Introduction

The threats to Special Collections outlined in Chapter 1 harm collections over a period of years. This chapter discusses threats that can destroy collections or items within them very quickly: the timescale for effective action is much shorter, so prevention, planning and rapid response are essential. The chapter will cover:

A note on terminology

An emergency is ‘any incident which threatens human safety and/or damages or threatens to damage (or destroy) an institution's buildings, collections, contents, facilities or services’ (Matthews and Eden, 1996, cited by Matthews, Smith and Knowles, 2009). Emergency planning seeks to prevent such incidents or to minimize their impact when they occur.

The term ‘disaster’ has traditionally been used by librarians to describe such events. It is not widely used in other professional areas, and ‘avoidance of the word “disaster” is seen as more positive’ (Dadson, 2012). The terms crisis or incident may also be encountered.

Emergency planning also needs to consider how to get the service back to normal as quickly as possible. This is known as service continuity or business continuity planning. The US government uses the term continuity of operations (COOP).

Understanding Special Collections emergencies

Special Collections are at risk from emergencies that may harm collections, affect services, and put human life and welfare in danger. Incidents are caused by various phenomena, including:

Accidental and deliberate incidents caused by people are also discussed under security, below. Serious mould outbreaks or pest infestations (see Chapter 1) may merit treatment as emergencies.