ABSTRACT
The word ‘disaster’ is a dramatic term; it conjures up catastrophic, unexpected events - often acts of God - which wreak havoc and cause enormous damage. Within a library and information service (LIS), the most likely disasters are fire or flood, but those caused by wind, earthquakes and other natural phenomena can also happen. Acts of sabotage or terrorism may occur which can destroy, or seriously disrupt, the LIS. But disasters, or more accurately accidents, also happen on a smaller scale: burst pipes; leaking roofs; vandalism; other events which cause damage to parts of the collections in library and information services. And with more and more information being held in an electronic format, computer disasters, whether caused by system failure or unauthorized access and hacking into files, are likely to become more common. Disasters, by their very nature, are impossible in all instances to prevent, but they can be prepared for; such preparation may not in itself minimize damage and loss, but it can make reaction more efficient and recovery easier.
