Records Preservation and Disaster Recovery
For records keepers, there is more to preserving hard copies of important office records than just finding a convenient storage place. Its important to be prepared in case a disaster such as a flood, fire or tornado occurs. Paper or microfilm records can also be seriously damaged by more minor events, or by regular storage conditions which are problematic. Excessive heat, humidity, or exposure to insects or mold can cause great damage over a long period of time. In Ohio, county government offices have had to deal with a variety of problems that threatened their records: in Summit County, burst water pipes soaked several boxes of files. Montgomery County experienced an outbreak of mold which seriously endangered records there. In Stark County, a roof collapsed during a major rainstorm, and a foot of water covered the floor where some Board of Elections records were located. Documents damaged by insects Here in Licking County, records were stored for several decades in the