SGA Newsletter
2008 SGA Board
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New Initiatives in Emergency Preparedness in Georgia
by Christine Wiseman, Preservation Services Manager, Georgia Archives
Lately Georgia seems to be a hotbed of emergency preparedness initiatives for cultural repositories. Described below are new programs and resources that should be of interest to archivists throughout the state.
Atlanta Area Disaster Cooperative: HERA (Heritage Emergency Response Alliance)HERA, Heritage Emergency Response Alliance, is an affiliation of institutions and persons in metropolitan Atlanta formed to mitigate loss of cultural heritage materials to disaster. The group emerged after Heritage Preservation’s Alliance for Response Forum was held in Atlanta in February, 2007. The purpose of Alliance for Response is to bring together representatives from cultural institutions and first responders to discuss emergency preparedness issues. During the break-out sessions, it was determined that Georgia would benefit from forming local disaster cooperatives to share information and help each other in the event of disaster.
Since its inception in 2007, HERA has developed a mission statement, steering committee, and listserv with 64 members. HERA has held two planning meetings, a steering committee meeting, and an educational event. The tabletop exercise, Fire at the Museum, was held at the National Archives Southeast Regional branch on March 10, 2008. Forty-two people attended from more than twenty different organizations including emergency managers, representative from FEMA and GEMA, first responders (firefighters, police), archivists, curators, librarians, conservators, historic preservationists, and disaster services vendors. The variety of perspectives lead to a very lively and interesting discussion.
HERA quickly launched into action after the Atlanta tornado that struck downtown on March 14th. The listserv proved a great communication tool between cultural institutions and emergency managers. HERA members exchanged information about the situation at Oakland Cemetery, and assembled volunteers and donated supplies to help pack out the historic and current business records at the Atlanta Daily World on Auburn Avenue. Since this project is still underway at the time this article was written, look out for a more complete description in the next issue.
The recent successes should help in raising HERAs profile, as well as sustain interest in expanding programs and participation. HERA plans to hold two educational events per year in addition to steering committee meetings. For more information or to be added to the listserv, please contact Christine Wiseman at cwiseman@sos.georgia.gov.
Protecting Essential Government Records: The IPER Project
The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) recently received $2.6 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a three-year project (2008-2010) that will be based at the Georgia Archives. The Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) project will develop and deliver training to state and local governments nationwide about how to protect records before, during, and after disasters. A special focus of this training will be on records that are essential for the resumption of government operations. These essential records are a critical part of continuity of operations (COOP) planning and response.
Preparing for records emergencies requires cooperation and coordination among archivists and records managers, chief information officers and technology staff, and emergency and COOP managers. Five-person Instructional Teams with representatives from each of these groups, plus local government, will be prepared through train-the-trainer institutes to deliver the IPER training programs.
An IPER institute will be held in each of the ten FEMA regions in order to foster collaborative bonds across state lines and lay the groundwork for mutual aid during future disasters. The IPER curriculum will be based on existing National Archives training with adaptations designed to address the requirements and circumstances of state and local governments. Each state team will develop enhancements to provide specific guidance on their own regulations and information about support services available to their constituents. The two main IPER courses (on Essential Records and Emergency Planning and Response) will total six hours in length, and will be offered as a webinar and as a self-directed module via CD or online.
For more information on the IPER program, please contact Vicki Walch, Executive Director of CoSA at vwalch@statearchivists.org.
A New Online Resource: Shelter from the Stormy Blast
The Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE), the Society of Georgia Archivists, and the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) recently the updated and published online Shelter from the Stormy Blast. This disaster preparedness guide is an essential resource for recovery services, technologies, and products within Georgia and beyond.
Shelter from the Stormy Blast is designed to serve primarily as a compass, helping readers navigate intelligently through the myriad of disaster recovery services and products. While much of the current disaster recovery literature includes extensive lists of vendors, this publication defines recovery technologies to assist readers in making thoughtful decisions and informed choices. It also includes common search terms both from the yellow pages and terms to use on the internet when looking for disaster recovery services and supplies. Shelter from the Stormy Blast is intended for the use of libraries and archives, but records repositories, museums, historical societies, and other agencies will also find resources included with their needs in mind.
Bookmark this helpful online resource at: <http://soga.org/resources/disasterplanning.php>. There is also a link to it on the ARCHE Web site. Because some disasters might involve loss of power or Internet access, the guide should printed out for future reference. The table of contents includes a cover and spine labels for a three-ring binder. SGA volunteers completely updated the guide, originally published in 1998, and plan to review it annually to keep it current.
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