by Linda Nainis

Many librarians have had the alarming experience of seeing their collections threatened by a leaky roof, flooding basement, overflowing toilet, or dripping pipe, among other potential water disasters.

Success in dealing with water disasters depends more on forethought than on technical know how. While there are some stages of dealing with disaster that call for intense physical activity and specific techniques, most of the process draws upon planning, thoughtfulness, networking, and a measured response.

The more times you think, write, talk, listen, visualize what you would do in a disaster, the better prepared you will be. Try to imagine a likely scenario in your library as you read through the preliminary steps of responding to a water problem.

Preliminary Steps Ensure Safety

Personal safety is most important. A disaster site contains many serious health hazards, not all obvious, very often overlooked. No collection is more valuable than a person's health or life. Think safety first in the first few minutes and throughout your disaster response.

Identify hazards by walking through the affected area, after you know it is safe for you to enter. There may be a period initially when the fire department or safety office will keep everyone out.

Locate supplies needed to examine the area. You may need a flashlight for dark corners. Everyone responding to a disaster should wear protective clothing that will include boots, a dust mask (if the area has been moldy before), and possible a smock or even rain gear. Deal with hazards immediately. Limit damage by stopping or diverting the water. That means turning off water at the shut off valve. It may mean diverting existing water flow by using plastic sheeting or by creating a dam. Cordon off and label unsafe areas where people could slip on a wet floor. Turn off the electricity, if there is any shock danger.

Find experts to help deal with any chemical or asbestos hazards. Consider and protect against biological contamination if there have been a sewer back up.

Stabilize the Environment

Mold growth can be inhibited if environmental conditions are corrected. Most mold types prefer warm moist climates. To protect against mold growth, keep the air cool and dry. Usually this is easily done. But when water is seeping, spewing or dripping into the library, the environment becomes more humid, more susceptible to mold growth.

Mold exists everywhere. People are not usually affected by mold unless their respiratory and immune systems become overloaded. However, people with pre-existing health complications such as asthma, pregnancy, or a compromised immune system may be especially sensitive to mold. It is not just the mod spores that cause problems, but also mold toxins, mold enzymes, and the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that cause the musty smell and may cause illness. Of course mold causes serious problems on paper. Mold can stain paper permanently, and can eat away at the substrata, causing erosions.

Therefore, circulate the air. Use fans. Standing and floor fans are both helpful. You will need cleaning tools, like a mop and bucket, unless you can get the physical plant to handle the mopping.

Lower the temperature. Turn down the heat or set the air conditioning to a colder setting. Open windows if it is cooler and dryer outside than inside.

Continue to monitor the temperature and humidity. You will need instruments to do this, at least a thermometer. You may want to use a hygrothermograph that records temperature and humidity on a continuous basis, day and night. Or you may want to use a psychrometer (temperature and humidity gauge) that will allow you to take spot readings so you can enter this information on a log.

Evaluate Damage

A good disaster plan makes it easier to evaluate the damage and to set priorities for recovery. In evaluating damage, consider (a) salvage priorities, (b) size of the problem, (c) recovery techniques, and (d) physical conditions.

Set priorities. Walk through the affected area with someone who is very knowledgeable about the collection. Evaluated title by title, series by series. What is worth salvaging? What would be better replaced? What should be discarded? There is no sense in salvaging what could or should have been weeded.

Consider the size of the problem. Decide if you have a small problem on your hands, one that is of medium consequence, or a larger disaster. You may even set arbitrary break points in advance. For example, a small problem might mean that under 75 books are affected; medium, between 75 and 500 books; large, over 500 books. Of course, good judgement is needed. The type of material affected influences the severity of the problem as well. The reason for categorizing the situation is to determine whether the staff can easily handle it. There may be enough supplies, equipment and staff available, for instance, for a small disaster. A medium sized one may require some outside contractors. A large disaster may necessitate bringing in a commercial recovery company.

Consider the proper recovery techniques for each format. Different methods are used for coated paper, microfiche, and manuscripts. An excellent chart called "Salvage at a Glance," created by Betty Walsh has been published by the Western Association for Art Conservation. It gives explicit instructions for many types of media, and is available on the Internet at http://sul-server-2.standford.edu/waac/wn/wn19/wn19-2/wn19-207.html.

Contemplate the physical condition of the collections. How wet are the items to be saved? What type of water is involved, clean or contaminated? How long have the items been wet? Did the water problem begin, as is often the case, over the weekend? Is there any mold growth already?

Recovery Strategy

Now assess the damage with more attention to detail in order to come up with some methods to deal with it. In order to determine the recovery strategy, take into account: (a) the resources available - whether the size of the disaster necessitates calling in a service company to help with the collection, the building, or both; (b) the library's salvage priorities -- reconsider these in the light of what is doable. Now is the time to decide on recovery methods. Will you leave the books in place, pack and remove them to freezers, air dry them, or some combination? Locate and review the supplies on hand. You may need to acquire more supplies quickly.

It is not easy to calculate the facilities, services, and equipment you will need for any particular disaster. Formulas have been worked out in some institutions indicating that if you have to pack up a number of books in y hours, you will need number of staff members. A lot of factors, however, influence any particular situation, especially disaster situation, such as how well the staff are trained, whether their supplies are readily available, the amount of lighting, the time of day, th4 space available to do the work, the temperature, among others.

Notify the Team

Notification takes place in a lot of ways. Quick initial notification that a problem exists is aided by prior instructions to all staff, physical plant employees, and even users. Some libraries have posters in public areas and near phones that tell what to do in case of water or other emergency. Library staff should have clear instructions. One library gives all staff who could be involved in an emergency situation, a credit-card sized list of phone numbers to carry in their wallets at all times. After acknowledgement of a water problem, the team may be notified right away. But usually it is better to wait until a plan of actions has been generated, having already taken the steps outlined above. Full notification involves several activities.

Facilities and preservation staff (or consultants) should be called first. The maintenance crew can be very helpful with clean up, especially if the library staff and maintenance staff have a prior positive relationship. Preservation specialists can give helpful advice on how to proceed.

When the team assembles, they should know or be told their roles and assignments. Examples of disaster team roles are director, team leader, collections coordinator, liaison to administration, supply assistant, photographer,, or record keeper. In a small library, additional roles my exist: trainer, public relations specialist, etc. It is not necessary for the roles to be static. People can switch roles, for relief. The National Library of Medicine created badges to be worn in a disaster situation. The badges have the role written on them, with a blank underneath on which to enter an individual's name. The badges identify what a person is doing, and they also introduce team members to outsiders who are on site to help. Badges can be exchanged between staff and turned in when staff are off duty.

Assemble the team in a pre-arranged space. You could call this the "command center." Space also should be designated for sorting, packing, air drying, and for relaxation, a "comfort station." Once assembled, the staff can receive their initial assignments.