Now Available in Arabic: Guidelines for Writing a Disaster Preparedness Plan

2 December 2024

Photo: CSMC

The open-access volume of our ‘Written Artefacts as Cultural Heritage’ series that supports small museums in writing a suitable disaster preparedness plan is now also available in Arabic translation.

When a disaster hits a museum, it is vital that its members of staff don’t have to think twice about how to respond. A well-written, useful Disaster Preparedness Plan is therefore a vital part of good museum management. In 2000, the Australian Heritage Collections Council published an informative and succinct resource that is still being widely used today. It assists museums in writing their own disaster preparedness plan. It is specifically written for those museums that have few (or none) trained or paid staff, and no conservators. Its aim is to enable any museum to be well prepared for disasters of any size and producing their own plan. The outcome should be a staff that is more informed about disasters, their consequences and how best to deal with them.

By translating this valuable resource into languages other than English, we wish to support a wider range of caretakers in archives, libraries, and museums around the world in preparing for cases of emergency and preserving their (written) heritage collections. Following a French and Spanish edition, we have recently published an Arabic translation of ‘Be Prepared: Guidelines for Small Museums for Writing a Disaster Preparedness Plan’ as part of our Written Artefacts as Cultural Heritage series. The volume is accessible open access on our website.

Established in 2020, Written Artefacts as Cultural Heritage is dedicated to the double role of written artefacts as representations and generators of humankind’s cultural heritage. Its thematic scope embraces aspects of preservation, the identity-defining role of artefacts, and ethical questions.