Disaster management : the influence of war experience on disaster management in Croatian libraries

Abstract

Cilj je ovoga rada istražiti postojeće stanje i spremnost hrvatskih knjižnica za planiranje i upravljanje zaštitom u slučaju katastrofa. Knjižnične su zbirke danas izložene brojnim prijetnjama pri njihovoj dugoročnoj zaštiti i očuvanju. Neke prijetnje na knjižničnu građu utječu polako, čak i neprimjetno, ali neupitno, dok se druge pojavljuju naglo i neočekivano. Bez obzira na način na koji se prijetnje pojavljuju ili kako utječu na građu, knjižnice se suočavaju s izazovom da uvijek budu spremne sačuvati i zaštititi svoje zbirke. Preduvjet za učinkovitost zaštite knjižničnih zbirki je dobra organizacija i upravljanje dostupnim sredstvima što omogućuje dugoročno planiranje i donošenje odluka koje se temelje na čvrstim dokazima. Važan dio općeg upravljanja zaštitom je upravljanje zaštitom u slučaju katastrofa. Ono obuhvaća sva pitanja upravljanja koja su neophodna za suočavanje s opasnostima koje prijete knjižničnim zgradama, zbirkama, službama i ljudskim životima. Ključno je pitanje koje je motiviralo istraživanje predstavljeno u radu, sljedeće: jesu li knjižnice koje su iskusile posljedice ratne katastrofe unaprijedile svoje upravljanje zaštitom u slučaju katastrofa? Rat je u Hrvatskoj od 1991. do 1995. godine uništio mnoge knjižnice i njihove zbirke. Hrvatska stručna literatura u 1990-ima ukazuje na nepripremljenost osoblja i nedostatak planiranja. Jesu li hrvatske knjižnice, dvadeset godina kasnije, bolje pripremljene?The paper attempts to research the present state and readiness of Croatian libraries to plan and conduct safety activities in case of disaster. Library collections are facing many threats in planning long-term protection and preservation. Some of these threats have a slow but unavoidable impact on library materials, while others come suddenly and unexpectedly. No matter how the threats appear, or how they influence library materials, the libraries should always be ready to safeguard and preserve their collections. Regardless of what measures are taken to preserve collections, good organisation is the most important prerequisite for their efficiency. The key to achieving this goal lies in preservation management that enables long-term planning and argumentative decision-making. One of the aspects of preservation planning is disaster management. Disaster management encompasses all management issues necessary to deal with incidents that threaten library buildings, collections, services, and human lives. The key question that has motivated this work is how the libraries that had already faced the consequences of a disaster altered their preservation management practice. During the 1991-1995 war in Croatia many libraries and their collections were destroyed. The conclusions given in the Croatian professional literature of the 1990s were that the libraries had shown unpreparedness and lack of disaster management. Are Croatian libraries today, twenty years later, better prepared? The aim of this work is to investigate the present state of preservation management and disaster management policies and practices of Croatian libraries