The CLIG Disaster Planning Seminar was designed to provide us with the advice we all needed. The speakers that evening all had first hand experience of coping with disasters and their aftermath. Brendan Casey, director of LIS at City University was present at City University during the fire of May 2001; Deborah Shorley, Librarian at the University of Sussex witnessed the floodwaters break over the campus in 2000 and Ian Heron represented Riley Dunn and Wilson, famous for their conservation work, and specifically for their work in the aftermath of the Norwich Library fire and the Bishopsgate bomb.

Brendan Casey, chair of the M25 Disaster Management Group gave us the background to the group, which had been formed in 1996 as a sub-group of the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries, with the aim of promoting best practice and of sharing resources and expertise. The group had gained recognition for the excellence of the Disaster Control Planning (DCP) site, which has a template, a model plan and a comprehensive list of specialists and suppliers (see http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/M25dcp). This careful planning was unexpectedly put to the test one night in May last year, when fire broke out and destroyed one floor of City, resulting in £10 million of damage to buildings and the infrastructure. They had coped well with the immediate disaster, but City had no business continuity plan in place. One problem they had not predicted was the media attention that was more damaging than the actual fire and the effort that had to be spent propagating the "business as usual" message.

On an upbeat note, it was pointed out that disasters also bring opportunities for change and improvement. At City, after the fire, they had been able to redesign the use of space, in an imaginative way, whereas previously it would have been impossible to persuade academics out of their offices and into open-plan.

"Disasters always happen when you least expect them" was the opening remark of the second speaker, Deborah Casey from Sussex University Library. She explained just how true that was for her, when the Ouse broke its banks in Lewes, five days into her new job as University Librarian. She was prepared for the floodwaters swilling round campus and down the library steps, but not for the deluge which swept into the library bookstore. She showed us the extent of the damage to the 80,000 stored volumes in a video made shortly after the event. The well-ordered shelving had collapsed, leaving great heaps of books, piled up and rapidly growing mould after sitting in foul water. This was then cleared by workers wearing heavy protective clothing and masks, and the books were moved into cold store and frozen. She felt they coped well at the time, but dealing with the aftermath of insurance, loss assessors/adjusters was hard going over the following year. Her invaluable advice was to keep good records and to always make very detailed notes of every conversation and phone call.

Business continuity was also of great concern. The library staff had been determined that the students should not suffer, and had worked had to ensure full access to all course materials. She was confident her staff had been able to deliver "business as usual". Unlike City, media relations and publicity had not been a problem. As flooding was endemic over the county, with people losing their homes, not much media attention was paid to the bookstore. However, the library housed many collections on deposit, and placating the owners of spoilt papers proved to be time-consuming and upsetting. This experience led to a decision not to accept any further collections on deposit.

Shortly after the flood, Deborah had commented "we will restore the knowledge base" - a phrase that was readily pounced on as again, disaster was turned into opportunity. Rather than replace the lost stock, (the British Library and other collections would be accessed as necessary) it was decided that a hybrid library would be developed, to promote e-learning and to that end an e-strategy librarian has recently been appointed.

Ian Heron, of Riley, Dunn and Wilson, showed another video (this was quite a night for disaster movies) of the aftermath of the Norwich fire in 1994, and some of the repair work achieved by their team of conservators. The video also runs through the ideal contents of a "disaster box" of essential suppliers and the elements of a disaster plan. Recommendations were that a plan should contain at least: procedures to follow; who does what; who is the coordinator; equipment and location; suppliers and location; staff contact numbers; primary salvage list and a listing of outside support specialists. (Copies of the video are available on loan from Riley, Dunn and Wilson). The Disaster Recovery Registration scheme, which for a small fee gives firms instant advice and assistance, was mentioned (for details see http://www.rdw.co.uk/disaster_recovery/disaster_index.htm).

So what lessons were there to be learnt? A disaster plan should not stand alone, but be integrated into the business plan of the organisation. Look to your business continuity planning. For law firm libraries, that will entail setting up reciprocal arrangements with similar sized firms; checking licence agreements and break clauses in subscriptions and also checking the disaster recovery procedures of electronic suppliers. Now your plan is ready, remember to keep a copy off site - you don't want it to go up in smoke along with the building!