n.an advocacy effort of the Society of American Archivists to promote disaster preparedness, recognized annually on May 1Beaumont 2006, 561MOTION ¶ THAT the Society of American Archivists initiate a new project, designated “Mayday,” that encourages all archives and records professionals to take time once a year – on May 1 – to do three things to help ensure that they are prepared to respond to a disaster affecting their collections: 1) update contact lists with up-to-date phone numbers and email addresses; 2) conduct a drill so that staff members have experience in responding to a fire, earthquake, flood, or other disaster; and 3) survey physical facilities, supplies, and collection conditions to identify problems that must be addressed in the coming year.Buchanan et al. 2017, 292, fn. 4Other SAA advocacy resources (if not yet standards) include online toolkits for MayDay, American Archives Month, and those produced by at least three Sections: Reference, Access, and Outreach; Business Archives; and Public Library Archives/Special Collections.Harvey and Mahard 2020, 59Many institutions trigger their review [of the disaster plan] either on the new year the new fiscal year, or on May Day (May 1). May Day is a disaster preparedness advocacy effort begun jointly by Heritage Preservation and the Society of American Archivists and encourages institutions to “Do one thing for emergency preparedness” on that day.
