MS206: Disaster Planning II: Writing a Disaster Preparedness Plan
Instructor: Terri Schindel
February 6 through March 17, 2006
Price: $395
<URL:http://www.museumclasses.org>

Get out of a rut and write that disaster plan! Current museum
accreditation requires that you have a disaster plan, but the
majority of museums haven't been able to complete one. According to
the recently published Heritage Health Index, 80% of U.S. collecting
institutions DO NOT have an emergency plan that includes
collections, with staff trained to carry it out.  This means that
2.6 billion items of historic, cultural and scientific significance
are NOT PROTECTED by an emergency plan and are at risk should a
disaster strike their institutions.

Assemble the information you gathered about suppliers, responders
and your collection inventory and write each section of your
institutional disaster plan with the assistance and comments of
instructor Terri Schindel. The purpose of a written Disaster
Preparedness and Response Plan is to educate all participants in
their role and responsibilities in an emergency situation. As you
write your plan, you will begin preparations for drills and teamwork
exercises that make implementing the plan a snap. Information about
additional resources and services will be provided.

Course Outline

    1.  Introduction
    2.  Writing a Disaster Preparedness Plan
    3.  Emergency Procedures
    4.  Disaster Response
    5.  Emergency Procedures  Recovery
    6.  Emergency Procedures  Salvage
    7.  Emergency Procedures  Salvage Techniques and Guidelines
    8.  Emergency Supplies and Location of Regional Resources
    9.  Appendices
    10. Next Steps
    11. Conclusion

Logistics: Participants in Writing a Disaster Plan work at their own
pace through eleven sections. Instructor Terri Schindel is available
at scheduled times during the course for email support. Resources
include forums and scheduled online chats, slide lectures, reading
materials, lecture notes and links to relevant web sites.

Writing a Disaster Plan runs six weeks. Please sign up at
<URL:http://www.museumclasses.org> and pay for the course at
<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>.  If you have
trouble with either, please contact Helen Alten at
helen [at] collectioncare__org.

Required Textbook: Steal This Handbook! A Template for Creating a
Museum's Emergency Preparedness Plan, 1994, Southeastern Registrars
Association.  Available for purchase at
<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>.

The Instructor:

    Terri Schindel, received her conservation diploma from the
    Courtauld Art Institute, University of London with a
    concentration in textile conservation. She has assisted small
    and medium sized museums in writing disaster plans since the
    mid- 1990s. A part of the 2001, NEH-funded, "Train the Trainers"
    national initiative, Ms. Schindel worked with conservators
    around the country in developing an accepted standard for
    disaster planning materials. Ms. Schindel has worked teaching
    collections care/preventive conservation to people from small,
    rural, and tribal museums since 1988. She is familiar with the
    many challenges and lack of resources facing these institutions.

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Iona McCraith
Preservation Consultant
Archives Association of Ontario
Tel: (705) 277-1309  Fax: (705) 277-2091
e-mail: [log in to unmask]