The Game has become a very interesting part of my life. I have had various discussions with the admins and have finally come to realize (just this week!) what the heck we are supposed to be doing. I almost wish I wasn't the department head for Tech Services since it is taking so long to get things done, but the people in my groups are great. I actually really like working with very opinionated people as that way you actually get opinions! And my group has had no problem speaking their minds about this project. While I still feel the distribution of some of the work is strange my groups has come to general consensus on how to deal with the work we need to do. We are creating Google Docs that we all can work on and post our general ideas. For me this make group work really easy as then you don't have to constantly be meeting. Yipee! It was somewhat frustrating when the Admins refused to make a decision. I understand they wanted everyones opinions and asked for a vote on things like due dates, but it would have been nice to have some of those decisions made by the end of class.
Lecture was interesting to me...I especially liked the pictures of natural disasters for libraries. I was reminded of my formative undergrad years (ok, ok, so 2 years ago...) at Colorado State University. I would like to take this moment to point out that there is large difference between CU and CSU. Please don't get them mixed up. Anyway, so the natural disaster picture of CSU was interesting as it has been a subject I had heard about since my orientation at CSU. I learned participially about that flood when I took Geology. In that class I learned a few things: the flood was caused by a trailer blocking the only water outlet (which was really small) and all of Fort Collins is in a flood plain. And the library? it was on a low spot in the middle of that flood plain. Since then there has been a new library built....on top of an artificial hill, with a VERY small basement. Still the fact that the library was so damaged that it was destroyed and none of the collection was saved is mind boggling. They don't talk about that on the tour (they do mention how the new building was designed to look like an open book). Still it really makes you think that you need to realize WHERE your library is. If you are at the base of mountains, could you flood? If you are in California, what do you do after an earthquake? I can't imagine what the disaster plan would be for someplace where that are tsunamis, but they have got to have one. I also started to wonder what areas of the country would be the safest place for a library (on that note it would also be the safest place for people too)? Of course every place has its own safety issues, so perhaps isn't not about where you are it just about knowing what the risks really are and knowing how much damage can be caused. After all it is commonly said, "Plan for the worst, hope for the best" and that is really the motto a disaster plan should follow.
Chapter 9: Preservation Management: Emergency Preparedness
I found it funny that the 3rd sentence in this chapter is about Insurance companies, and how emergency preparedness is always something that concerns them, and so should concern you when discussing a Preservation program. The idea that a librarian needs to think about risk management was very interesting to me. Risk management has always been a business term to me, so perhaps this is one way that libraries are being run more like businesses. It makes sense that aspects of running a business should also be used in managing a library, especially when you look at maintaining your product integrity. It makes sense that the Emergency Preparedness plan should match the Collection Management plan. The Collection Management would really be a guide to how materials are taken care of or stored, which will tell you how much damage could possibly be avoided in case of an emergency, and what you should expect would need to be done to correct that damage.
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