Enhancing Institutional Resilience: A Strategic Study of Disaster Preparedness Practices in University Libraries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Peshawar

Abstract

Disaster planning would form a fundamental aspect in the protection of intellectual capital and cultural heritage contained in academic libraries settings, especially where there are environmental instabilities and the weaknesses of infrastructural systems. This qualitative study is a critically important empirical research into the existing situation of disaster preparedness in the libraries of the universities of the public sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Using a well-defined quantitative research study, data was solicited through the use of standardized questionnaires to be used on a number of 30 chief librarians as the type of representative of the 30 public universities hence facilitating an overall evaluation of the institutional capacity, awareness, and strategic disposition towards disaster risk management. The results outline a rather sharp gap between theoretical cognition of possible catastrophes and practical adoption of actual preparedness expedients. Even though the majority of respondents portrayed an awareness of the possible threats to the institutions, including the seismic activity, the flood, the fire breakdown, and the technological failure, the preparedness of those libraries is considerably low. Most of the institutions lack disaster management structures that are codified or have any continuity of operations structures, and the protective resources, such as fire suppression systems, emergency exits, environmental sensors, and bulletproof digital stores, are outdated, poorly maintained, or non-existent. Moreover, there is a significant neglect of capacity-building programs including training of the staff, conduct of emergency exercises, and work on risk assessment with other institutions, which can be described as institutional inertia. According to the study, a cluster of factors hinder effective preparedness against disasters including structural under-investment, policy non-standardization, minimal institutional priorities and scanty individuals with specialized expertise in the field of disaster risk reduction. Such shortages make the university libraries of KP far too prone to get paralyzed in their operations and lose all the data they store irreversibly whenever they meet emergency situations. In its turn, this study proposes adoption of multidimensional strategic approach that includes developing disaster management policies on an institution-wide level, continuous budgetary investments in the development of its infrastructure and capacity, the integration of the processes of disaster management into the planning curricula of professional development, and the creation of specialized disaster response and recovery units into the university governance framework. The study aims to inform the policy-making process and contribute to developing a positive institutional culture of anticipation, based on resilience and sustainability, and long-term survival of scholarly services, and was able to do so by highlighting the above-mentioned critical gaps, and formulating recommendations within the local context.