The National Library of the Czech Republik and the Floods of 2002

Abstract

About fifty Czech libraries were inundated by floods in August 2002, more than 600,000 volumes were soaked and consequently 150,000 of them had to be frozen. A huge amount of archival material was affected and frozen as well. A strategy for their treatment has been accepted, based upon assessment of their cultural and research value. Advisory, coordination, and executive centres for paper materials damaged were established at the National Library and the State Central Archive, as well as central coordination centres at the governmental level. Effective aid came from abroad: advisory expert visits, material and financial aid, grants awarded to enable research and the testing process, books to replace those damaged by water. Financial support by the Government enabled the realization of the main goals of the Programme of repairs and preventive measures in cultural institutions. Various methods have been applied for repairing the documents affected. From the numerous potential drying technologies tested, mainly vacuum-packing and warm air drying have been applied and a great part of the material frozen has been already processed. Historical documents affected require restoration. Of protective methods, a protective boxes programme has been launched, and protective reformatting, namely micrographic technology, has been undertaken. New experience born from the process of recovery after the floods should be taken into account, either for special methods of treatment of library materials damaged, or for architectural, organizational and technical measures necessary for prevention. Heritage institutions should not underestimate disaster planning and cooperation within a common rescue system.