Print

1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Disaster Planning INTRODUCTION Disasters are not a matter of if it will happen to your institution, but rather when it will happen to your institution. Unfortunately, disasters are inevitable, and that is why the planning for such an occurrence needs to be done well ahead of time so that sufficient training can be carried out and the response to the disaster can be swift and effective. Preparedness involves caring for both your users and staff as well as your facility and your collection. Preparedness means doing your best to prevent any disasters from occurring, knowing how to respond to disasters when they occur, and working together to successfully recover from a disaster. The first step to being prepared is to create a team of staff mem- bers who will aid in prevention, response, and recovery during an emer- gency or disaster. This team will be known as the disaster team. Each member of the team will have different roles and responsibilities, which will be discussed in depth in this chapter. After organizing your disaster team, you and the team will work together to create a disaster plan. This chapter concludes with develop- ing this plan so that it will contain everything you need to successfully combat a disaster.