Effective Disaster Plans:

Response, Mitigation, and Continuity

Mary M. Finley

California State University, Northridge

Northridge, CA

Thank you for coming to this presentation this morning. I want to help
you and your libraries be better prepared for a disaster.

Both the library where I work at California State University,
Northridge, and my house had the dubious honor on January 17, 1994 of
being near the epicenter of the Northridge Earthquake. It was not a good
place to be at the time. The experiences that came after the earthquake
provided an education about disaster planning; I'm going to share some
of the insights I've acquired with you. I hope by the end of my
presentation you will have a fuller appreciation of why you want to be
certain that your library has a thorough, carefully thought through
disaster plan in place, why you want government documents to be included
in that plan, and that you also will have some ideas about how to attain
these goals. Every library needs a disaster plan.

**Disaster planning is for you as well as the library.**

I want to start by telling you a story about Scott Gonzalez, a young man
who worked in our government documents unit as a student assistant for
about four years. After Scott graduated, he got a full time job,
enrolled in classes to get a teaching credential, and rented an
apartment just off campus in a nice 3-story apartment complex called the
Northridge Meadows. During the Northridge Earthquake, the first floor of
the apartment building collapsed. Sixteen people died there, including 2
students from our campus. Fortunately, Scott's apartment was on the top
floor and Scott survived.

He told me later that, even though he didn't know at the time exactly
what had happened, he knew right away that he needed to get out of the
building. The quake happened at 4:31 in the morning; the electricity
went off, there was no moonlight, and it was very dark. He found a
flashlight, pulled on a pair of pants, and managed to get out of his
apartment. He hadn't found his shoes or his wallet, but he wasn't about
to stay there longer looking for them. He and a neighbor headed toward
the stairs. Scott thought to use his flashlight to check the stairs just
before the neighbor stepped onto them. It's a good thing he did this, as
most of the staircase wasn't there anymore. Scott and his neighbor could
have been seriously injured or killed had they tried to go that way.
Eventually, they found another way out of the building.

Scott's car was crushed when the building collapsed. So, once he was out
of the Northridge Meadows, he walked ten miles in his bare feet through
an earthquake-striken city to where his mother lived to make sure she
was ok. People do extraordinary things in disasters without even
thinking about it. Sometimes you shouldn't let them do it. In library
disasters, someone has to be ready to say, "Don't do that! You are more
important than the books are."

The lessons from this story are simple ones. Be prepared. People, even
those of us who work with government documents, can find themselves in
the middle of a disaster. Something as simple as having a flashlight
available and thinking to use it at the right time can save you. Last
but not least, disaster planning for a library is for you as well as the
library. You cannot afford to ignore disaster planning or assume someone
else will take care of it. The work you do to prepare for a disaster can
save your life. It can save the collection you care about. It can ensure
your library, as an institution, survives a disaster and that you will
still have a job.

#### 

#### **Disaster statistics**

Some people think a disaster will never happen to them or their library.
So, how often do disasters happen? FEMA has a web page of statistics
about disasters \<http://www.fema.gov/library/drcys.htm\>. Between 1976
and 2000 there were 861 major disaster declarations in the United
States. The most in one year (1997) was 75 disasters; the least was 11
in 1988. The average number of major Federally declared disasters was 34
per year. That is a lot of disasters and a lot of communities affected,
each of which probably has at least one library that was impacted by the
disaster directly or indirectly via users that were affected.

One disaster can affect many libraries; the Northridge Earthquake
affected more than 75 libraries. Two of the libraries most seriously
damaged in that disaster were depository libraries. An additional list
of weather-related disasters is available from NOAA
\<http://205.156.54.206/om/hazstats.htm\>. It includes some disasters
that were not designated as major Federally declared disasters. These
lists do not include additional library disasters like the arson fire
that burned the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library or the
Boston Public Library flood.

The numbers involved give a better understanding as to why the U.S.
Government Printing Office started asking depository libraries whether
or not their library had a disaster plan that included the Federal
depository collection. In the 1999 Biennial Survey of Depository
Libraries, 57 percent of depository libraries replied that they had a
disaster plan, while 43 percent did not have such a plan.

**Hope for the best, plan for the worst**.

Every library needs a disaster plan and that plan needs to plan for the
worst. It's ok to hope for the best, but you should plan for the worst.
So often, particularly in libraries, we worry to the point of obsession
about the relatively little stuff in disaster planning. There are reams
of books, articles, and websites on how to save wet books one by one,
how to treat a book for mold or mildew, etc. We can deal with that level
of problem. That's a good thing, as small misadventures, particularly
those involving water, happen much more frequently than catastrophic
disasters.

Few sources in the literature of library science tell you to be prepared
in case you lose your library collection or the building or both. Why?
Probably because that isn't what we want to hear. If we don't hear the
message and acknowledge it, it couldn't possibly happen to us, could it?
But the truth is that libraries need to plan for both small
misadventures and the worst calamity ever to hit their community.

I live and work in a community that was devastated by an earthquake that
caused billions and billions of dollars of damage because it happened
under a densely populated urban area. But, in seismic terms, the
Northridge Earthquake was a moderate quake. It wasn't powerful enough to
be "The Big One." Nonetheless, California State University, Northridge
lost the use of over 100 buildings in less than 30 seconds.

The campus has spent almost eight years on disaster recovery. We lost
access to our library building for many months. We lost access to our
library's collection. What our library still had was the library's staff
and over 25,000 students and faculty that needed library services. So,
planning for the worst includes having a plan of what you will do if you
have to provide services to users without access to your building or
collection. That's what we had to do. We had not believed that we would
lose it all and had not planned in advance for that possibility. So, we
had to come up with a plan in the midst of chaos and make it work.
That's not the way you want to do that kind of planning.

I'm not suggesting that you can plan every detail in advance before a
catastrophic disaster. But consideration of the types of decisions that
will have to be made, basic plans for alternative sites, what to do with
incoming subscriptions if you lose access to the library building, the
possibility of offering only online services for a long period of time,
how to create teams that work well together to solve problems,
cooperative agreements with other libraries, and similar issues should
be thought through before the stress of a disaster is upon you. The
results of this planning should be part of a library's disaster plan.

Disasters create problems. People who do disaster preparedness planning
are creating frameworks that give solutions for the problems created.
How can you begin to prepare for a disaster at your library? You need
one or more people who want to develop a disaster plan or improve one
that already exists. Then you think about risks and assess which types
of disasters are problems for which your library should plan.

**Planning considerations:**

Considerations in risk assessment and the first stages of disaster
planning include:

-   What needs to be protected?

-   What do they need to be protected from?

-   What are you already doing to protect them---and what could you do?

-   How long can the recovery period be?

-   How much time and money can be spent to ensure that the library can
    function after a disaster?

-   Can the library afford a disaster?

Each of these will be discussed in detail.

**What needs to be protected?**

What needs protection in libraries usually includes people, books, the
library building, and the library's ability to provide services to users
(which is likely to involve computers and internet access).

**What do they need to be protected from?**

They need to be protected from a variety of site specific and regional
risks. Site specific risks include things like problems with the roof or
plumbing, drainage problems, electrical wiring, proximity to hazardous
materials, and security risks for arson, theft and terrorism.

Regional risks include natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. Every part of the country
is at risk for several types of natural disasters. FEMA has a website
that identifies, on a state by state basis, the types of natural
disasters that could affect each state
\<http://www.fema.gov/disasters/\>. There are online maps of wind zones
\<http://www.fema.gov/image98/wmap.gif\> and tornado activity in the
United States \<http://www.fema.gov/image98/tmap.gif\>. The Geological
Survey has an Internet site that maps seismic risk for different parts
of the country \<http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/eq/html/natlmap.html\>.
States at risk for earthquakes include locations like Massachusetts and
Virginia, places that probably don't think of themselves as earthquake
territory.

What is the relative risk of each disaster event? My library, in
Northridge, California, is 25 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. We
are not planning for a hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, or excess
snow on the roof. A tsunami isn't going to get us unless the wave goes
over a mountain range first. But other potential disasters including
earthquakes, fire, water in the library, bomb threats, power failure,
and medical emergencies are definitely on our list and included in our
disaster plan. Particularly earthquakes, as we have been damaged by two
of them, one in 1971 and the other in 1994. We've also had bomb threats,
water damage, mold and assorted other problems in the past.

Know what the risks are for your environment. You want to plan for each
of the types of risks that could threaten your library. Consider
carefully the magnitude of a potential disaster, not just the frequency
of a particular type of natural disaster. As an example, geologists
think the most powerful earthquakes that have occurred in the United
States were in the middle of the country on the New Madrid fault and in
the Pacific Northwest. So, libraries in those areas need to consider
earthquakes in their planning even though quakes in their area occur
less often than more moderate quakes happen in California.

**What are you already doing to protect them---and what could you do?**

What rules or procedures are currently in effect to prevent or minimize
the impact of a disaster? Every library needs a disaster planning
process in place that includes three types of planning.

-   Disaster response plans provide for immediate reaction after a
    disaster occurs.

-   Mitigation is action taken before a disaster to reduce the risk of
    disaster or reduce the impact of the event.

-   Continuity planning is planning done before a disaster to ensure
    that the library can resume functioning as a library as soon as
    possible after the disaster.

**Response plans**

Disaster response plans are directed toward either the safety of people
or the collection. You need plans for evacuating the building and coping
with other life/safety emergencies. Whether it is a fire, an explosion,
a chemical spill, a tornado, flooding, or some other calamity, the
library needs a specific response plan so that those in charge of the
library's response will have a checklist of what they need to do. The
safety of people has to be the top priority. Practice with drills until
you are sure your life-safety planning for each type of emergency works.

The collection emergency plan details responses for all types of
emergencies that threaten the collection. If books are wet, what should
be done to save them? How should it be done and who should do it? What
supplies should be used and where are they available? What consultants
or services will be used? What priority is assigned to saving or
salvaging various parts of the collection? How do you decide when it is
more cost effective to simply shovel what's left into a dumpster and
start all over?

Both types of disaster response plans, whether they focus on life-safety
issues for people or the well-being of the collection in an emergency,
must be written as clear, "easy to use" instructions for the first
response team to use as they begin to cope with an emergency. As an
example, if there's a bomb threat, do you call the police first or pull
an alarm to begin an evacuation of the building? When do you call the
library's administrators? The person receiving the bomb threat needs to
know what to do first. There isn't time for someone to read a long
discourse about the subject. You need a response plan that says exactly
what to do and in what order it should be done.

##### Mitigation

A library that is "planning for the worst while hoping for the best"
will have a mitigation plan and a continuity plan in addition to their
emergency response plans. Mitigation and continuity plans usually
include lists of things to do with discussion about each item. They must
be logical and clearly written.

A mitigation plan is a plan to minimize damage and/or prevent an
emergency from becoming a disaster by taking specific actions before an
emergency occurs. This is its distinction from an emergency response
plan. Response plans are used once an emergency has begun. Mitigation
attempts to prevent the emergency from happening in the first place or
to reduce its effect when it happens. Effective mitigation planning can
prevent a natural event from becoming a library disaster. Mitigation
involves learning to foresee problems and to think about safety
throughout your environment, learning to do such thinking on a regular
basis, and making changes as needed in facilities or in procedures and
daily activities to enhance safety and service continuity.

Some mitigation is easy to do and relatively inexpensive. It doesn't
cost very much to have someone check regularly during the rainy season
to ensure that the gutters and drains remain free of debris. That's
common sense, but ensuring that this action is done could prevent a
flood of water in the library. Likewise, careful attention to network
security and anti-virus software can limit the damage done to computer
systems. Writing disaster response plans and practicing before a
disaster is another example of a mitigation activity. Other mitigation
actions, such as adding a sprinkler system in the stacks or rewiring the
electrical system of a building to bring it up to current code and
provide sufficient electrical outlets, require more time and money to
implement.

Requiring more time and money does not make an action impossible. It
simply means that you also have to plan how to get the money.
Increasingly, agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) are promoting mitigation because they have done the math. They
know that mitigation saves money in the long run. They also know that
mitigation can save lives.

But these things that could be done before a disaster to help your
library almost certainly will not happen until there is a plan that
details what should be done as mitigation. A mitigation plan is a list
of mitigation activities with priorities, commitments, and a timeline.
Once a mitigation plan is written, it should be reviewed regularly to
consider additions and to evaluate how well mitigation goals are being
met.

Mitigation does work. One of the most successful acts of disaster
planning the library at California State University, Northridge did
before the Northridge Earthquake was to ensure that the library's
shelving was bolted and reinforced with braces in accordance with the
latest recommendations for seismic safety. About 600,000 books fell off
the shelves in the Oviatt Library at California State University,
Northridge during the Northridge Earthquake, but the shelving itself was
not damaged despite the fact that the 6.7 magnitude earthquake was
centered almost underneath the campus. In fact, one section of shelving
on the first floor was particularly well braced. Nothing fell off the
shelves there. It was the section where the IRS tax forms were shelved
and not one of them left its place on the shelf. Other government
documents fell on the floor in the quake, but the IRS was unscathed.

Why did our library spend money\--a lot of money\--on this mitigation?
We knew from previous experience that it was important. In an earlier
earthquake, the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, our library suffered
damage to its shelving. The same type of damage occurred in other
California libraries in later earthquakes. It happened at Kobe
University (Japan) in 1995. The same type of damage happened again in
Seattle, Washington early in 2001.

When library shelving moves in a quake, it is very dangerous to people
because the weight involved could crush a person. Furthermore, if
shelving is damaged, it takes time and a lot of money to replace it. The
library cannot reshelve the books until the damaged shelving is
replaced, so access to materials is affected as well. Damage to library
shelving in quakes has been documented for over thirty years. How many
more libraries will suffer this type of damage before those in charge of
the money for libraries located in seismic hazard areas realize that it
is much less expensive to do mitigation by reinforcing and bolting the
shelving than to suffer the damage?

Consider also what, if anything, in a library is safe to have in the
basement given the likelihood of water-related problems. Both Boston
Public Library and Colorado State University suffered incredible damage
to their collections from floods. In each case, they could not have kept
the water out, but the damage to their collections happened because
materials were in the basement. In short, both those libraries gambled
and lost. One of the traditional favorites for basements is microform,
because of the weight involved. Unfortunately, replacing microform
damaged by water can be an expensive undertaking. One box of Readex
Depository Set microcards got wet at our library and had to be replaced
at a cost of \$2,200.00 for 461 microfiche. If mitigation seems
expensive, consider the expense of replacing materials. Personally, I've
come to the conclusion that basements make good meeting rooms and great
study areas.

Mitigation can be controversial, particularly when it is expensive.
Asbestos is especially problematic because abatement is expensive.
However, asbestos is a very serious hazard for the collection since
disasters that cause the kinds of damage that expose asbestos often also
cause roof damage. If asbestos is released and then mixes with water,
you get asbestos mud. After the Northridge Earthquake, our library had
some asbestos on books that remained dry and could be abated, but some
people on our campus with offices in the Engineering Building suffered
asbestos mud. What it contaminated was entirely lost---books, papers,
and everything else asbestos mud touched. What if this had happened in
the library? It could have. We were simply lucky that the places where
we had asbestos contamination and the places where rainwater leaked in
the library after the quake were different parts of the building.

#### **Continuity planning**

Continuity planning is planning done before a disaster to ensure that
the library can resume functioning as a library as soon as possible
after the disaster. The success or failure of continuity planning has a
direct effect on how quickly your library can begin to function again
after a disaster.

Continuity requires that key documentation be available and current.
Here are a few examples of key documentation that should be stored
outside the building and updated on a regular basis:

-   Library's disaster plan.

-   Lists of employees and contact information for them.

-   Library statistics to provide data for insurers or agencies such as
    FEMA. (You will have to prove exactly what you have lost and its
    value).

-   Back-up copies of vital computer data files and documentation on
    what computer configuration and programs are necessary to run the
    files.

-   Account numbers, passwords, and similar practical details including
    the telephone number of GPO's Library Programs Service.

Continuity plans need to be reviewed regularly as procedures and
processes in the library change. The relationship between emergency
response plans, continuity planning, and actual employee behavior also
must be examined. Simply put, if the disaster response plan says that a
recent copy of the server's files is available in a specific offsite
location, it still must be assured someone is actually making the copies
and sending them to offsite storage on schedule or that simultaneous
back-up systems are working. It isn't enough to simply write it in the
plan; it has to actually be happening.

It also is very much in a library's best interest to learn, before a
disaster, what types of insurance forms would need to be filled out to
substantiate a claim. Learn about state and Federal disaster relief
programs and the documentation required. Knowing the rules beforehand
facilitates planning and improves a library's fiscal options after a
disaster.

How long can the recovery period be?

How long can the library remain closed, have limited access to its
collection, or continue normal operations without computers? Would a few
days be acceptable to the local citizens or students who depend on your
library for information? What about a few months or several years? The
answer to the question regarding how long the recovery period can be has
obvious implications for how much emphasis should be placed on
mitigation and continuity planning. If you cannot afford to be out of
business, you need a workable plan to ensure that the library can
continue to function after a disaster occurs. Many libraries assume that
their customers will still be there after the period of recovery is
over, even if recovery is a long and slow process. This assumption is
most unfortunate from the user's perspective.

How much time and money can be spent to ensure that the library can
continue to function as a library after a disaster?

Library administrators may think the library cannot afford much disaster
planning. Certainly there has to be a balance between current needs and
disaster planning, but administrators need to be aware that underfunding
disaster planning can be extremely foolish in the long run.

The World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001 tested the
disaster plans of numerous companies. Companies that had good continuity
plans in place avoided loss of such vital records as account
information, financial records, and personnel records. Some companies
were ready to resume operations at alternative sites within twenty-four
hours. This was possible because they had disaster plans, including
continuity plans, in place before the disaster occurred. Libraries need
to learn from their example.

**Can the library afford a disaster?**

Disaster recovery typically is expensive: it involves a lot of money and
employee time. There also can be costs in public relations, particularly
if the damage involved occurred because reasonable mitigation and
continuity planning was not done. If a library cannot afford a disaster
financially or in public relations, it needs a good disaster plan to
prevent damage, to limit damage, and to recover quickly.

Let me give some examples of how expensive disaster recovery can be.
After the Northridge Earthquake, \$407 million had to be spent on
recovery on the campus of California State University, Northridge. Most
will agree that \$407 million is a lot of money to spend on disaster
recovery at one institution. Of that amount, almost \$37 million was
spent on library buildings. Additional costs included rebinding almost
20,000 volumes damaged in the quake, the value of 2,000 volumes lost to
mold when rainwater leaked into our storage facility during
reconstruction, the cost of decontaminating about 500,000 volumes in the
storage facility that were exposed to mold, and over six years of
library employees spending significant amounts of time on recovery
activities rather than other library work.

The Los Angeles Public Library provides another example. In 1986, the
stack area of the downtown Central Library was known to be a firetrap,
but those in charge did not install sprinklers. They debated what to do
for years and planned some renovations. But an arsonist got there first.
The library staff had an evacuation plan and got everyone out of the
building safely. The library burned for over seven hours before the fire
department was able to put it out. Approximately 375,000 volumes were
lost, including the largest patent collection in the western United
States. Another 700,000 volumes got wet. Forty-seven firefighters had to
be treated in hospitals because of the intensity of the blaze. Damage
was estimated at \$22 million; the cost of freezer space to hold the wet
books until they could be dried was one thousand dollars per day. If
sprinklers had been installed before the fire, it would have been a
little fire, easily put out with much less damage. Do you think the
taxpayers were pleased that the city had been too ignorant or cheap to
install sprinklers in a building whose design and function made it a
firetrap?

**Once a library has a disaster plan:**

-   All employees need to be trained in how the disaster plan operates
    and their role in mitigation, continuity, and emergency response
    phases of the plan.

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-   Disaster planning is a cycle; it is never done. Disaster plans need
    to be reviewed and revised regularly.

-   Learn from experience, both your own experiences and those of
    others. Every time a practice drill or an actual emergency has been
    concluded, review what went well and what needs improvement

**Learn from the experiences of others**

Librarians at California State University, Northridge became familiar
with the use of freeze-drying to treat water-damaged books after the Los
Angeles Public Library's fire. Several library employees from California
State University, Northridge were among the volunteers that packed water
and smoke damaged books at the public library for treatment. Years
later, rainwater leaked into Special Collections after the Northridge
Earthquake damaged the library at California State University,
Northridge. It was clear, because of what had been learned by observing
the public library's recovery process, that freeze-drying was the
preferred solution.

I'd like to share some problems that occurred when California State
University, Northridge's disaster plans were put into effect after the
Northridge Earthquake. The biggest problem was that people had not
planned for the worst, which created difficulties when the level of the
disaster exceeded expectations. In addition to structural damage, damage
to the contents of buildings, and the loss of the use of over 100
buildings (five of which were eventually torn down), the Northridge
campus experienced loss of all utilities, failure of the telephone
system, loss of the mainframe computers and internet access, major fires
that burned for hours in the science buildings, explosions, clouds of
chemicals, chemical and biological hazards in buildings, asbestos and
asbestos mud, water damage, and mold.

Some of this damage and disruption would have happened no matter what
planning had been done in advance because our campus was at the
epicenter of a damaging earthquake, which is, by definition, "being in
the wrong place at the wrong time." But, some of the problems happened,
in my opinion, because of inadequate disaster planning, both in the
scale and detail of planning. Fire damage and the related chemical
hazards and explosions could have been reduced or eliminated. Asbestos
mud could have been avoided. Two other lessons learned involved
financial procedures and communications.

Fiscal authority and financial procedures need to be resolved before a
disaster. As teams of engineers and other emergency response workers
arrived at California State University, Northridge to begin damage
assessment, the campus needed portable toilets, drinking water, and food
for the workers. This was complicated by the question of how to pay for
these things---both financial authority and physically how to do it
since the university's supply of checks was locked inside a building
with structural damage. At one point, an administrator charged something
like five hundred dollars worth of pizza on her personal credit card so
teams of hungry workers could have something to eat and go back to work.
State agencies do not normally make purchases with credit cards, but
either that or advance contingency contracts were what the institution
needed.

Communication systems are very important. The campus phone system
failed, leaving only a few pay phones still working. So visualize the
administrator who had to arrange for pizza and portable toilets waiting
in line for a pay phone. The array of communication problems that were
experienced by the campus led to changes in our library's disaster
planning. Certain administrators are now expected to have a cellular
telephone and FAX machine at home to facilitate communication during an
emergency. Library disaster response plans include what to do if the
police cannot be reached by telephone during an emergency.

##### Disaster planning for government documents

I would like to share some suggestions about disaster planning for
documents collections and documents departments in libraries. Depository
librarians need to consider the following question carefully: In what
ways are documents treated differently in your library from other
materials? The answer to this question is important, because it may
identify areas in which a documents collection has been left out of a
library\'s disaster planning.

Ensure that documents are included in the library--wide disaster plan.
Establish salvage priorities for the documents collection. Make sure key
documentation for the library includes documents-related information.
Back-up copies of computer files, salvage priorities, floor plans, and
processing procedures should be stored outside the building. If a
disaster causes structural damage, you may not be allowed to reenter the
building to retrieve what you need or there may be a long delay before
this is allowed.

On a more personal scale, look at your office or work area. Do you have
a flashlight or emergency light that you can find in the dark? I think
the small emergency lights that plug into electrical outlets and only
come on when the power goes off are very handy since they come on
automatically when you need them and can be pulled out of the plug and
used as a flashlight. Take a long and critical look at your surroundings
to identify problem areas. One of the changes we made in our documents
processing area is that we stopped storing boxes of stuff under the
workroom table. One of the safer places to be in an earthquake is under
a table. So we've changed our ways. The space under that table is
reserved for us. The boxes of stuff have to go somewhere else.

I wasn't as well prepared for a library disaster as I could have been. I
hadn't realized all the ways in which documents were not included in the
library's disaster planning, usually because the plans just didn't get
into that level of detail. Now that I know more about disaster
preparedness, it has made some other planning decisions regarding
documents much easier. The issues involved in continuity planning
provided me with additional goals regarding the integration of documents
with other technical processing and library systems. Having spent months
after the earthquake offering library services without our building or
collection, I can attest to the importance of what electronic access to
government publications offers documents librarians involved in disaster
recovery.

We made some good things come out of the quake on our campus and in our
library by working together. Many people were determined not just to
have California State University, Northridge come back after the quake,
but to be better than we were before. Crisis provides an opportunity for
change and we tried to seize that opportunity. But we cannot get back
the time we lost. For a very considerable period of time after the
disaster we were simply on a different path, doing different things than
we wanted to be doing. It is much better to stay on a path of your own
choice. That's why you want your library to have a thorough, carefully
thought through disaster plan.

A list of selected resources on disaster planning for libraries is
included in the handout for this morning's session. Stephen Henson (the
other speaker on disaster plans), and I prepared the list together and
hope it will be useful as you improve your library's disaster plan.

This presentation and supporting material (internet links and images)
are available online at:
\<[http://library.csun.edu/mfinley/fdc.htm](http://library.csun.edu/mfinley/fdc.html)l\>.

\[An extensive bibliography is available at:
\<<http://library.csun.edu/mfinley/fdcread.html>\>.\]

#### Comments and questions can be emailed to the author at \<mary.finley@csun.edu\>.