians in several parts of the country have
banded together to form mutual assistance networks for disaster
response.

Two networks in southern California have pioneered with such services
as low-cost staff training, shared disaster supplies stockpiles, as well
as staff assistance during emergencies.  These groups, including the
Los Angeles Preservation Network and the Inland Empire Library
Disaster Response Network, provide useful models for progress in this
area.

The need for mutual response was brought home last year in the Bay
Area when two local governments experienced significant records
disasters.  In one case, fire damage to records ran into the millions of
dollars.  Neither jurisdiction was aware of the staff expertise of
surounding institutions and had to cope with their disasters alone.  As a
result, the Bay Area Preservation Network is working to establish a
mutual assistance pact that will bring together public agencies and
private corportations, as well as libraries and archives.

Our common goals are as follows:

1. Develop a corps of professionals trained in records recovery which
can assist an allied institution where a localized disaster has occurred.

2. Establish common stockpiles of disaster recovery supplies.  

3. Create a suppliers/vendors directory to assist member institutions
preparing disaster plans. 

4. Raise the consciousness of member institutions' management and
staff concerning disaster preparedness issues.

We plan the following steps:

1.  Obtain cargo containers and set up common supply sites.  These will
store large quantities of items for packing out and drying books and
archives.  For example, we plan to 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 grant funding
will be modest, we will identify a lead institution not requiring
administrative overhead.

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.  Develop plans for a series of general and specialized disaster
planning and response workshops beginning in August 1996.

5.  Adopt language similar to that in the Inland Empire Library Disaster
Response Network agreement, which sums up the spirit we are striving
to achieve:

"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."

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