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Libraries protect collections from fire, floods, plumbing failures, severe weather, and other emergencies through a repeating program of preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery. The practical rule is simple: protect people first, stop additional damage when it is safe, then stabilize and document the most important and vulnerable materials. Fire suppression can leave collections wet, so water-response planning is also part of fire planning.
This guidance is U.S.-oriented and based chiefly on Library of Congress preservation resources. It does not replace local fire, building, occupational-safety, security, insurance, or emergency-management requirements. Deliberate acts such as theft, vandalism, and arson require advice from security professionals and local responders; the detailed procedures below address accidental emergencies and water damage most directly.
Use an emergency-management cycle, not a one-time disaster plan
The Library of Congress describes collection emergency management as a cycle of incident response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. The phases overlap: a recovery review should change the next mitigation project, and every exercise should improve the next response. See Collection Emergency Management for Preservation (updated May 1, 2026).
- Preparedness: establish contacts, roles, supplies, training, continuity procedures, exercises, and outside help before an incident.
- Mitigation: reduce the chance or scale of damage by maintaining the building, monitoring hazards, and placing collections intelligently.
- Response: protect people, control the hazard, assess collections, triage work, and stabilize materials.
- Recovery: complete drying or conservation, restore services, reconcile inventories, and revise the plan using what happened.
Risk cannot be removed completely. The Library of Congress puts the principle plainly: “Risk exposure can be reduced, but not eliminated.”
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Prepare the building and the people before anything happens
Map hazards and inspect collection spaces
Walk storage and reading areas routinely rather than relying only on an alarm dashboard. Staff who are physically present may notice a drip, odor, condensation, blocked drain, or change in room conditions that a sensor misses. Identify roofs, exterior walls, pipes, plumbing fixtures, air-conditioning drip pans, sprinkler lines, drains, electrical rooms, and other potential water paths. Keep an up-to-date floor plan showing shutoff valves, electrical disconnects, elevators, exits, fire extinguishers, and safe staging areas.
Water sensors placed near likely infiltration points can provide early warning. Environmental monitoring may use continuous wireless equipment or regular manual checks of temperature and relative humidity. Monitoring is a supplement to inspection, not a substitute for it. Test alarms, document who receives notifications, and make sure someone is assigned to act when an alert arrives.
Reduce preventable exposure
Correct small building defects before they become collection emergencies. Roof repair is a mitigation expense that can avoid a much larger recovery project. Keep collections away from known leak paths, use shelving and storage layouts that reduce exposure, and consider protective covers for materials on top shelves when a leak is plausible. Maintain gutters, drains, seals, plumbing, heating and cooling equipment, and fire-protection systems according to qualified local requirements.
Do not treat a raised shelf as complete flood protection. Water can travel along floors, walls, ducts, and shelving. Plan where dry, at-risk materials can be moved if a nearby area becomes wet, and identify a clean, secure space for staging.
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A plan should state who calls emergency services, who meets responders, who authorizes building access, who leads collection triage, who controls records, who communicates with staff and leadership, and who arranges vendors or transportation. Keep telephone numbers and alternates current, including facilities staff, conservators, insurers, neighboring institutions, local fire and emergency-management agencies, and recovery contractors.
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Invite local fire, police, rescue, and emergency-management agencies to understand the facility before an incident. Discuss likely scenarios, access routes, hazardous areas, utility shutoffs, elevators, and the location of high-value or irreplaceable collections. The Library of Congress preparedness resource provides planning context at Emergency Management: Preparedness.
Stock supplies and plan continuity
Keep basic response supplies in known, accessible locations and inspect them periodically. Useful categories include absorbent materials for floors, plastic sheeting and containers for leaks, gloves and other appropriate personal protective equipment, labels, markers, carts, boxes, fans or air-moving equipment suitable for the site, shelving or tables for staging, cameras or phones, and barcode or inventory tools. Select equipment with facilities and safety staff; ordinary fans, electrical cords, ladders, and chemicals can create hazards in a wet building.
Write continuity procedures for access services, cataloging, digitization, payroll, communications, and temporary relocation. A contingency agreement with a recovery provider should define services and capabilities, prices, stakeholder responsibilities, communications, and activation steps. If an incident exceeds local space, staff, equipment, or expertise, prearranged terms can save critical time.
Exercise the plan
Practice evacuation, notification, shutoff decisions, collection triage, barcode capture, staging, and communications. Include substitutes for key personnel and test workarounds when the network, catalog, phones, elevators, or loading dock are unavailable. Record lessons and update contact lists, maps, priorities, and supplies after every exercise and real event.
Decide what to save before a crisis forces the choice
Salvage priorities should be agreed by a cross-department team before an emergency. Use collection inventories, catalog records, institutional mission, preservation plans, donor or legal obligations, and knowledge of format vulnerabilities. Review the list periodically and after major acquisitions, deaccessions, building changes, or incidents.
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- Feature-Rich App: Receive instant push notifications. Use the “Find Device” feature to quickly trigger audible beeps to retrieve misplaced sensors. Add multiple email addresses through the APP, and your family and friends can also receive reminders when there is a water leak at home.
- Industry Leading IP67 Waterproof: Its IP67 waterproof rating ensures durability against spills, humidity, and accidental submersion.It can be used multiple times after wiping dry.
- Four-level volume adjustment: Customize your own alarm to fit your life! Use the app to adjust the volume in 4 levels, with a maximum alarm volume of 105 decibels. Whether it's day or night, whether it's in the bedroom or the basement, you can find the right volume.
| Priority question | Why it changes the response | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| What is the material’s significance? | Mission-critical, unique, or identity-defining material may warrant intensive treatment. | Rare books, archival records, local history, special collections, legally required records |
| How vulnerable is the format? | Some materials deteriorate rapidly or cannot tolerate the same drying method. | Parchment, photographs, soluble media, coated paper, mixed-media scrapbooks |
| Can it be replaced? | Repurchasable items or adequate surrogates may receive lower priority when capacity is limited. | Commercially available copies versus unique manuscripts |
| What is its current condition? | Unaffected but threatened items, damp items, soaked items, moldy items, and total losses need different actions. | Dry shelving under a leak, wet cartons, saturated books, visibly moldy files |
| What resources are available? | Space, trained staff, time, supplies, and outside help determine what can be stabilized safely. | On-site air-drying capacity versus a large-scale recovery operation |
Priorities are not a license to endanger staff or enter an unsafe building. They are a way to make consistent choices once authorities permit access. In a severe event, a disorganized dry collection is preferable to an organized wet collection, as the Library of Congress emphasizes.
What to do first when collections get wet
The sequence below applies to flooding, leaks, sprinkler discharge, and water left after firefighting. It assumes that emergency authorities have permitted the relevant task. General preservation advice never overrides an evacuation order, an incident commander, electrical-safety rules, or site-specific procedures.
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- Assess before rushing to salvage. Identify the water source, electrical or structural hazards, affected rooms, materials already wet, and dry materials that could be damaged next. Photograph conditions if doing so is safe.
- Stop or block the source if safe. Close an accessible valve, call facilities staff, or request responder assistance. The Library of Congress states that “It is generally better to prevent more water damage than to begin recovery of already wet collections.”
- Contain and shield. Use absorbent materials to limit spread on floors. Where appropriate, place plastic sheeting over collections and containers beneath drips. Keep plastic from trapping moisture against materials longer than necessary.
- Move dry, threatened materials when appropriate. Relocate unaffected items from the danger zone to a clean, secure staging area, but do not carry materials through unsafe spaces or create trip and lifting hazards.
- Improve environmental conditions. When possible, the Library of Congress wet-collections guidance recommends conditions below 65°F and below 60% relative humidity during an incident. These are best-practice targets in that guidance, not universal engineering requirements. Use safe air circulation, air conditioning, water removal, or a dehumidifier suited to the building.
- Set an incident workflow. Name a lead, establish entry and exit points, divide teams, assign staging locations, provide communication channels, and list which staff or volunteers are available. Cultural-heritage institutions may adapt the Incident Command System and should practice roles in advance.
- Triage materials. Separate unaffected but vulnerable materials, total losses, and salvageable items. Group salvageable materials by dampness, format, or treatment need. If capacity is limited, replaceable materials may not receive treatment before unique or highly vulnerable items.
- Stabilize rather than promise instant restoration. Air drying can reduce moisture. Freezing can halt or slow deterioration and buy time, but frozen collections require further treatment before returning to service. Isolate moldy materials and obtain specialist direction. Choose methods by format, not by convenience.
- Record identity and movement. Scan barcodes when possible; otherwise record call numbers, box or shelf locations, descriptive information, and removal order. Photograph items and retain labels from damaged housings. Use tighter tracking controls for higher-value materials.
The Library of Congress describes immediate response and stabilization as generally occurring within the first 48 hours, subject to life-safety and access limits. Mold can grow within 48–96 hours after collections become wet. Those figures are planning benchmarks, never a reason to enter an uncleared building.
Match stabilization to the material
There is no single treatment for a mixed collection. Paper books, manuscripts, photographs, parchment, audiovisual media, magnetic media, paintings, and scrapbooks react differently to water, handling, temperature, and humidity. Keep groups separated by format and condition, and obtain conservator or institutional direction for unusual or high-value materials.
Air drying
Air drying is useful for manageable quantities when staff can provide a clean area, airflow, space, and monitoring. It reduces moisture but may leave distortion, blocking, tidelines, adhesive failure, or other permanent damage. Do not stack wet items tightly or return them to closed shelving while damp.
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Freezing
Freezing can buy time during a large event by preventing mold growth while space, staff, or professional help is arranged. It is a stabilization step, not a finished repair. Frozen items need controlled thawing and subsequent drying, and some formats require specialized handling.
Mold and contaminated water
Water from sewage, chemicals, flood sediment, or other contaminants changes the safety assessment. Restrict access, consult facilities and occupational-safety professionals, and isolate affected materials. Moldy collections may need separate containment and specialist treatment rather than ordinary drying.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Compare response choices with a consistent decision framework
| Choice | Use when | Primary trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Prevent further water entry | The source can be controlled without exposing people to danger. | Delays hands-on salvage but usually protects more material overall. |
| Move dry threatened items | Unaffected collections face continuing exposure and a safe route exists. | Handling can cause damage or confusion unless locations are recorded. |
| Air-dry on site | Quantity is manageable and a clean, controlled space is available. | Requires labor and room; some deformation and permanent damage may remain. |
| Freeze for later treatment | Volume or moisture makes immediate drying impractical. | Needs suitable freezing, transport, tracking, and later conservation. |
| Defer replaceable items | Capacity is insufficient and comparable replacements or surrogates exist. | Access is lost temporarily and replacement may not match the original. |
| Call outside specialists | Scale, contamination, format complexity, or value exceeds local capability. | Costs, logistics, and contract activation must be managed. |
Evaluate every option against safety, collection value and mission, format vulnerability, current damage and urgency, replaceability, and available capacity. A low-value item can still become a priority if it is highly vulnerable and easy to stabilize; a valuable item may need specialist treatment that local staff should not improvise.
Keep inventory control while everything is moving
Water response can destroy the link between an object and its catalog record. Before moving an item, capture its barcode or call number when possible. If labels detach, place them in a labeled bag or container and photograph their original position. Number boxes, pallets, carts, or drying locations, and keep a simple movement log with date, time, handler, origin, destination, condition, and next action.
For rare or legally significant materials, use a second-person check for transfers. Preserve photographs of shelves and room layouts, reconcile temporary locations with the catalog, and mark items that require conservation review before circulation. Inventory discipline helps reunite materials with records after drying, freezing, vendor transport, or temporary relocation.
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Plan for fire and deliberate attacks without unsafe assumptions
Fire planning begins with life safety, evacuation, responder coordination, alarms, suppression systems, and clear access for firefighters. Collection staff should not reenter after a fire to retrieve objects. Water from suppression can create a wet-collection emergency, so the same assessment, containment, triage, stabilization, and documentation process applies once authorities release the space.
The available preservation guidance does not establish a complete security program for theft, vandalism, arson, sabotage, or other deliberate attacks. Libraries should work with qualified security professionals and local responders on access control, keys and credentials, surveillance, incident reporting, evidence preservation, visitor procedures, and continuity of operations. Do not improvise confrontation or compromise an active investigation to protect property.
Review and improve after recovery
When materials are stabilized and services resume, hold a documented after-action review. Identify where detection, evacuation, communication, shutoffs, staging, triage, vendors, environmental control, and inventory tracking worked or failed. Update hazard maps, contact lists, salvage priorities, training, supplies, contracts, and building projects. Recheck priorities as collections and institutional missions change.
For detailed procedures and definitions, consult the Library of Congress resources on initial response and planning for salvaging wet collections and the introduction to salvaging wet collections. Their central message is practical: prepare before the emergency, make safe decisions in the right order, and stabilize what matters without sacrificing people.
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