BTECH minutes - 12/4/02

[Judith Weeks <jweeks@library.berkeley.edu>]

BERKELEY TECHNICAL SERVICES DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, Dec 4, 2002
9:00am to 11:00am
303 Doe Library

Guests: Susan Wong

ANNOUNCEMENTS

-Mainly Stationary will be closing at the end of December. It is not known 
if it will remain open in the future.

-There will not be a B-Tech meeting in January 03.

 AGENDA

1)Salvage Response Team / Jim Boydstun

The Salvage Response Team is a part of the Preservation Department charged 
with disaster response for the Library's collections.  If your library has 
a water leak that has affected or will affect your books, these are the 
people you call for help with their conservation.  Jim passed out copies of 
the Disaster Emergency Card that were given to all the unit heads in the 
Library at a recent presentation.  If your unit does not have one, please 
contact Jim Boydstun (after checking with your unit head) and he will send 
you one.  These cards should be filled out and placed in a location where 
staff can see them, so if there is a water emergency, you have the numbers 
available to quickly call.    Physical Plant now has a special van called 
the Emergency Flood Response Vehicle that has the tools necessary for water 
clean up, including vacuums, blowers, fans, mops, and dehumidifiers.  Ask 
for it by name, if ever needed; the number is on the card.

Jim stressed that a quick response is essential to preventing greater 
damage to the collection.  Immediately call Physical Plant to report the 
leak, then call the Disaster Response Team.   All libraries should have 
some rolls of plastic sheeting to cover the shelves in a water 
emergency.  If your unit does not have any, please contact Jim and he can 
tell you how to obtain these for your unit.  But, as the safety of all 
personnel is most important, never engage with a water emergency unless you 
can be certain the environment is free of hazards, such as contaminated 
water or electrical shock.  If in doubt, wait until Physical Plant or the 
building manager clears the situation.

Upon their arrival, the Disaster Response Team will assess the damage and 
plan a strategy according to the size of the emergency. Some books can be 
air-dried in the Conservation Lab, but for major emergencies, books may be 
sent for freeze-drying.  The important thing to remember is to call 
Conservation immediately if you have a water disaster with your 
collection.  They will come right over to help you with the situation.


2)Training issues / Susan Wong

Susan Wong attended the meeting to hear our concerns regarding training 
issues.  She said that the training coordinator position that was open has 
not been filled.  She is reviewing the applications, but likely will close 
the position, rewrite the job description to re-post it as a job that will 
more adequately meet our needs.  Susan listened to our concerns regarding 
the lack of job related training for staff as well as our suggestions of 
how they might be improved.  Due to the lack of time to completely discuss 
all the topics, Susan will return to a future meeting to continue our 
discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 11:00am.