ABSTRACT

This study explores the necessity of developing disaster risk reduction plans and increasing the level of preparedness for disasters for academic libraries in Sri Lanka. It examines some of the different types of disasters; natural, man-made, and hybrid, which can occur in university libraries. Informants were the librarians of all 15 Sri Lankan state universities. The methodology is mixed-method with data gathered through questionnaires and interviews. In this study, the researcher considered the likelihood of occurrence of various types of disaster and their potential impact on university libraries. The results reveal that fire is the most expected disaster. Results highlight the importance of disaster risk reduction plans for university libraries and emphasise that every library should adopt a plan to safeguard its legacy. This study was conducted in 2019, thus infectious diseases were identified as an ‘unlikely to occur’ disaster category. However, events of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, indicate a need for librarians to also rethink providing continuous library services during disasters such as pandemics.

摘要

本研究探讨了制定减少灾害风险计划和提高斯里兰卡学术图书馆备灾水平的必要性。它研究了一些不同类型的灾害；自然的、人造的和混合的，这可能发生在大学图书馆中。线人是斯里兰卡所有 15 所国立大学的图书馆员。该方法是通过问卷和访谈收集数据的混合方法。在这项研究中，研究人员考虑了各种类型灾难发生的可能性及其对大学图书馆的潜在影响。结果表明，火灾是最受期待的灾害。结果强调了减少灾害风险计划对大学图书馆的重要性，并强调每个图书馆都应采取保护其遗产的计划。这项研究是在 2019 年进行的，因此传染病被确定为“不太可能发生”的灾害类别。然而，2020 年的事件和 COVID-19 大流行表明，图书馆员也需要重新考虑在大流行等灾难期间提供持续的图书馆服务。