Disaster Recovery Manual : Disaster Recovery Procedures for Localized Incidents of Water-Damaged Collections

Water damaged books are discovered 

1. Notify Book Conservation and Library Director

2. Library Director notifies all Disaster Action Team (DAT) members including DAT Building Representative

3. If water leak is active—Notify Department of Protection Services (DOPS) first

   1. Call ext. 33900, or press red emergency button on any AIC phone

   2. Describe the water incident and its exact location

Water damaged books are collected and brought to the Quarantine space (location TBD)

1. If situation appears unsafe, do not proceed until Museum Facilities has secured the area

2. Ideally Photo documentation of water leak area is completed before books are moved

3. Two or more R&B staff members pull all water damaged books from the affected area and put them into Quarantine

Museum Facilities determines cause of water leak, makes arrangements for necessary repairs

1. If further leaks pose a continued threat to collections, move remaining books to a safe area or protect them in situ with plastic sheeting until repairs are complete

Circulation scans water damaged books to Quarantine location (non-circulating) in ALMA, DAT Cataloguer initiates documentation of incident

1. DAT Cataloguer initiates Water Incident Spreadsheet in the R&B DAT/DPT Google Drive Folder recording the following:

   1. Date of discovery and brief description of incident

   2. The books involved (call number, title, author, date of publication, MMS ID)

   3. The exact location of the books (Stack, Range and Shelf numbers)

Book Conservation assesses condition of water damaged books

1. Book Conservation completes photo documentation of individual damaged books

2. Book Conservation adds extent of damage for each book to Water Incident Spreadsheet

   1. Damp/wet books

      1. No mold—salvage

      2. Light-to-moderate mold—salvage if mold removal is possible

      3. Heavy-to-severe mold—may need to discard, possible replacement

   2. Previously wet/now dry books

      1. No mold—salvage 

      2. Light-to-moderate mold—salvage if mold removal is possible

      3. Heavy-to-severe mold—may need to discard, possible replacement

      4. Blocked pages—discard, possible replacement

3. Book Conservation enters Conservation Recommendation into Water Incident Spreadsheet

DAT Department Rep researches circulation history, value, importance to the collection of title(s) affected by water incident

1. While Book Conservation assesses condition of water damaged books, DAT Department Rep researches their circulation history, value, and importance to the collection 

2. DAT Department Rep determines availability and cost of replacement copies 

3. DAT Department Rep completes Number of Loans and Replacement Copy Available fields in Water Incident Spreadsheet

DAT Recovery Director makes final decision to salvage, withdraw or replace each book affected by water incident

1. If there are books recommended for discard by Book Conservation that are important to the collection and cannot be replaced, further discussion between DAT Recovery Director, Book Conservation and DAT Department Rep will be necessary to determine recovery plan for these materials

2. Final Decision to salvage, withdraw or replace is made for each book and entered by DAT Recovery Directory

Procedure for Salvage, Replacement or Withdraw of damaged materials commences

1. Salvage

   1. Books taken to Book Conservation for air-drying, removal of light-to-moderate mold

   2. Once clean and dry Book Conservation adds salvage complete date to Water Incident Spreadsheet

   3. Salvaged books are then taken to DAT Cataloguer—Tech Services adds Internal Note 1 in Alma record for each salvaged book indicating that water damage was discovered and the date of discovery

2. Replace

   1. Book Conservation provides DAT Cataloguer with barcode numbers of individual books to be withdrawn and replaced with newly acquired copies

   2. Replacement copies are ordered and delivered to DAT Cataloguer upon arrival

   3. For withdrawn damaged copies, Book Conservation uses Withdraw stamp on Ryerson bookplate and crosses out call number and barcode labels with permanent marker

   4. Book Conservation places withdrawn books into sealed garbage bags and disposes them directly into Monroe Dock dumpster

3. Withdraw

   1. Book Conservation provides DAT Cataloguer with barcode numbers of individual books to be withdrawn, DAT Cataloguer withdraws them from library catalog

   2. Book Conservation uses Withdraw stamp on Ryerson bookplate and crosses out call number and barcode labels with permanent marker for each withdrawn book

   3. Book Conservation places withdrawn books into sealed garbage bags and disposes them directly into Monroe Dock dumpster

4. Completion fields in Water Incident Spreadsheet are filled in by DAT Cataloguer once Salvage, Replace or Withdraw steps are complete