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Presentation delivered by Sue McKerracher to the Local Studies Librarians meeting at Woy Woy NSW in March 2010. Bush Fires ravaged Victoria in January 2009. Libraries stepped in to help communities left without books and library services. Uploaded to slideshare with permission of the author.
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11 bushfire affected areas
• Eastern Regional Libraries• Goldfields Library Corporation• High Country Library Corporation• Latrobe City Library Service• Mitchell Shire Information and Library Service• Murrindindi Library Service• Upper Murray Regional Library• Wellington Shire Library• West Gippsland Regional Library Corporation• Wimmera Regional Library Corporation• Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service
Disaster recovery project
• Responding, coordinating
• Helping people to Rebuild with Books– Fundraising– Dealing with donations
• Guidance for disaster planning for libraries
After the bushfires
• Libraries as safe havens
• Libraries as community resources
• The return of mobile libraries, a cause for celebration
Library, book and arts organisations working together to Rebuild with Books
Booksellers and publishers working with library people to Rebuild with Books
182 pallets of donated books to be sorted and distributed
10 days72 volunteers137,000 books sorted27,400 distributed7 libraries3 relief centres
Rebuilding with Books at the Bushfire Relief Warehouse
Fundraising to help people replace their book collections at home
Now on the ALIA website
Add case studies
Best practice
Launch date 6 May 2010
Four stages of a disaster
• Prevention
• Preparation
• Response
• Recovery
Collections and staff
• Libraries need to have emergency plans in place to minimise damage to their own property and collections
• It would be beneficial for galleries, libraries, archives and museums in the same area to work in partnership, providing practical support to each other, for example a safe repository for books, artefacts and valuable items under threat
• At each location, the safety of staff is imperative, both physical safety and mental well-being
Libraries as the third place
• Libraries contribute to the well-being of the community in a way that extends far beyond the bricks and mortar, vehicles, books and computers
• Cultural institutions can play a useful role in helping communities reconstruct themselves after a disaster. In the immediate aftermath, the focus will be on food, shelter and clothing, but in the longer term, books on a shelf, photographs in an album, letters and other personal papers, are an important way of retrieving lost memories
Key recommendations
• That public library managers should be invited and encouraged to play an active part in local government emergency planning
• That the library’s potential as a safe haven in a disaster zone should be recognised and factored into local government emergency planning
• That libraries and other neighbouring cultural institutions should plan their disaster response both individually and in partnership
Digitising collections
2009 outcomes
Collaborative action
$110,000-worth of books
$9000-worth of vouchers
Planning guides for libraries
Submission to Bushfire Inquiry
Media coverage
Opportunities
Established partnerships
Distribution network
National disaster planning awareness among libraries
Blue Shield’s MayDay
2010What next?
MayDay 2010Month-long awareness campaign
Blue Shield Australia/DISACT Symposium at the National Library of Australia, 6 May
8 fully-equipped disaster bins for participants
Blue Shield on Facebook
In summary
• Read the ALIA materials to find what’s relevant to you
• Take the new ALIA guide as a prompt to review disaster planning
• Use MayDay as an opportunity to talk to colleagues about disaster preparedness
• Attend the Symposium on 6 May• Raise the issue of digitisation (again)• Follow Blue Shield on Facebook
