IMLS Funds Program to Help Museums Build Emergency Plans
Heritage Preservation’s newest initiative, the Risk Evaluation and Planning Program (REPP), will be launched with a pilot phase made possible by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. REPP aims to help small and mid-sized museums and historical societies that often lack the expertise and resources to develop disaster plans and train their staff to respond effectively.
The Heritage Health Index, the first national survey of U.S. collecting institutions, found that “80 percent of U.S. collecting institutions do not have a written emergency/disaster plan that includes collections with staff trained to carry it out.” Further analysis reveals that 78 percent of museums and 92 percent of historical societies do not have an emergency plan that includes collections with appropriately trained staff.
REPP is a natural outgrowth of Heritage Preservation’s work with small museums and emergency response issues. It will be closely modeled on the successful Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) and will also draw upon the expertise Heritage Preservation has developed as sponsor of the national Alliance for Response initiative. Teams of two professionals, a conservation expert and an emergency preparedness official, will visit 15 selected museums in Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi to assess their exposure to risks, make recommendations for cost-effective mitigation measures, and help the museums create or improve emergency plans. Including an emergency professional in the two-day site visit will help museums establish critical relationships with local first responders.
After the site visit, the REPP team will write a report with practical, cost-effective recommendations to reduce risks to the institution’s collections and provide a list of resources for planning, training, and funding. Each museum will be required to create or improve an emergency plan based on what was learned in the process.
The goal of the program is to increase preparedness among the pilot institutions and discover what methods provide the best incentives to prepare for emergencies. In the same way that CAP often serves as an introduction to collections care resources and funding, Heritage Preservation hopes that REPP will guide small and mid-sized institutions to begin making effective disaster plans. Millions of objects that represent our national heritage are held by these institutions; often they are irreplaceable. Protecting them from emergencies of all kinds—whether a Category 5 hurricane, a burst water pipe, or a wildfire—is basic to preserving them for future generations.