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Hazard assessment: Survey done in order to identify and address circumstances posing actual or potential vulnerability or danger.
Interleaving: placing something, usually paper towels, clean newsprint, or sometimes waxed paper between the pages of a book or between sheets of paper. This is done to help dry the item or to prevent pages from sticking together, or both.
Mold: Fungal growth which can occur on wet materials within 48-72 hours of disaster if conditions are favorable: high heat, high humidity, and low/no air circulation. Very difficult to control or recover from, so mold growth is to be prevented at all costs.
Offsite storage: A site away from the library building where backups of files, documents and other materials are kept as a security measure.
Packing out: Packing and removing wet or otherwise affected materials from the scene of a disaster. In some cases, unaffected but threatened materials may also need to be removed.
Preparedness: Planning and preventive measures taken to reduce the likelihood of damage in the event of a disaster by increasing your readiness to respond to an emergency effectively.
Preventive measures: Activities undertaken in order to minimize damage to collections by eliminating hazards.
Recovery: The phase in which one performs salvage operations and initiates actions to recover damaged materials.
Rehabilitation: The phase in which one performs the post-recovery processing necessary to return recovered materials to the shelves in usable condition.
Response: The phase in which one responds to a disaster by performing an initial assessment of damage and mobilization of resources to recover materials that are threatened or damaged.
Salvage: Rescuing damaged materials.
Vacuum freeze-drying: Drying technique involving use of a vacuum chamber in which wet items are frozen and dried at temperatures below freezing; the items remain frozen until dry and are dried through sublimation, a process in which the ice crystals vaporize without first melting. This is the recovery method of choice for most bound material, but is not recommended for leather or vellum.
Vacuum thermal-drying: Drying technique involving use of heat in a vacuum thermal-drying chamber; items go through successive cycles of freezing and thawing, or are dried at a temperature just above freezing. This will distort bound materials severely and will allow coated paper to fuse, but can be used on unbound papers.
Vital records: Records or documents necessary for the ongoing operation of the library.
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Compiled by C. Tancin, rev. October 1998
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