Disaster Preparedness -- YouTube Preservation Videos

This year the Preservation Committee has been scouring YouTube for videos that show good preservation techniques on different preservation topics.  For this semester, the videos are designed to help train staff and students in preparation and recovery for a variety of emergency situations. 

Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections

The following eight videos (totaling 1 hour, 13 minutes) were produced in 2007 by Fred Woods Production, the National Park Service, Northeast Museum Services Center, and Historic New England.

Although they were created primarily with museum collections in mind, they are very relevant to libraries. Both types of institutions are subject to the same kinds of disasters and the preparedness and recovery activities are very similar.

“Intro - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (3:41 minutes) is an introduction to the instructional video series on how to develop and implement an effective disaster plan.

In Part 1 of Segment 2, “Assessing Risks - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (13:28 minutes), Gregor Trinkaus-Randall (Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) looks at assessing risks for buildings that contain museum collections.

 Part 2 of Segment 2, “Elements of Your Disaster Plan - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (12:36 minutes), looks at sources of assistance, setting priorities and developing incident command structure.

Segment 3 of 6, “A Successful Disaster Plan - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (3:42 minutes), looks at what is the end result of the disaster planning process for a museum.

 Segment 4 of 6, “Mitigating Risks - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (9:16 minutes), looks at what are the measures that a museum should take to prevent or lessen impacts from incidents.

Segment 5 of 6, “Construction Projects - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (7:29 minutes), looks at protecting buildings and collections during major construction projects.

Part 1 of Segment 6, “Response and Recovery – Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections”, (11:08), looks at response, incident command and initial recovery efforts based upon a hands-on mock disaster.

Part 2 of Segment 6, “Salvage Techniques - Emergency Preparedness for Museum Collections” (12:06), looks at initial recovery efforts and salvage techniques based upon a hands-on mock disaster. This video addresses recovery efforts for books, paper, photographs, audio cassettes, electronic media along with textiles and 3 dimensional objects.

Recovery of Water Damaged Materials

Preservation Australia is a conservation and preservation services business based in Sydney, Australia. Their YouTube channel has videos addressing the handling and recovery of water damaged materials.  

“Introduction to Salvaging Water Damaged Material, Mould and Freezing Options” (7:18 minutes )

“Salvage of Water Damaged Books” (4:10 minutes)

“Air Drying Techniques for Water Damaged Books” (8:16 minutes)

“Salvage of Water Damaged Documents and Leaflets” (8:42 minutes)

“Salvage for water damaged Photographs” (10:39 minutes)

 “Thanks, Disaster!”

And just for fun, here are a group of videos by Scott Bromley, who takes a humorous approach to history and all kinds of disastrous events. I can’t vouch for how accurate his tales of history and pop culture are but they are fascinating. A word of caution: Some videos may contain language or situations that some may find objectionable.

Written by Annette Morris, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign