JERSEY CITY FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN

INTRODUCTION

The Jersey City Free Public Library operates a system consisting of a Main Library with a collection of 150,000 volumes in a four-story building opened in 1901; three large regional branches in buildings opened in the first third of the twentieth century; one of which underwent a $1 million renovation in FY 2001; a fourth regional branch in a facility completed in 1961; five small branches located in rental facilities and one located in a city-owned condominium; a Spanish-language branch located in a rental facility; and a bookmobile. The buildings that are not rental facilities are owned by the City of Jersey City, not by the Board of Trustees of the Library.

Fire and building inspections of the system's facilities are routinely performed by the City of Jersey City. Emergency exit signage, fire extinguishers and other preventive measures meet the requirements of the civil authorities and the Library's insurers. The Library maintains property insurance on the facilities and the collections under a blanket coverage in excess of $7 million.

The Library Director is charged by the Board of Trustees with the responsibility for disaster prevention planning and its implementation. The Library Director has assigned the primary responsibility for cleanliness, structural integrity, and repair of defects in the facilities to the Building Superintendent and if needed, the Director of Maintenance.

The Library Director, the Assistant Library Directors, and Supervising Librarian are responsible for safeguarding the respective collections of the Main Library and the branch libraries, and the bookmobile. Periodic inspection of the various parts of the collection is the responsibility of the head of each library unit. Each unit head is required to report problems affecting the collection and the facilities to his/her Assistant Director or Supervising Librarian and to the Building Superintendent.

The Board of Trustees and the Library Director will review all significant facilities problems and authorize and oversee major remedial efforts required to keep the system's aging plants up to code. A significant portion of the Library's capital budget goes to plant maintenance and repair.

PRIORITIES FOR DISASTER RECOVERY

Whether the incident that triggers this disaster recovery plan springs from a natural, manmade, or negligent catastrophe, the remediable damage to the collection will be caused principally by water and may be caused secondarily by structural collapse, mold, or insect infestation. Water damage may result from firefighting efforts, from flooding, or from roof or other structural failure.

The Board of Trustees of the Library has determined that major disaster recovery measures will be instituted only if the Main Library collections or those of the Spanish-language branches are damaged. In the case of all other branches and the bookmobile, available staff will be assigned to air-dry books with lesser degrees of water damage and to clean salvageable materials. The Library will use insurance payments to replace the collection losses and will use its own staff to determine materials that will require replacement.

DISASTER CONTROL TEAM

Main Library:
Disaster Control Coordinator ("DCC")Priscilla Gardner, Library Director
Team Leaders: Designated Security Officer, Building Superintendent, Director of Maintenance
Team Members: Unit Heads of affected areas and/or services including the head of the Library's Technology Services (principally computer and automation services).

Branch Libraries:
DCC: Assistant Director in charge - Sonia Araujo
Supervising Librarian: Hussein OdehTeam Leaders: Branch Head and Branch Maintenance employee plus Main Library personnel as needed.

If the DCC is not present on the scene, the next most senior Library employee will be the Acting Coordinator until the DCC arrives.

DISASTER RECOVERY COORDINATION AND AGREEMENTS

1) The Library Director and the Director of Finance will work out procedures with the Library's insurance carrier that either (a) authorize the Library to enter into standby agreements for essential preservation and reclamation services or (b) permit the Library to enter such contracts within six hours of a disaster without prior claims investigation.

2) The designated Security Officer will maintain for the Main Library a list of the anticipated services and equipment that will be required following a disaster, specifying those that will probably be needed within the first 48 hours. The officer will also identify the vendors who can provide these services and supplies. Because there are a number of vendors in the city and immediate area who maintain extensive business hours, including Home Deport that operates on a 24/7 schedule, it is anticipated that it will be possible to obtain supplies such as plastic sheeting, wet/dry vacs, tools, and folding tables very quickly, if the supplies maintained in the Main Library should be unusable or inaccessible because of the disaster. See Section 8 following for a list of basic recommended supplies.

3) The Director of Finance will negotiate with the suppliers of services and equipment as needed and work out the procedures for invoking their services and obtaining their products.

4) Copies of the Disaster Recovery Plan will be reproduced and distributed to the home and offices of the Disaster Control Team, including the head of every Library unit, and to the homes of the members of the Board of Trustees. Copies will also be distributed to:

  • Fire Department
  • Police Department
  • Jersey City Office of Emergency Management
  • nsurance Carrier

5) The Designated Security Officer will periodically confirm that the Jersey City Fire Department personnel understand the importance of minimizing water use or in using protective covers in dealing with library fires.

6) Written information about disaster recovery and training sessions will be provided for Unit Heads and to other members of the Disaster Control Team.

CONSERVATION CONSULTANT

The DCC will promptly notify the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in the event of a disaster which damages a significant portion of the Main Library collection. A significant portion is defined as one which affects a large number of books and other library collection materials, or one which affects materials which are rare or not replaceable and which are deemed to have sufficient value to warrant professional conservation measures. See Section 6 below for a list of Disaster Recovery Priorities.

Under contractual arrangements NEDCC will assign a conservator to make recommendations on the steps needed to deal with the damaged items from the collection. Depending upon the scope of the problem and the availability of a conservator, these recommendations may result from telephone and electronic communications or from on-site inspection.

The Library Director will work with the NEDCC conservator and, after consultation with the Director of Finance and the insurance carrier, will implement the conservator's recommendations, if feasible. In determining the extent to which the conservator's recommendations are accepted, the team will evaluate the cost of proposed conservation measures versus the cost of replacement.

DISASTER RECOVERY PRIORITIES

Library property and collection items are ranked in the following order for consideration for both rapid and long-term conservation measures.

1. Technical Services shelf list

2. Administrative records not available elsewhere (to be determined by Library Director)

  • catalog, circulation, and other library generated electronic records not available or accessible elsewhere
  • software for Integrated Library Automation System and for administrative operations
  • paper records (personnel, purchasing, contracts, manuals, etc.)

3. New Jersey Room collections

  • newspaper indexes
  • photographs and other images
  • maps and atlases
  • books, periodicals, and other printed materials except State Documents distributed in past 25 years
  • manuscripts and scrapbooks
  • microforms

4. Stack Nine: including newspapers, manuscripts and scrapbooks, and oversized books

5. Stack Zero: Oversized books, periodicals, books

6. Art works, including mayor's portraits and other paintings on display, the stained glass window in lobby, and the bust of Leonard Gordon in the lobby

7. Reference Back Room: lower level periodicals in paper and microform; mezzanine -books

8. Reference Room

  • microfilm
  • books

9. Lending non-fiction

  • 700s-900s
  • 000s-600s

10. Lending fiction

11. Juvenile folklore and unique reference

12. Remaining juvenile collection

13. Federal government documents

14. NJ government documents

15. Processed books in Technical Services

16. Professional collection

17. Unprocessed books in Technical Services

18. Commercial CD-ROMS

19. Donations

Independently, The Technology Services/Automation staff will examine servers, computers and other equipment contributing to the Library's technology operations to determine whether and how to salvage this equipment if it has been affected by the disaster.

DISASTER RESPONSE PROCEDURES

If a destructive event has occurred, the DCC will contact in the following order:

  1. Library's insurance carrier
  2. Team Leaders
  3. If warranted, the Emergency Management official for the City of Jersey City

Team Leaders in turn will contact Unit Heads and other employees deemed necessary and/or useful for the response. If preliminary reports so warrant, The Director of Finance will contact suppliers of essential services and goods to confirm the availability of the products.

When emergency personnel from the City permit staff to enter the premises affected, the DCC will direct the team to don any necessary protective gear. The DCC will lead the Team Leaders, and other Team Members as warranted, on an inspection, examining the collection in the Main Library in the order of priority listed above in section 2. One member of the Team will be assigned the responsibility of recording the extent and nature of the damage at each location within the building. The same or another member will be assigned the task of documenting in writing all steps taken on an hour by hour basis and additionally documenting the conditions photographically.

When the inspection is complete, the DCC will meet with the Team Leaders and prepare a preliminary damage assessment.

In the event of minimal damage, the DCC will determine that the recovery procedures will be conducted on site by Library staff and volunteers. NEDCC will be apprised of the situation and will be retained as a consultant to supply advice and/or confirmation of the judgment that the recovery may be handled in-house. The Director will order any supplies and services deemed necessary the DCC and the team.

If the damage is sufficiently extensive that in-house recovery methods are deemed inadequate, then the insurance carrier will be so advised and NEDCC will be retained for advice and assistance. As stated above in Section 5, the Team will determine if replacement or reformatting of the damaged materials, if feasible, would be preferable to restoration and will determine further action based upon that judgment. Necessary vendors will be contacted by the Director. Libraries such as Columbia University, which suffered damage to its "brittle" collection following a shelf collapse in 1989, and Boston Public (617-536-5400), which suffered extensive damage following a water main break in 1998, will be contacted also.

If the disaster has been caused by water damage, the guideline, prepared by the Disaster Preparedness Committee of the Oklahoma Conservation Congress and printed as Appendix VII of Disaster Planning and Recovery by Judith Fortson (Neal-Schulmann Publishers, Inc., C. 1992), will be followed, in coordination with the recommendations of NEDCC. These guidelines are appended to this plan.

The DCC will assign team members to the following duties if required:

  • Transporting necessary personnel, including volunteers, to the site.
  • Transporting supplies from off-building premises, from other city agencies, and from vendors.
  • Obtaining the cooperation of other city departments, such as Public Works, if equipment, trucks, and personnel may be needed.
  • Recording all decisions and actions.
  • Obtaining food, restroom facilities, and rest areas for workers.
  • Contacting the media and requesting, if warranted, public assistance and contributions.

RECOMMENDED BASIC SUPPLIES

*Supplies on hand

*Tool boxes containing hammer, pliers, screwdrivers, utility knives with spare blades

*Rolls of 50" x 3' plastic sheeting

*Sheets of clean newsprint

*Folding 30" x 72" tables

*Electric fans and dehumidifiers

*Rolls of duct tape

*Cartons of paper towels

*Rolls of waxed paper

*Environmental monitoring equipment-available from the City of Jersey City

*Wet/dry vacuum cleaners

*Cell phones

*First Aid kits

*Rubber boots

*Rubber gloves

PERSONNEL NOTIFICATIONS

PRINCIPAL TEAM MEMBERS - as of March 2003

DISASTER ROLE
LIBRARY TITLE
NAME 
Disaster Control
Library Director 
Priscilla Gardner
DCC-Branches
Assistant Director
Sonia Araujo
DCC-Branches
Supervising Librarian
Hussein Odeh
Building Superintendent
(same)
Teresa Fairley
Designated Security Officer
Director of Maintenance
Rudy Pleasant
Director of Finance
(same)
Wayne Ponder

Unit Heads: Main Library
Technical Services
Principal Librarian
Judith Frank
New Jersey Room
Senior Librarian
Cynthia Harris
Reference Department
Senior Librarian
John Butler
Documents
Principal Librarian
Sharon Tucker
Lending Dept.
Supv. Library Asst.
Martha Rubio
Children's Room
Supv. Library Asst.
Francina Stevens
Unit Head: Criolla Supv. Library Asst. Edwin Perez

OTHER LIBRARY PERSONNEL TO BE NOTIFIED

President of the Board of Trustees     James Morley   

OTHER PERSONNEL TO BE NOTIFIED

J.C. Office of Emergency Management      Eugene Drayton      201-547-5681

J.C. Fire Department Administration      Jerome Cala      201-547-4239 

J.C. Environmental Office      Betty Kearns      201-547-6852

FEMA 212-680-3600
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278

VOLUNTEERS

Jersey City Gong Paul Schaetzle 201-333-9147

244 Bay Street 201-547-5094

Jersey City, N.J. 07302 201-434-4714(voicemail)

VENDORS

Library Insurance Carrier
Fairview Associates
25 Fairview Avenue
Verona, N.J. 07044
Phone: 1-800-372-2558
John Graham

Consultant for preservation planning and activities

Northeast Document Conservation Center(NEDCC)
50 Brickstone Square
Andover, MA 01810
Phone: 978-470-1010

Water extraction, drying fans, dehumidification, document drying and restoration, smoke, soot and odor removal, cleanup, packing, transportation, storage

Astrocare
50 South Center Street 
Orange, NJ 07050 
(7 days a week emergency service)
Phone: 973-677-1234, 800-924-2890
Fax: 973-677-2203
Bayonne service number 201-858-8483

Moisture Control Services-Mike Conlon
Munters East
160 Raritan Center Pkwy. 
Suite 11
Edison, N.J. 08837
Phone: 800-843-5360, 732-512-0651

Cold Storage Facilities (for flash freezing stabilization)

Jamac Frozen Foods
570 Grand Street
Jersey City, N.J. 07302
Phone: 201-333-6200
Fax: 201-333-1035

PNO Cold Logistics
1 Enterprise Avenue
Secaucus, N.J. 07094
Phone: 201-422-7199
Fax: 201-867-8932
Steve Alberti
Email: salberti@pnocold.com

On-the-scene Freeze Stabilization

Document Reprocessors
5611 Water Street
Middlesex, N.Y. 14507
Phone: 585-554-4500, 888-437-9464
Fax: 585-554-4117

Milk Crates Vendors

Home Depot 
Route 440
Jersey City, N.J. 07305
Phone: 201-521-9437

Staples 
Route 440
Jersey City, N.J. 07304
Phone: 201-435-7911

Borinquen Home Improvement Center
532 Jersey Avenue
Jersey City, N.J. 07302
Phone: 201-332-6562

Dairy Companies

Clinton Milk Co. 
353 Morris Avenue
Newark, N.J. 07103
Phone: 973-642-3000

Johanna Farms 
Johanna Farms Road
Flemington, N.J.
Phone: 908-788-2200

Newsprint

Daily News (printing facility)
125 Theodore Conrad Drive
Jersey City, N.J. 07305
Phone: 201-946-6000

Jersey Journal 
30 Journal Square
Jersey City, N.J. 07306
Phone: 201-653-1000

Hudson Reporter
1400 Washington Street
Hoboken, N.J. 07030
Phone: 201-798-7800

Freeze Drying

American Freeze-Dry, Inc. 
39 Lindsey Avenue
Runnemede, N.J. 08078
Phone: 856-546-0777

Or a contractor recommended by consultant

Other Supplies (boots, gloves, tape, tables, etc.)

Home Depot 
Route 440
Jersey City, N.J. 07305
Phone: 201-521-9437

Borinquen Home Improvement Center 
532 Jersey Avenue
Jersey City, N.J. 07302
Phone: 201-332-6562

Updated March 2003

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