摘要：Living without air conditioning is the normal state for many collections, but when building design takes air conditioning for granted and the system fails, a disaster management approach may be required to minimise the impact on the collections. The National Library has been struggling with just such a non-urgent "disaster": the discovery of asbestos fibres in the air conditioning ductwork caused the system to be shut down for most of 1995, a situation complicated by rapidly evolving OH&S, industrial and resource issues, all with preservation implications.The paper looks at some areas of concern, how they were managed and some of the lessons learned including the value of assessing what needs to be done and what is achievable, and the conflicting demands on senior staff with a range of responsibilities - lessons that can be usefully re-applied to disaster planning.Two tools were of great importance. Although incomplete, the principles written into the Library's revised disaster plan did give staff the confidence to manage the disaster realistically, rather than as a series of stock responses that might be found in a more generic counter-emergency manual. A revised list of nationally significant materials also provided the necessary framework for making decisions when tough choices had to be made about moving and protecting highly vulnerable material.
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