Nancy Kraft,  Head of Preservation at the University of Iowa Libraries, will present two webinars to librarians and other curators across the country through The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS).

Disaster Preparedness and Planning
May 12, during Preservation Week (May 9-15)
Are you prepared for a disaster to your collection? According to the Heritage Health Index Report issued by Heritage Preservation in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, 78 percent of us are not prepared, putting more than 1.6 billion items at risk in our libraries in the U.S. Preparedness is of utmost importance in the event of a disaster, large or small. Learn about the fundamentals of emergency planning, which include identifying key players, assessing risks, establishing collection priorities and other preparations for protection of your collections. Kraft discusses tools available for and gives tips on overcoming roadblocks to writing a disaster plan. Lessons learned in this session can be applied to any size institution.

Disaster Response
June 9
Once a disaster strikes, the knee-jerk reaction is to rush in and save everything. Rushing in without advance planning puts collections at risk of more damage and staff at risk of injury. This session discusses managing a disaster situation and salvaging collections. Topics covered include: assessment and planning, working with a vendor and volunteers, handling public relations and managing collection salvage. A single-building incident will be used as a case study to illustrate the implementation of a disaster response effort. Lessons learned in this presentation can be applied to disasters large or small no matter the size of the institution.

Kraft is responsible for directing the preservation and conservation of the library collections at the University of Iowa. In 2009 she received the Midwest Archives Conference Presidents’ Award for her extraordinary work following the historic levels of flooding that struck Iowa in the summer of 2008. She is also active in the American Library Association, where she served as 2005-2006 Chair of the Preservation & Reformatting Section of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services.

For registration information visit the Events & Conferences page on the ALCTS Web site at www.ala.org/alcts. Registration is only $39 for ALCTS members. $49 for non-members, and $99 group rate. All webinars are scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. CDT, 11 a.m. PDT).

Preservation Week is a joint project of ALCTS, the Library of Congress, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services with contributing support from many other library and museum organizations. Corporate support is provided by Gaylord, Familyarchives.com, and Archival Products. For more information on Preservation Week, visit the Web site at www.preservationweek.org.

ALCTS is a division of the American Library Association.