ABSTRACT
This chapter presents case studies on disasters occurring in museums, libraries, and archives in Great Britain. While safeguarding a collection during wartime is an extreme situation, it helpful to learn about wartime contingencies when developing an action plan to guard a collection from terrorist attack or localized warfare. A museum board and curators are placed in a difficult situation if they house collections in a facility that is clearly not up to proper building standards. Curators and governing boards need to be aware of the value of paying for insurance for their facilities and infrastructure. Hiring specialized workers for some of the restoration work will be expensive, and the museum will need to raise funds to pay for those services. There are risks associated with maintaining a museum in a hurricane zone. Head curators and public administrators will need to aware of the potential for employee misconduct and redouble security measures during tumultuous times.
