Disasters keep striking museums, from tornados to floods to fires. We have had calls from a number of museums in the past few months. This issue was developed to help museum staff understand the process of emergency response and recovery.

At NSCC, our trained emergency response team is ready to assist in any capacity if you are affected by the unexpected. For initial response, we have developed the A.R.K.: A Recovery Kit, have handouts and packets of material that can be faxed or mailed and provide 24-hour telephone consultation service. We are available for on-site response to help you recover with the least possible additional damage to your collection.

Also, before disaster strikes, we offer preparedness training workshops, recovery workshops and a number of tools to ease you through disaster plan writing. These include a one-day site visit to identify risks and suggest improvements to minimize them.

As part of our commitment to support collection care activities at all collecting institutions, we continue to offer collection care support materials through our catalog. Included are supplies and publications on a variety of subjects, including disaster recovery. Our expanded catalog now includes the Canadian Conservation Institute's publications and products. CCI Notes cover all aspects of collection care, including emergency preparedness and response.

Please let us know how we can continue to serve you.