Introduction

Avoiding disaster is an aspiration shared by many archives but disasters are adequately guarded against by few. Even after well over 20 years of publicity about the benefits of taking precautions, the value of risk assessment and the ultimate cost to an organization that suffers a disaster, embryo plans still lie unfinished, staff are still untrained and mutual help partnerships have not been forged. Articles, websites and manuals abound, but taking the first initiative still appears to be difficult in too many archives, as the above quotation hints. Little recognition is given by those in responsible positions to the long-term damage that could be caused by a disaster, not only to the documents in physical terms but also in terms of the effect on the staff, the users and the depositors. For businesses the result can be catastrophic; why should it be any different for archives?

This chapter includes:

Why undertake an ‘operation-hope-not’?

The goals must be clear to all those involved, otherwise confusion will take over. They include:

Recent experiences in many countries have emphasized the value of speedy recovery of information to those whose vital records have been in a disaster. But the success of these operations depends on the professional skills of those brought in to rescue the documentation. It must be remembered that a disaster is a disaster; it is not going to be cheap or easy to return to the previous status quo.