Disaster Management in Archives
Annotations by Catherine Moeller
Project Definition
Disaster can strike at any library or archival repository in the world, and the issue can take any variety of forms. In the past, disaster management has focused on the possibility of physical loss such as loss via fire, flood, or war, but it has become increasingly important over the last few decades to plan for the potential of loss in the digital collection. The bibliography covers this topic by focusing on disaster plan policies dealing with preparedness, management of a digital collection loss, and organizational response to these disasters. These sources were selected based on a variety of criteria, such as relevancy to the topic, currency of the research, and repository type. Through a series of case study examinations as well as surveys conducted through various institutions, this bibliography seeks to provide access to research on how to plan for a technological disaster, and how to manage after one has occurred.
Annotations
Abbey, H. (2012). The green archivist: A primer for adopting affordable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible archival management practices. Archival Issues, 34(2), 91-115
The author of this paper is an archivist focused on sustainability and green practices within the profession, and she uses this article to speak on the importance of adopting practices within archival repositories that mitigate not only environmental impact, but also help repositories ensure the survival of their physical and digital collections. While focusing on practical initiatives that create a more sustainable archive, Abbey uses her article to promote a sustainable framework of resources with step by step, attainable standards such as maintaining proper facilities that provide consistent environmental control. She indicates that proper green facilities alone would mitigate damage to collections and digital storage from water, light, and rapid cycling in temperature and humidity- especially when the facilities are closed.
Alire, C.A. (2000). Library disaster planning and recovery handbook. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman.
This handbook is an extensive guide to help library and museum administrators with the process of disaster planning. Alire was involved in the implementation of a disaster relief plan when the Colorado State University's Morgan Library fell to a massive flood in 1997. The staff at this institution used what they learned from this experience to create this book to help others prepare for potential calamities. Organized into six chapters, topical coverage includes management strategies in these situations, resource sharing during recovery, and continuing services to the public during this time. This title contains comprehensive coverage, and the author has highlighted the most important points in a concise format to help the reader understand and apply to their own work. The oldest title on this annotation, Alire focuses on physical rather than digital loss, but the main points of how to administratively manage any archival disaster are still relevant.
Breeding, M. (2012). From disaster recovery to digital preservation. Computers in Libraries, 32(4), 22-25.
The author of this article creates a link between digital preservation and the managing digital disasters. Breeding makes it known that digital collections can be inherently fragile and a great deal of things can go wrong, such as failing hardware that takes data down with it, power outages that interrupt service, and software malfunctions that can corrupt files. Implementing a digital disaster plan is necessary to ensure that an organization can quickly recover from any technical issues, and this article provides extensive reasoning behind how digital preservation in itself creates a very basic level of recovery that can be built upon to ensure preservation infrastructure is capable of carrying the necessary data forward.
Forde, H., & Rhys-Lewis, J. (2013). Preserving archives: Principles and practice in records management and archives. London: Facet Publishing
While the original publishing of this title focused on understanding different types of physical materials housed in an archive, the second edition of this handbook has been updated to include emerging technologies in the practice of preservation. Chapters focus on topics including safeguarding collections, managing both physical and digital storage, managing risks and avoiding disaster, among others. The authors make reference to digital technologies throughout, but focus a new chapter on the need for continual monitoring of digital collections to ensure that they do not become inaccessible due to changing technology and formats. By focusing on a new case study in each chapter, real world connections are made to issues that have arisen in digital preservation attempts in the past, and where future trends are going.
Gracy, K. & Kahn, M. (2012). Preservation in the digital age. Library Resources & Technical Services, 56(1), 25-43.
The authors of this article wrote on mass digitization efforts taking place across the United States, and focused heavily on repositories preparations for disasters. The field of disaster response includes a variety of topics, and here the focus is the idea of risk management. Gracy and Kahn target the mitigation of simple risks such as power failures and water leaks near servers and digital equipment as powerful tools in digital preservation and planning. Several risk management tools are now available, such as the concept of the trusted digital repository, that are more adequate to plan for digital preservation than their predecessors, and several options are discussed at length.
Hastings, R. (2017). Planning cloud-based disaster recovery for digital assets: the innovative librarian's guide. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC
This handbook gives the basics of emergency planning when it comes to protecting digital collections and assets. The author uses her own experiences working with digital collections to help organizations of all kinds create an extensive contingency plan for any emergency, large scale or small, natural disaster or man-made. Chapters cover topics ranging from determining needs based on individual organizational needs, planning and developing a disaster protocol, to knowing if your protocol will be successful prior to needing to implement it. Hastings clearly states the importance talking about the finished plan, and not only just with staff. Adding focus to making both colleagues and community aware of appropriate actions in the event of a disaster sets this particular handbook apart.
Mallery, M. (2015). Technology Disaster Response and Recovery Planning: A LITA Guide. Chicago: American Library Association.
As technology becomes every more integral to library and archival collections, ensuring resources are available when needed can be complicated. Mary Mallery, the associate dean for technical services at Montclair State University Library, has created a comprehensive strategy to creating a disaster response and recovery plan for technology disasters to ensure any interruption to services are minimal. This handbook includes a detailed outline of three major phases on technology disaster planning, case studies from recent large-scale technology disasters with "lessons learned," as well as a look at future trends in cloud computing and the future of disaster mitigation.
Matthews, G, Smith, Y, & Knowles, G. (2004). The Disaster Control Plan. Library and Archival Security, 19(2), 2-23.
Matthews, Smith, and Knowles present a comprehensive article related to disaster management in archives, libraries, and museums in the United Kingdom. The authors include a professor of Information and Library Management and two researchers within the School of Business at Liverpool John Moores University who were tasked with research on the average library disaster plan by the United Kingdom Arts and Humanities Research Council. By using a combination of literature review and a survey of archivists and librarians in the UK, the authors provide a comprehensive description of relative terminology, significance of a proper plan, and a wide variety of statistical data on current disaster plans throughout the UK. They also present relevant issues on the current implementation, or lack thereof, of each institutions disaster plan.
Perrin, J., Winkler, H., & Yang, L. (2015). Digital preservation challenges with an ETD collection: a case study at Texas Tech University. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 41, 98-104
An extensive case study performed at Texas Tech University, this article explores the issues that can arise when maintaining a large digital collection- such as a database of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs)- and the plan that this university has in place in case of disaster. While some problems such as formatting issues are to be expected in collections such as these, maintaining a collection of this magnitude has proven that other issues such as ETD collaborations, online access issues, and metadata can cause a different kind of preservation disaster than those discussed by other authors. The issues mentioned here can affect whether or not the item is published to this system, which determines if it is to be automatically preserved. This case study goes on to discuss the more traditionally considered digital asset disaster, such as the on-campus servers being taken out of commission for any reason. To combat this issue, this university has implemented the prevention portion of their disaster plan, and have taken the approach of a back up server, off campus and over twenty miles away.
Tansey, E. (2015). Archival adaptation to climate change. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, 11(2), 45-56.
Climate change is not a widely discussed topic in the world of archival institution disaster planning, but as global temperatures continue to rise, natural disasters will increase in both frequency and intensity. Eira Tansey, the Digital Archivist at the University of Cincinnati, draws attention to the fact that archival disaster planning has only focused on recovery up to this point, and not how to adapt to the challenges that climate change will bring. Tansey believes that archives will have to be prepared on two fronts: projects in the interim and long-term planning. Current disaster response plans fall until interim projects and most organizations already update these on a regular basis. The long-term planning, however, is not as simple or widely adopted at this time, but could include mass digitization to ensure that unique items are stored in multiple locations and formats.. Tansey creates a list of current advocacy groups that are dedicated to bringing these issues to light, such as ProjectARCC (Archivists Responding to Climate Change), the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works Heritage Preservation program, and a subcommittee located within the National Archives and Records Association. This literature brings to light the importance of sustainability in archival preservation and encourages more researchers to work within this field to ensure the continued preservation of archival holdings.
