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.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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.
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.
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