Blog Archives

Hurricane Season is June 1 - November 30

6/29/2015

This year the National Weather Service is predicting a "below-normal" season for tropical cyclones. While the first tropical storm of the year came a little early-- in May Tropical Depression Ana hit the Grand Strand-- the NWS expects a 70% chance of up to two major hurricanes in 2015. Since South Carolina is often a target along the Atlantic seaboard, we share a few storm tracker websites to help you keep tabs on those tropical storms. Bookmark your favorite!

National Weather Service
National Hurricane Center
www.ready.gov/hurricanes
www.hurricane.terrapin.com
The Weather Channel
AccuWeather
Weather Underground

PALMCOP is creating a Resource page on our website. Contact us if you know any great sites!

-- Suzanne Singleton, PALMCOP Chair

0 Comments

Training the Trainers: Disaster Recovery Workshop at FMU

6/3/2015

1 Comment

Did you know that dryer sheets can be used to salvage wet books? Yes, indeed. According to Ann Frellsen, American Institute for Conservation-Certified disaster response trainer, those used Bounce® sheets that we toss out on laundry day are absorbent enough to interleave between the pages of damp books. Ms. Frellsen spoke to over 20 professionals from archives, libraries, and museums on May 28 at a disaster recovery and salvage workshop. PALMCOP teamed up with the South Carolina Archival Association to sponsor this event in Florence, SC.

Bill McRee, Celeste Wiley, and Walter Hill examine items
for recovery in workshop at Francis Marion University.

Since it is a goal of PALMCOP to restore our education series, we are beginning with efforts to offer a disaster recovery workshop. A number of the attendees of the Florence event opted to become better educated in disaster response so that they may, in turn, prepare staff of other institutions.

Ms. Frellsen gave a morning lecture in which she emphasized disaster planning as crucial to a successful recovery. She described the elements of a good plan, gave a checklist of items needed in an institution’s recovery kit, and pointed out key things for a recovery team to know. Create your institution’s emergency plan first, and keep it current. Make sure to keep it in a safe place. Keep copies in multiple places and also make sure to save it electronically. When disaster does strike, safety is the first response! The recovery team should ensure that staff and visitors are out of danger. Once the evacuated building is cleared for re-entry, the team should assess the overall damage to the building and collections before beginning any salvage of collections. However, a quick response is necessary to save items from mold, which can be expected in to appear in about 48 hours. Other important lessons Frellsen imparted were to remain calm and mindful during the assessment process. Be alert to “helpers” who may take advantage of the situation and walk away with valuables. Wear protective gear at all times such as a breathing mask, gloves, a protective vest, and a hard hat. Additionally, she stated that reliable information can be found on the Internet. FEMA offers classes online to ordinary civilians on how to respond to various emergencies. You can sign up for these classes on the FEMA website.

For the second part of her presentation, Frellsen led a hand-on session inside FMU’s library in which recovery teams of five persons were formed from the 20 participants. Each team decided who would be team leader, made decisions on how items would be treated, sorted the items, and began the drying process. Not only did the team members handle books and similar print items, but also art work, clothing, electronics, even toys. Some items were puzzling, but during the wrap-up the teams shared how they interpreted items and how their decisions were made.

Participants left the workshop better educated in improving their institution’s disaster plan, and in training their staff in wet materials salvage. And from now on, they will save those Bounce® sheets!

-- Suzanne Singleton, PALMCOP Chair

1 Comment

Disaster Preparedness and Recovery

6/1/2015

1 Comment

Thank you to everyone who attended last week's PALMCOP/SCAA Hands-on Disaster Recovery Workshop! A big thank you to Francis Marion University for hosting this event.

In light of recent flooding in Texas and Oklahoma, this is a perfect time to talk about some of the resources out there for disaster preparedness and recovery. Last week on Facebook we shared a story about how the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information is assisting flood victims in salvaging their family treasures and are planning to host salvage workshops.

The Library of Congress also has resources available for anything from emergency preparedness to preservation. These resources can be found on their Preservation page, http://www.loc.gov/preservation/.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) have recently created a page on their website for Disaster Recovery Resources. These resources include Disaster Recovery Vendors, Funding, and Training. They are definitely worth exploring and can be found at http://www2.archivists.org/groups/regional-archival-associations-consortium-raac/disaster-recovery-resources.

These are just a few of the resources available out there.

1 Comment

Hurricane Season is June 1 - November 30

Training the Trainers: Disaster Recovery Workshop at FMU

Disaster Preparedness and Recovery

Archives

Categories