Disaster Response Workshop and Equipment Purchase

FAIN: PG-258435-18

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201)
Mary Leverance (Project Director: May 2017 to March 2021)

A disaster response and recovery workshop conducted by a preservation specialist, as well as the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment for the Mullins Library, which houses the university’s special collections of manuscripts, rare books, and photographs. Items cover a range of topics, but focus on Arkansas history—from the papers of Governors Orval Faubus and David Pryor to the models, drawings, and photographs of prominent architects Fay Jones and Edward Durell Stone. The special collections unit fields 4,000 research requests annually from historians and students. In an area susceptible to flooding, tornadoes, and high thunderstorm winds, the workshop would provide library staff with the hands-on training they need to handle wet materials and employ best practices for salvaging collections.

The Libraries at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, house collections in Mullins Library, Special Collections, and the Fine Arts Library that are the focus of the project. These collections provide students, faculty, researchers, and the public with material covering a broad range of humanities subjects. Prominent collections include Arkansas and Ozarks history, the J. William Fulbright manuscripts, political manuscripts, rare books, architectural drawings, maps, and photographs. The grant will support a disaster response and recovery workshop conducted by a consultant, and the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment for use in the Libraries. The workshop will simulate an emergency to prepare participants to respond appropriately to an actual emergency; the Libraries will develop and implement an emergency response plan and policies. Monitoring equipment will provide baseline environmental measurements, and will ensure staff maintain proper collection conditions.