COSTEP:

Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness for Cultural Resources

12th US/ICOMOS International aSymposium

New Orleans, LA, March 14, 2009

by
Aimée Primeaux

Good morning, my name is Aimée 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'm
here 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 State
Library 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 also
saw 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 and
NEDCC), 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 so
vastly 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 three
years 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 be
free 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 our
pilot 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 emergency
management personnel, and organize state-level emergency preparedness and response for cultural
resources. COSTEP recognizes that standard emergency management systems are already in place on
the local, tribal, state, and federal levels, and that cultural resource institutions must work through this
structure 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 statewide
preparedness 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 emergency
plans 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 preservation
officers, FEMA representatives, local libraries, archives, musuems or historic homes, private or
academic institutions, historic sites.

COSTEP’s Primary Goals

• Build relationships between emergency managers and cultural

resource institutions at the state, regional, and local levels.

• Educate cultural resource institutions about standard emergency

management systems, and educate emergency managers about the
diversity and needs of cultural collections.

• Develop procedures to facilitate emergency response and

recovery for cultural resources in the event of a state, regional, or local
disaster, and incorporate them into existing state emergency response
plans.

• Conduct risk mitigation activities to reduce the effect of disasters

on cultural resource collections statewide, and incorporate them into
existing state mitigation plans.

• Enable better coordination between neighboring states in disasters

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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 we’ve organized COSTEP around five components:

• Getting Started – Getting started is sometimes the hardest part. This component explains who
should be included, how to identify existing resources, and set initial goals.
• Building Key Relationships – Establishing relationships with key personnel in your state is one
of 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 each
state. 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 an
emergency, 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 process
over 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 most
“essential” 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 planning
group 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 history
of 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 Management
Agency) 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's
hazard 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 Emergency
National 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 sustain
the preparedness created with COSTEP.
• The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) created an Emergency Preparedness Initiative, and a
project 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 platform
to help facilitate work on these projects.
• AIC-CERT, a program by the American Institute for Conservation which provides assistance
from 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 you
are 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.