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COSTEP:

Coord inated Sta tewide Emergenc y Prep ared ness for Cultura l Resources

12th US/ ICO MOS Inte rnat iona l aSymposium

New Orleans, LA, March 14, 2009

by

Aime Primeaux

Good morning, my name is Aime Primeaux and I'm the project coordinator for COSTEP, a grant-

funded project led by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, MA. I'mhere today to tell you about COSTEP because we believe that it is a flexible model that can be adopted

in any state in the U.S., or indeed country in the world. COSTEP (Coordinated Statewide Emergency

Preparedness for Cultural Resources) is a framework designed to help agencies such as State Libraries,Archives, and Museums, work with emergency managers to prepare for area-wide disasters in their

regions.

First a little background. NEDCC is a non-profit regional conservation center specializing in the

preservation of paper-based materials. In addition to a conservation lab, our Field Service Office offers

technical assistance, workshops, surveys, and a 24/7 disaster assistance hotline. In 2005, after

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast we noticed that the State Archives and StateLibrary agencies played major roles in helping coordinate recovery at the local level. Yet, coordination

between the agencies, and with MEMA, was difficult in the midst of recovery. As usual, the lesson

learned was that there needed to be better communication both before and after the disaster. We alsosaw this kind of state-level coordination during the flooding in Iowa this past summer, during which the

State Historical Society helped coordinate communication and response. Although the focus in the

COSTEP framework tends to be on collections (because of the nature of the grant-funding agency andNEDCC), historic property of all kinds are also included: buildings, monuments, sculpture, landscapes,

etc.

In 2006, NEDCC, in partnership with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the State

Archives of Massachusetts, was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to create a

model for a statewide disaster plan for essential records and cultural resources. It quickly became

evident that it was impossible to create a model plan that all fifty states could use. Each state is sovastly different from the next, and no one template will work for all of them. So, a framework, one

which can be adapted to suit each state's needs, seemed more appropriate. We also realized that we

needed to widen the scope to include museums and historic properties. Over the course of the last threeyears we have developed a framework and have tested it in states with vastly different organizational

structures. Although the framework is still in development, we are currently editing the final document

and expect to post it online, both as a .pdf and a website by the end of summer 2009. COSTEP will befree of charge, and freely adaptable for non-commercial purposes.

Since we have a limited amount of time together today, I'm going to focus on explaining just what

COSTEP is, how it works, and who should be involved. I will also provide some examples from ourpilot states, and explain how COSTEP works with other initiatives which focus on cultural resources.

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First, What is COSTEP?

COSTEP is a framework, but that's such a vague word...I like to call it an action plan. Because

basically it tells you what to do to get a group of professionals together to prepare for a disaster in your

state that might affect cultural resources. It helps you bring together cultural institutions and emergencymanagement personnel, and organize state-level emergency preparedness and response for cultural

resources. COSTEP recognizes that standard emergency management systems are already in place onthe local, tribal, state, and federal levels, and that cultural resource institutions must work through thisstructure to receive assistance and resources. As we all know, establishing relationships and planning

before a disaster strikes saves everyone time, money, and stress in the long-run. It is essential to work

with emergency managers and utilize the tools already in place for hazard mitigation and risk analysis

(why reinvent the wheel?). Throughout the framework we offer resources such as: suggested outcomes,suggested participants, possible objectives, first steps, and discussion topics. We will also provide a

starter kit for people interested in starting COSTEP in their state, along with a slideshow template

that can be used as you recruit team members.

We understand that the work of coordinating statewide response is daunting, but the good thing is that a

COSTEP program can be built in stages, and worked around busy schedules. No one expects statewidepreparedness to happen over night. It will take time, and should be viewed as a process that will

continue over time, rather than a project that begins and ends. Ideally, the COSTEP process will

produce mitigation and response plans that can be integrated into existing state and local emergencyplans and updated over time. The effort should be organized by a team of professionals from across the

cultural and emergency management communities. We envision leadership coming from the State

Library/Museum/Archives agencies (although it is really up to each state to decide who will take the

lead). They will then assemble a team which might includ emergency managers, historic preservationofficers, FEMA representatives, local libraries, archives, musuems or historic homes, private or

academic institutions, historic sites.

COSTEPs Primary Goals

Build relationships between emergency managers and culturalresource institutions at the state, regional, and local levels.

Educate cultural resource institutions about standard emergencymanagement systems, and educate emergency managers about thediversity and needs of cultural collections.

Develop procedures to facilitate emergency response andrecovery for cultural resources in the event of a state, regional, or localdisaster, and incorporate them into existing state emergency response

plans.

Conduct risk mitigation activities to reduce the effect of disasterson cultural resource collections statewide, and incorporate them intoexisting state mitigation plans.

Enable better coordination between neighboring states in disasters2

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that cross state lines, or when help might arrive more quickly from across

state lines

To help you along the way weve organized COSTEP around five components:

Getting Started Getting started is sometimes the hardest part. This component explains whoshould be included, how to identify existing resources, and set initial goals.

Building Key Relationships Establishing relationships with key personnel in your state is oneof the most important steps. This component encourages discussion and interaction, focusing on

raising awareness of similarities and differences among agencies/institutions, and on building

relationships.

Mitigating Risks Emergency management agencies conduct risk assessments within eachstate. This component considers existing risk assessments; component hazards are identified,

risks are analyzed, and strategies are determined for mitigating those risks statewide.

Preparing for Response Focusing on preparation for the response and recovery phases of anemergency, this section is at the heart of the project. A timely and organized response will

ensure human safety as well as proper salvage of collections.

Sustaining the Process This section includes training, and other ways to sustain the processover time.For each component, we offer: Objectives, First Steps, Topics for Discussion, and Resources. The

COSTEP team is also asked to come up with a list of Outcomes and Products for various stages of the

process: essential, enhanced and excellent. So, in the beginning, you will work toward only the mostessential goals for each component. For example, a list of Essential outcomes for the Key

Relationships component might be:

Written list of participants Revised mission statement for the COSTEP initiative, approved by the participants. Date(s) for additional meetings of this group.

While the Enhanced outcomes might include:

Detailed, written plan for proceeding with statewide emergency planning for cultural resources(e.g., prioritized issues to address, committee structure for the planning effort, future meeting

schedule, and participants for future meetings).

Website or wiki to communicate information about the activities of the emergency planninggroup to individual institutions/organizations within the state.

Case studies, tabletop exercises, a glossary, and sample agendas are also included, as well as an initial

assessment, which can help the steering committee determine how to begin the process. COSTEP is

not a fill-in-the-blank template, but instead an action plan designed to help you set up a system that

will work in your state.

In Massachusetts we have seen the group progress by leaps and bounds. Although there was a historyof emergency preparedness for cultural resources, the COSTEP Massachusetts meetings have given

representatives from federal, state, and local levels in both the cultural and emergency management

communities the opportunity to get to know one another. MEMA(Mass. Emergency ManagementAgency) has sent representatives to every meeting and is currently helping to create a form for public

libraries to give to their Emergency Management Director, so that information on their building and

collections might be entered into their municipality's CEMP (Comprehensive Emergency Management

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Plan). They are working with MEMA to establish a 19th ESF (Emergency Support Function)

specifically for cultural resources, and have already incorporated cultural resources into the state'shazard mitigation plan. Our other pilot state, New Mexico, has been slower to progress, but they have

identified a leadership team, and thanks to a system that is more centralized than Massachusetts, all

museums, libraries, and monuments in the state will be included in the decisions that are made.Unfortunately they have had a great deal of turnover in their state emergency management agency,

which has made organization difficult. They continue to meet, and slowly work toward their goals.

COSTEP works with existing disaster preparedness initiatives.

The cultural community is fortunate that Heritage Preservation formed its Heritage EmergencyNational Task Force, which hosts conference calls and posts information on its website

following a disaster. It's Alliance for Response forums could be developed as a way to sustainthe preparedness created with COSTEP.

The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) created an Emergency Preparedness Initiative, and aproject called IPER (Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records), both of which aim

to better prepare State Archives for disasters in their states. COSTEP can serve as the platformto help facilitate work on these projects.

AIC-CERT, a program by the American Institute for Conservation which provides assistancefrom trained professionals, is a resource that a COSTEP team can list in their plan. They may

also want to form their own version of a rapid response team in their state. I have brochures

on AIC-CERT and Heritage Preservation for anyone interested.

We will go live with the COSTEP website this summer. As I said before, it is a framework that is

designed to be adapted and used as you see fit. It is free of charge and can work in any state in the U.S.,

or with a little more adaptation, country in the world. During development we created a wiki that youare free to visit, although just a warning: the most current draft of the framework hasn't been mounted

yet. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions.