National Library of Scotland flooded

Post by **emanday** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 11:58 am

Oh dear!

I hope there wasn't too much damage...

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1455812007

Post by **AndrewP** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:46 pm

It looks like the damage was limited by the packaging of their stored material.

See http://www.nls.uk/news/index.html#5

All the best,

AndrewP

Post by **emanday** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:54 pm

Thanks Andrew,

That's a relief. I'll bet the

builders who caused the burst pipe are thanking their lucky starts as well!

Post by **HeatherH** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:17 pm

Hi Andrew and Emanday,
Glad the damage is not as bad as it could have been but scary all the same. Brings back to home the challenge of doing Irish research due to the distruction of the fire in 1922 on the collection of census and BMDs which had all be transferred to 1 location. Or the effects on the WW1 records damaged in WW2 bombing.What about our own records at NRH and the Scottish Archives. Should something similar happen at one of these 2 sites are there back up copied stored in a second location? Also makes the need for the remaining records to be digitalized or filmed so much more important.
HeatherH

Archiver · Post by **Archiver** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:43 pm

It's good to hear that their disaster plan worked, though it's the worst way of finding out that it does...!

sheilajim · Post by **sheilajim** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:17 pm

Hi All

You can never tell when an accident will happen. There should always be more than one location for such important records. Digitalizing alone is not the answer. I read somewhere recently that any records held on CDs and DVDs might only last a few months.

I suppose that hard copies on acid free paper would last longer.

Sheila

Archiver · Post by **Archiver** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:20 am

sheilajim wrote:Hi All

You can never tell when an accident will happen. There should always be more than one location for such important records. Digitalizing alone is not the answer. I read somewhere recently that any records held on CDs and DVDs might only last a few months.

I suppose that hard copies on acid free paper would last longer.

Sheila

It's to do with money though - to have another location with a copy of everything held would cost an astrononimcal amount and wouldn't be cost effective. Technological advances are also something which has to be thought about - who's to say that the imaging software we use today will still be in use in 10 years time? So is there any point in digistising records if they may not be viewable in the future?

It's risk management more than anything. If you can manage risk to your collection then you can try and minimise any dangers to it, such as switching off all electrical appliances before leaving at night, getting the electrics checked regularly, making sure any water pipes are in good order, checking your alarm system works - all repositories have disaster plans because they don't have back-up copies elsewhere, and systems are in place to deal with records which may get damaged. It's whether these plans and systems work when it actually comes to it - thankfully, the NLS's seems to have!

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:24 pm

Archiver wrote:
sheilajim wrote:Hi All

You can never tell when an accident will happen. There should always be more than one location for such important records. Digitalizing alone is not the answer. I read somewhere recently that any records held on CDs and DVDs might only last a few months.

I suppose that hard copies on acid free paper would last longer.

Sheila
It's to do with money though - to have another location with a copy of everything held would cost an astrononimcal amount and wouldn't be cost effective. Technological advances are also something which has to be thought about - who's to say that the imaging software we use today will still be in use in 10 years time? So is there any point in digistising records if they may not be viewable in the future?

It's risk management more than anything. If you can manage risk to your collection then you can try and minimise any dangers to it, such as switching off all electrical appliances before leaving at night, getting the electrics checked regularly, making sure any water pipes are in good order, checking your alarm system works - all repositories have disaster plans because they don't have back-up copies elsewhere, and systems are in place to deal with records which may get damaged. It's whether these plans and systems work when it actually comes to it - thankfully, the NLS's seems to have!

Given your nom-de-plume, can we assume that there's a professional interest involved

mb

Archiver · Post by **Archiver** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:46 pm

Montrose Budie wrote:
Given your nom-de-plume, can we assume that there's a professional interest involved

mb

There might be!

$

I'm in the middle of a masters in Archives & Records Management, so when things like this come into the news I find it really interesting hearing what people think about it. I love disaster planning and preservation and all the issues they raise.