Transcript Document

The University of
Kentucky
Administration Building
Fire Records Recovery,
Almost a Year Later
Presented by
Whitney Baker and Tom Rosko
University of Kentucky Libraries
Kentucky Council on Archives
2002 Spring Meeting
[Photo by Steve Stahlman]
[Photo by Steve Stahlman]
Fire crews work to put out the blaze.
[Photo by Steve Stahlman]
View from the back of the building showing fully engulfed 2nd and 3rd floors.
[Photo by Steve Stahlman]
View looking down from 18th Floor Patterson Office Tower.
Bystanders gather
in the plaza of the
Patterson Office
Tower as the flames
pour out of the
Administration
Building.
[Photo by Steve Stahlman]
Initial Concerns - Assessment Priorities
• Health and safety of humans (always comes
first)
• Building/Structure
– Structural stability
– Fire flare-ups
• Contents/Collections
Initial Concerns - Management
• Time (48 hr. window before mold growth)
• Organization (Who would do what?)
• Communication/Coordination
• Would we have Central Administration’s/
Capital Projects’ cooperation? YES
Conservation Librarian Whitney Baker and UK Records Program Director Tom Rosko
review preparations for entering the building.
University Archivist Terry Birdwhistell, President’s Assistant Peggy Way, Munters Moisture Control Representative Jim
Brown, Deputy Legal Counsel Paul VanBooven, and Custodian Fred Wells view President Wethington’s office.
View of Office of the President.
Plastic sheeting had been thrown over
furnishings shortly after fire had been
controlled.
View of Ground floor office.
*Note the high water marks denoted by
the white lines on the desk and the
wall.
Records Recovery (“Packout”) Procedures
• One representative from each office entered
building with member of Munters crew and/or
UARP staff for 30 minutes, four teams in building
at one time
• Appraisal decisions based on what records were
not in existence elsewhere on campus (other
copies, on computer servers, etc.)
• Decisions made at the file cabinet-level as to what
to take
• Published materials and non-annotated bound
volumes left behind (not one of a kind)
Ground floor office. To save time, file cabinet drawers were removed and placed in the
truck for shipment to the drying center, rather than the contents being re-boxed.
1st floor, Vice Chancellor’s Office. Boxed records ready for transport onto truck.
Records recovery efforts are halted as firefighters dose a flare-up.
Supervision of transfer and loading of records onto refrigerated truck. Tom Rosko talks
with Munters Rep. Bob Vanchure as Archives Assistant Matt Harris reviews records.
Boxed records on ground floor awaiting transfer to refrigerated truck.
Salvage Options for Collection Materials
in a Large Disaster
• Desiccant drying
• Freeze drying
• Vacuum freeze drying
• Thermal freeze drying
[Photos courtesy of www.munters.com]
Munters Moisture Control’s Procedures
• Records packed up and placed on refrigerated
truck
• Records transported to drying center in Chicago
• Records Desiccant-dried (Average 2 week
turnaround)
• Books Vacuum Freeze-dried (Average 6 week
turnaround)
• Re-boxed records and books placed in climate
controlled storage area
• Records transported back to UK via refrigerated
truck
3 Weeks Later
The Ground & 1st Floors
• Mold growth (Hanging Gardens of Mold)
• Opportunity for office staff to collect
personal items and any records missed
• Fumigation temporarily beat back mold
• More records retrieved and moved to Buell
Armory
• Met w/ Central Administration Staff and
reviewed procedures and concerns
1st floor, Office of the President. Multi-colored mold growth in corner.
Ground floor office. Mold growth on walls, water collected in ceiling tiles.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Ground floor, Office of Equal Opportunity
Ground Floor Office. Office staff sifts through undelivered campus mail. Note the clock
which tells the time the power shut off, shortly after the fire began.
3 Weeks Later
2nd and 3rd Floors
• First access to 2nd and 3rd floors
• Various states of destruction
• Reviewed salvage process w/ office staff,
similar to initial process
• Salvageable material removed to Buell
Armory
View through the roof.
View of former 2nd floor office.
2nd floor Office of Vice President for University Relations.
2nd floor Office of Vice President for University Relations
2nd floor hall. Filing cabinet
seemingly unscathed by fire.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
View from inside Buell Armory. Includes salvaged furnishings as well
as records removed from 2nd & 3rd floors.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Records Recovery Center, ca. 1000 cu.ft. of Libraries’ excess shelving installed.
Records being removed from
refrigerated truck and moved into
Records Recovery Center.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Movers moving returned records into
Records Recovery Center.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Returned records organized on
shelving in Records Recovery Center.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Records Review
-Reviewed records retention procedures
with Office staff
-Use of State University Model Records
Retention Schedule
-Appraisal of records
-Photocopying permanent records
-Disposing of originals
-Investigating reformatting (including
digitization)
-Records review continuing…
Office staff reviewing their records in
the Records Recovery Center.
[Photo by Tom Teper]
[Photo by Tom Teper]
Disposal of materials subject to destruction.
Special Issues/Complicating Factors
• Dealing w/ President’s records as end of term of
office approaching (President wanted/needed
records back)
• Electronic information handled separately by
Information Systems Office
• Time/Space needs
– ROTC needed their armory back
– Landlord wanted to sell records recovery center
• Assumed all records compromised, since missed
48 hr. “mold growth” window
Special Issues/Complicating Factors
• Changeover in Administration
– Re-education of responsibilities, hazards
– Shift in personnel
• Move of materials to new warehouse
• Digital Imaging project -> putting off review of
records
Conclusion/Lessons Learned
• Preservation concerns “hammered home”
– Dangers of Mold (to paper and to humans)
• Importance of proper planning
• Need for communication of university-wide
disaster plan so that everyone aware of what to do
if this happened to their office
• Importance of Central Administration’s
cooperation
– Assumed insurance coverage would cover costs
Allowed Us to Do the Right Thing
– Deputy Legal Counsel “on board” from the beginning
Conclusion/Lessons Learned
• “Luck” of having the disaster happen to the
bosses’ offices (whatever we needed we got and
shock felt all down the administrative ladder)
• Using disaster as “tool” for
communication/promotion of the Records
Management and Disaster Preparedness
(A WORK IN PROGRESS…)
Photographs by Steve Stahlman, Tom Teper
and Tom Rosko.
Photographs courtesy of University of
Kentucky, University Archives and Records
Program, General Print File
For further information contact:
Tom Rosko
University of Kentucky Libraries
University Archives and Records Program
859-257-9611 ~ [email protected]
or
Whitney Baker
University of Kentucky Libraries
Preservation Department
859-257-0500, ext. 2028 ~ [email protected]