Master of Disaster: Developing a Disaster Plan

Course Objectives:

NOTE: You must have a WebJunction Learning account to access this course.

This course will aid a library director, or anyone charged with creating a library disaster plan. The course covers three main areas of disaster preparedness that are critical to your library's ability to respond to, and even prevent major and minor disasters:

  1. Planning - Begin by understanding how to identify both potential hazards in the library and the environmental emergencies likely for your location that could lead to a disaster.
  2. Preparedness - Once potential disasters have been identified and possible damage to the building have detailed, a list of actions can be determined, reviewed and practiced in order to ensure the safety of the patrons, staff, and building should disaster strike.
  3. Documentation - Writing a Disaster Plan establishes the strategies for recovery and salvage of equipment and materials, responsibilities and priorities in the event of a disaster, as well as identifying the location of backup copies of information.

Please Note: This course is describes a disaster plan model for localized disasters and is based on the assumption that local telecommunication capability will still be intact or will be working in a short period of time. It is not suited for large-scale disasters.