REALM Project

Crisis management and disaster planning

Cultural heritage institutions in the US, including libraries, archives, and museums,serve and support their communities through innovative and community-focused services, programming, and collections. These institutions have faced and continue to face various difficult situations that range from national health emergencies including COVID-19, disruptive site construction, challenging behavior from patrons/visitors, lack of access to vital resources, weather- and climate-related disasters, and more. Leaders and staff at these institutions identify ways in which their communities are impacted by these situations, through a lack of access to crucial resources, insufficient health care, unemployment, substance abuse concerns, and more. As a result, these institutions have developed and refined processes designed to address a crisis or disaster, with the goal of protecting themselves and their collections, while continuing to meet community needs and priorities.

A series of interviews and site visits with cultural heritage institutions of different sizes, types, and locales around the United States has yielded illustrative stories that present insights into the approaches to crisis management and prevention. Themes of collaboration, proactivity, wellness, flexibility, empathy, tenacity, and curiosity illustrate how these institutions remain nimble and responsive to the needs and priorities of their communities no matter what crisis may arise. Each story includes with a few recommendations that similar institutions can use to develop, implement, and refine their own processes and procedures in the face of the crises and disasters they face in their own region.

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (PA)
Eccles Health Sciences Library (UT)
Northeast Document Conservation Center (New England)
Northwest Indian College Lummi Library (WA)
North Slope Borough Libraries (AK)
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
Pottsboro Area Library (TX)