Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service, 2011 - 2012 (WESTPAS)

FAIN: PE-50057-11

Peninsula Library System (San Mateo, CA 94403-2273)
Linda Crowe (Project Director: July 2010 to April 2014)

Thirty-one workshops on disaster preparedness, emergency response, and risk management that would result in disaster plans for libraries and archives in eleven western states and three Pacific territories.

The libraries and archives of the West and Pacific are keepers of local history. They complement the holdings of major research collections and provide residents with a strong sense of community. The West and Pacific are disaster-prone with many potential hazards to collections (e.g., volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis). These collections are further at risk due to isolation by large geographic distances. The Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) was created in 2007 as a partnership of 14 Western and Pacific states and territories. It’s the major preservation-information, education, and training service for libraries and archives in the West and Pacific. This two-year project will deliver 31 workshops on writing and testing plans for disaster response and collection salvage to libraries and archives that have yet to participate in WESTPAS training. It will also maintain the WESTPAS preservation information service available via web, phone and email.