There's an App for that!

Heritage Preservation's Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel is now available free of charge on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad as the "ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage" app.

Long known as the authoritative resource for salvaging artifacts after a disaster, the Wheel has been used by museums, libraries, and archives around the world. This new app makes the Wheel's invaluable guidance accessible to anyone who is in need of practical advice for saving collections in the first 48 hours after disaster strikes.

Apple users can download this free app from the App Store. Simply search for "ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage."

I don't have an iPod, iPhone etc. but this is a great tool that I have one of at home and at the office so if you download the app, what a awesome resource to have at your disposal 24/7!  Cudos to Heritage Preservation for thinking outside the wheel! 

Ok, so I was a bit naive to think I would be blogging during my unfortunate state of unemployment.  They don't tell you that you should expect days of sleep and facebook games and nothingness.  It starts to mess with your head. Sure, I had great intentions of being a blogger, of getting projects done, improving myself but intent without action never amounts to anything.  Let me catch you up...

Spent most of my time looking for work, making myself available for work, and playing with the neighborhood kiddos.  They loved all my preservation supplies- apparently the bread trays, aprons, notebooks etc. work well for a pretend restaurant. But the kids were only in it for the profit as my pretend pizza cost me $45!

There have also been some revelations about records since I had so much thinking time on my hands.  It worries me that I see boxes being stacked up on the news footage covering the dead voters on the registration books in SC but not one mention of how without the archives those boxes wouldn't be there.  I lost my job because folks just don't understand that archives are valuable.  We need to advocate for what archivists and records managers do more!

Of course then the other worry is that from my inside sources, those same boxes pictured on the news arrived at the office with water damage and no one even cared. WHAT!!!  Wow, I've only been gone a few months and look how much backsliding has occurred.  Obviously there is a leak... it needs to be fixed, but what do you do when there is no money or staff to fix said obvious problem?  Band-aid methods will help!  I am a big proponent of using cheap alternatives and fixes to get you through because let's face it, now more than ever, I understand budgeting.  So if you have a leak but can't afford the roof repairs, use tarps or move your record storage away from the hazard.  If you don't have the space to move all the records then at least move the ones closest to the leaking roof i.e. top shelf and then use tarps to protect the ones below and pans to catch the drips.  It isn't the most ideal but sometimes you gotta just make a situation work. 

Time on my hands so why not blog about it...

Well, it has been a long time since my last confession... oh wait that's for another place. I meant that it has been forever since my last blog post.  I was just getting started into the wonderful world of blogging but soon life got in the way.  However, I now find myself with time on my hands so I figured I'd attempt the blogosphere again. 

I was laid off on November 1st from a job that I loved working with historical records for the state of South Carolina.  Budget cuts have really hit the state archives and they are down to under 30 employees and its isn't looking good for those remaining. 

Since being laid off, I am working through the stages of grief and disbelief.  Not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty freakin fantastic at Archival preservation and disaster preparedness and recovery for records and can't believe that I was cut.  While I know that cuts had to happen, I was holding out hope that I would be saved, that somehow my dedication, accolades, certificates, and general fabulousness would shield me from the horror of dealing with the unemployement offfice. I was wrong and it was like being punched in the gut! 

So, what is an out of work archivist to do?  I thought about going door to door and offering up my filing and processing skills but figured most folks would just slam the door or call the cops that some weirdo was pedaling preservation. 

That's where these blog posts come in.  I want to keep up my skills, my contacts, and maybe even stumble upon the right path for me to take.  Right now I am still in my denial and disbelief phase with a smidgen of bitterness thrown in for good measure but I want to get back on track and get back to records and doing what I love so much.  So, here goes my newest adventure.  Hold onto your keyboards people, I'm bound to hit some turbulence along the way.  
More later....

Economy Caught Me

Well, here I am in a place I never thought I'd be. Well versed in archival theory, preservation, and disaster preparedness and recovery, with a master's degree, archival certification, and recent Archivist of the Year title and tiara, and UNEMPLOYED!!!!

Budget cuts have been affecting cultural agencies across the country these days and while I sympathized with my colleagues and counterparts I had hoped that it wouldn't be me. (I suspect we are all secretly a little joyful when it is the records analyst next to us or the archivist in the other department and not us) However, this time it was me and now I am not sure what the next steps should be.

My thoughts keep wondering back to the documents. I am dedicated to my records (sure they technically belong to the state but while I was there, I was their guardian and protector) and now I wonder what will become of them. Sure they won't turn to dust tomorrow but I just hate to think of them lying in squalor and being manhandled to bits. Is this dramatic? Yes. Am I slightly off my rocker? Perhaps.

So now I am onto the next chapter of my life and career. Where will I go? What will I do? Who will help me along the way? First step, figure out how to file for unemployment...

A Different Type of Disaster

This year has been an interesting one. It has not been a good one in terms of disasters for South Carolina records but as we close out the year, we are being confronted with a different type of disaster. The state is facing serious financial woes and the effects are already being felt with regards to records. How can you best preserve with no budget for folders or boxes? How can you follow proper protocol when records managers are losing their jobs and the turn over is so great? How can you meet the standards for storage environment when you are barely keeping the doors open?

Although this disaster doesn't look like it is going to be ending anytime soon, we must all do our best to salvage what we can and work with what we are given. Perhaps the biggest lesson of all disaster preparedness is being able to be flexible, to roll with whatever comes your way. Although it is hard to maintain that flexible outlook when you are looking at mandatory furlough days and loss of jobs- strive for the best you can- the records deserve our attention.

I hope that the holidays are fantastic for everyone and that the New Year finds us all still employed and thriving despite belt tightening and frustration.

Just this week I had the opportunity to revisit the sight of one of the biggest disasters I have been involved with. The Lancaster County Courthouse was the victim of arson in August 2008 and although the gutted 1828 structure speaks volumes about the architecutural gem that it is, it is the burned out photos that haunt me. Notice the filing cabinet on the left and right of the judge's bench- records in the middle of disaster and yet, nothing can be done. I had a call last week regarding a debate about installing a sprinkler system in a records room... I think that this image should prove beyond a doubt that if you can use fire suppression, do it! The motto for preservation folks is that you can salvage a wet record but you can't do a thing for a burnt one. As everyone is heading out for Thanksgiving celebrations, I am thankful that my repository has been lucky and dodged the disaster bullet thus far and my thoughts go out to those dealing with the aftermath of fire, flood, sewer backups and all the other hazards out there affecting our records.

First Attempts at Blogging...

Well, this is my first attempt to get with it, be hip, and join the world of blogs and bloggers. Wish me luck! This could all turn out to be a disaster, but hey, that is what this blog is all about.

My job puts me in the know of records at risk and unfortunately, records wrecked by disaster. So my goal for putting together this blog is to create a forum, a hotbed of information if you will for records managers, archivists, and paper preservers to learn about disaster planning and preparedness, recovery, hazards and the like. We all learn from each other and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. We can just tap into the wondeful network of colleages and peers that is out there to find out what worked or didn't work for them with regards to being the guardians of information, protectors of paper and disaster defenders.

I hope that this experiment into the wonderful world wide web and land of blogs will be a new and different way to discuss disasters and look forward to the adventure of it all.