Priorities

The library specialist or curator must decide issues of collection priorities, while the disaster recovery director and the emergency coordinator decide issues of conservation priorities.

• Consult the library's salvage priority checklist in organizing the order of removal.
• Discard easily replaceable materials unless damage is minimal.
• Assign a low priority to material with a low chance of recovery (books or periodicals on coated paper that has already dried, with irretrievably adhered pages).
• Start in the areas closest to the point of access and work back.
• Clear aisles and passageways first. Use a human chain to pass items out separately to a packing area. When the aisles are clear, bring the packing crates to the shelves.
• Remove the wettest books first. If water has come from above, start with the top shelves; if from below, start with the bottom shelves.
• If the packing and removal will take more than 10 hours, loosen tightly packed shelves or boxes so that the books and paper do not jam as they swell. Otherwise, leave material packed together on shelves or in record boxes where it will present less surface area for mold growth.
• Keep in mind that books submerged in water are likely to be in less danger than books that are wet but no longer submerged. Submerged books will remain more stable and be less vulnerable to mold attack than wet materials exposed to oxygen.

Next: Washing off mud and dirt