Managing the Commonplace: Small Water Emergencies in Libraries

When libraries undertake emergency planning, it is likely that the risks such planning attempts to address are at the catastrophic level. In the case of water-related emergencies, the literature about disaster planning focuses on 100-year floods or hurricanes rather than the more common events of burst pipes or leaky roofs. This article uses two case studies to examine the impact of small water incursions on the libraries concerned, how those libraries managed the emergencies, and what lessons were learned which will inform their planning for future incidents. The case studies show that while both incidents were water-related, they are quite different in terms of source, size, impact, recovery time, and frequency. Libraries should be planning for the small emergencies first, and then scaling up their preparation to account for the larger, less frequent events, rather than the reverse. More libraries may be persuaded to do such planning if they are preparing for a probable scenario rather than one which may only be a possibility.