Digital Disaster Preparedness Tom Clareson Senior Consultant for - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Digital Disaster Preparedness

Tom Clareson Senior Consultant for Digital & Preservation Services LYRASIS PACRN Symposium September 20, 2016

Dealing with Digital Disasters

One Library’s Approach to Superstorm Sandy Recovery

lyrasis.org

After Sandy…

• We learned that many analog/artifactual collections in some

sectors of the cultural and creative communities – particularly arts and art galleries – were devastated by the incursion of waters from Sandy.

• In the library community, through disaster planning and

preparedness and collaborative recovery, some

• rganizations were able to keep their digital collections

safe/back online soon after waters receded.

lyrasis.org

Case Study: Medical Library

• Sandy struck the Library on Oct. 29, 2012, flooding the

basement and lower level of the facility

• Much of physical collection was already in offsite storage

(due to space needs – especially student study space)

• Onsite collection was destroyed, salvaged, refrigerated, or

stored in another off-site location

lyrasis.org

Digital Collections

• Library had begun shutting down servers two days before the

storm made landfall

• Systems were managed remotely by IT staff working offsite
• When the storm hit, e-mail and phone systems went down,

generators were disabled, and even security card readers malfunctioned

lyrasis.org

Disaster Planning and Mitigation

• The Library did not have a formal/ comprehensive written

disaster plan for their digital collections …

• … but they had collaborated with institutional IT staff to

develop “elaborate plans for the handling of outages”

• Even before the storm hit, planning was underway to relocate

important library servers to a remote, safe, and secure data center in New Jersey

lyrasis.org

The Damage Done

• “No humans could get near some of the servers and digital

collections for several months”

• 65-70 computers and printers damaged by the storm were

moved offsite, but even a year later, there was still no place to return them to

• 18-24 months from the time Sandy hit until the physical

library could reopen

• Digital library back in full operation 11 days after Sandy hit

lyrasis.org

Planning for the Future

• The organization became “a total digital library overnight”
• “Given a sufficiently harsh environmental disaster, a digital

library can recover much faster than a physical library can”

• “It’s pretty easy to knock a digital library offline, but with

normal attention it’s back online quickly. If you knock a physical library out, it can take months, or years, to recover, if it recovers at all.”

lyrasis.org

Three Factors for Quick Recovery

• “Have the systems you need as secure and safe as you can

make them”

• “Cultivate an intelligent, dedicated, and creative systems

staff”

• “Stay positive and be ready to communicate and motivate

under dire and stressful circumstances”

Dealing with Digital Disasters: What Your Organization Can Do

Practical Digital Disaster Planning

lyrasis.org

It can’t happen here!

Digital disasters can be caused by:

• Digital failures on your central equipment
• i.e., server crash, hub or router failure,

telecommunications problems, PC crash

• Security breaches, malware, viruses, and other

man-made digital disasters

• In-house problems, i.e. leaks, fires, human errors
• Weather, i.e. hurricanes, severe rain or snow

storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, …

lyrasis.org

Are you digitally dependent?

• Do you store information about your collection in

some type of software?

• Do you track usage of your materials electronically?
• Do you keep your finances “on file”?
• Are you using some type of software products to

create and store your facility’s marketing materials, correspondence, and other “paperwork.”

• What would happen if suddenly all of this were gone
• r compromised?

lyrasis.org

Digital Scenarios

• On-site systems: central equipment and desktop equipment

at your location = you are responsible for planning and preparing for digital disasters

• SaaS (Software as a Service), the Cloud or IT Departments:
• ff-site hosting of servers = you are responsible to know that

your host has a digital preparedness and response plan; still responsible for desktop, network, telecommunications preparedness and response in your facility

lyrasis.org

Inventory

• Library collections = catalog
• Inventory spreadsheets or software for materials not in catalog
• Include: servers, hubs, switches, access points/LAN & WAN, wifi,

hardware, printers, PC’s with monitor/keyboard/mouse, laptops, peripherals: scanners, cameras, barcode scanners, fax machines, typewriters, furniture, copy machine ,phone system equipment

• Information:
• description
• serial number
• location in facility
• date of purchase
• purchase price
• last inventoried
• notes

lyrasis.org

Finances & Insurance

• Know the value of your technology
• Sufficient insurance for hardware, operating system,

and application software

• Emergency funds for expert technology help,

replacement or rental of equipment & software

• Prearranged contracts for supplies, onsite & offsite

assistance, and equipment

lyrasis.org

System Maintenance

• Maintenance reports regularly scheduled, for

example in libraries - indexing, updating, reorganizing data

• Other maintenance routines i.e. cutting,

consolidating, and deleting files

• Monitor space and file sizes
• Reset and shutdown servers routinely
• Install recommended upgrades and patches to
• perating system and application software

lyrasis.org

Back it up!

• Check recommendations of software vendor
• Full backups of everything at least 2-3 times per week;
• Multiple copies: on-site (in a fireproof, locked box stored
• ff the floor); a local off-site copy; a copy kept in another

state or region

• Keep copies of operating software boot disks
• Backup options: tape – poorest but cheapest; CD or

DVD – short life expectancy; disk to disk – even better; in the cloud – off-site solution; additional hard drive – inexpensive and portable, good for a small location

• Test backups and recovery procedures regularly

lyrasis.org

Hardware & Data Security

• Use of RAID & redundancy; store extra equipment
• Firewalls covering all network equipment
• Encrypt data
• Anti-virus software on all PC’s; automatically

updated public computers wiped clean at shutdown

• Central site equipment stored in a secure area away

from windows, areas prone to leaks, & public areas

• Use of vendor-recommended best practices
• Hardware on racks, off the floor

lyrasis.org

Use of UPS

• Uptime needed for proper shutdown
• Appropriate size for equipment attached
• Protection from electrical surges
• in-house, i.e. copy machines, inadequate electric capacity

in building

• External, i.e. weather related, demand problems for utilities
• Use on central site equipment and individual

workstations

lyrasis.org

Support

• Vendor support for hardware, operating systems, application

software

• Staff procedures for emergencies
• Member procedures if a multi-unit consortium, including

support for each other

• Create service agreements with other institutions

http://www.loc.gov/flicc/preservation/Model_MutualAssistanc eCharter.pdf

• Offline options where possible

i.e. library automation = offline circulation

• Help staff to prepare and cope at home so they can return to

support your facility

lyrasis.org

Recovery & Continuity of Service

• Depend on your proactive preparation: backups,

vendor support, staff and colleague knowledge and help

• Use your procedures and PReP (Pocket Response

Plan for Collections) sheet to put people and recovery procedures into action.

• Consortia or regional network assistance:

knowledge, borrowing equipment, space for staff, temporarily providing services to your patrons/clients

lyrasis.org

Final Thoughts on Digital Recovery

• Make sure that digital recovery is part of

your overall disaster recovery plan.

• Remember that your plan is an ongoing

document that needs updating and regular attention.

• Information adapted from: Susan D’Ottavio, Millville Public

Library, NJ

lyrasis.org

Challenge/Discussion

• How can PACRN and individual cultural heritage

institutions expand their disaster plans to include their electronic resources and digital collections?

lyrasis.org

Questions and Feedback?

Contact Information: Tom Clareson Senior Consultant for Digital & Preservation Services 800.233.3401 or 614.439.1796 tom.clareson@lyrasis.org