Kathy Steffens, director of the Secaucus Public Library, knows from personal experience that anything can happen in a public building. In the mid-1980s, before she became director, she was working at the library’s front desk when a man walked in with a bomb.
“He wasn’t trying to set it off or anything; he just put it down on the counter and wanted to know if it was real,” Steffens said. “Later, after the police checked it, we discovered it was a live bomb.”
For Steffens, the potential for a disaster has always haunted her. Would the library continue to function if something were to happen to her or the library itself?
This is part of the reason she and the library staff began about a year and a half ago to put together a disaster plan, an information guide that would give those in charge of the library step by step instructions as to what to do next.
“This could be any kind of disaster,” she said, wishing not to speculate, although anything from a fire to a power failure is possible.
This plan was introduced to the library trustees at the Feb. 20 meeting.
When completed and approved, it would be contained in a book outlining plans of action for all the library’s departments, with copies kept at the director’s and the board president’s homes and the library.
The plan would have two overall components: response and recover.
If a fire should break out in the library, for instance, phase one of the plan would go into effect. The director would notify members of a “Disaster Response Team” that would meet to look over the situation. The team could include the director, president of the trustees, mayor, superintendent of public works and others. If the library is not accessible, a meeting will take place in Town Hall or another area deemed appropriate at the time. The DRT would access the damage, close the building, if necessary, and arrange to have the utilities turned off.
If there were structural damage to the building, it would be arranged for security to protect it from unauthorized personnel. The maintenance staff would board up the windows and doors and arrange to cover any holes in the roof.
The committee or consultants would determine if it would be possible to segregate the damaged area from the rest of the building and begin activities to stabilize the environment in the remaining undamaged parts of the building.
Even as steps are being taken to deal with the effects of a disaster, such as putting out a fire, the team will begin to plan for the recovery phase, drawing upon a list of priorities as to what should be dealt with first. The team would have the power to reallocate staff as needed.
Steffens said the priority list would begin with historical materials, current reference, arts and literature, with current fiction being the most replaceable.
“This would include technology such as our computer systems,” she said.
Anything of value that cannot be replaced easily, or at all, would be high priority, she said.
Once the situation becomes stable, the team would restore the library’s primary services by putting on a skeleton staff and eventually increase the staff and services until everything is back to normal. After this, the team would be charged with evaluating it own response to see if it might need to make changes in the procedure for possible future disasters.