Doc #168 — Recovery Library Master Index and User Guide

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Economic Justification

Person-years to maintain the Recovery Library

The Recovery Library requires ongoing human effort across four roles: editorial staff who correct, update, and extend documents; print operators who produce and distribute physical copies; distributors and logistics coordinators who ensure copies reach the 500–1,000 target sites nationwide; and librarians who manage, catalogue, and provide access at those sites.

Estimated steady-state burden:¹

• Editorial and revision: 3–6 full-time equivalents (FTEs) during Phase 1 when corrections are frequent; 1–2 FTEs in Phase 2–3 once the Library stabilises. Cumulative: approximately 10–20 person-years over the first decade.
• Print operations: The initial print run to produce 500–1,000 complete sets (25,000–35,000 pages each) requires approximately 12–20 person-years of printer operator time at NZ commercial printing rates, using existing toner stocks and equipment before they deplete. Subsequent print-on-demand and manual printing scales with the workforce available under Doc #31 (Manual Printing Methods).
• Distribution: Coordinating physical delivery to 1,000+ sites across NZ’s road network, including rural marae, hospitals, farms, and schools. Estimated 5–10 FTEs over the first year, leveraging existing postal and freight networks while fuel stocks allow, transitioning to regional distribution nodes in Phase 2.
• Librarians: Approximately 300 public library facilities already employ trained librarians. No additional staffing is required for the Library’s primary custodial network. Marae-based collections will be managed by existing kaitiaki (knowledge keepers) where possible. Specialist Recovery Library coordination at regional level: estimated 1 FTE per region (16 regions) = 16 FTEs ongoing.²

Total estimated ongoing cost: 30–50 person-years per year at steady state, declining as the Library stabilises and print operations shift to manual methods.

Organised knowledge versus ad hoc information

The counterfactual to this Library is not “everyone knows what to do” — it is “everyone improvises from whatever partial information they can find.” The cost of that counterfactual is borne in:

• Repeated errors from ignorance. Without a structured reference on pharmaceutical shelf-life extension (Doc #116), medical practitioners across NZ will independently reach wrong conclusions about which drugs to discard — discarding effective medications prematurely or retaining degraded ones dangerously. The error is replicated hundreds of times. One document prevents it everywhere simultaneously.
• Duplicated research effort. Without a single reference on tire retreading and solid rubber substitution (Doc #33), every regional transport coordinator independently investigates the same question. The Library converts many parallel research efforts into one well-researched document read by many.
• Missed dependency chains. The most costly errors in recovery planning are not technical mistakes within a domain — they are failures to recognise cross-domain dependencies. A workshop that begins battery production without securing sulfuric acid supply (Doc #113) wastes months of effort. The Library’s cross-reference structure exists specifically to prevent this category of error.
• Communication failures. In an environment where every piece of paper counts and printing capacity is constrained, uncoordinated local guides produced by separate agencies waste printing resources, create conflicting guidance, and overload decision-makers with non-comparable information formats.

Breakeven analysis

The breakeven for the Recovery Library’s editorial and print investment occurs rapidly, because the errors it prevents are not marginal — they are foundational.

Consider a single error prevented: a fuel allocation plan that does not account for NZ’s realistic diesel stock levels might conclude that fuel restrictions can be delayed by two weeks. At NZ’s pre-event total diesel consumption of approximately 10–13 million litres per day, a two-week delay in rationing exhausts roughly 140–180 million litres of irreplaceable stock — enough to run the agricultural fleet, at managed agricultural rationing rates of 1.5–2.5 million litres per day, for more than a year.³ Preventing that single error justifies the entire editorial investment in Doc #53.

The same analysis applies to pharmaceutical disposal errors, agricultural decisions made without nuclear winter data, or engineering projects begun without checking precursor availability. The Library’s value is in avoiding errors at scale, simultaneously, across approximately 5.2 million people and a government managing thousands of concurrent decisions.

Breakeven for the full Library cost — estimated at 30–50 person-years per year — occurs the moment it prevents errors equivalent in value to those person-years. Given that a single incorrect fuel allocation decision could waste 140–180 million litres of diesel, the breakeven is measured in days or weeks, not years.

Opportunity cost

The 30–50 FTEs required to maintain the Library could alternatively be employed in direct recovery tasks: agricultural labour, manufacturing, construction, or medical support. This is a real tradeoff, not a notional one.

The argument for maintaining the Library workforce is that information coordination multiplies the effectiveness of every other worker. A single correctly-informed agronomist advising 100 farmers on nuclear winter planting strategies produces more agricultural output than one additional farm labourer. The Library is an information coordination infrastructure investment, not a consumption of recovery labour.

The appropriate comparison is not “30–50 FTEs doing this versus 30–50 FTEs doing something else.” It is “what is the value of 30–50 FTEs improving the decision quality of 10,000 practitioners across the recovery” — and that comparison favours the Library investment substantially.

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Te Reo Māori Access and Marae Distribution

Te reo Māori indexing and access pathways

This document and the Recovery Library it indexes are produced in English. For Māori communities — particularly those in rural areas where marae serve as primary community hubs — access to recovery guidance in te reo Māori is a functional requirement. Instructions that cannot be read cannot be followed.

The recommended approach to te reo Māori access is:

• All Phase 1 government action documents (#1–#8, #53, #144, #145) should be translated into te reo Māori and distributed to all marae as part of the initial print run.
• If translation capacity allows, this index (Doc #168) should be produced in bilingual format — each section in English followed by te reo Māori — so that Māori readers can navigate to the correct domain documents without requiring translation of the full Library.
• If translation capacity allows, category headings, document titles, and the Quick-Reference Table (Appendix A) should be available in te reo Māori to enable independent navigation.

Translation should be coordinated through established te reo Māori language institutions — Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) is the appropriate agency — and through Māori translators identified via the National Asset and Skills Census (Doc #8). See also Doc #150 (Treaty of Waitangi and Māori Governance) for the governance framework that makes this coordination possible.

Marae as distribution nodes and knowledge contacts

The Recovery Library’s distribution model identifies marae as primary distribution sites for physical copies. Over 800 marae nationwide provide established community infrastructure in areas — particularly rural regions — where public libraries may not exist. Making marae-based distribution functional requires identifying a willing contact person at each marae who can receive, store, and distribute Library materials.

Kaitiaki mātauranga — knowledge keepers — are community members who hold and transmit specific areas of knowledge within iwi and hapū structures. Where kaitiaki mātauranga are willing to serve as marae distribution contacts, they bring the additional advantage of being able to interpret and contextualise Library content for their communities.

The practical steps for marae-based distribution are:

• Identify a willing contact person at each marae to receive and distribute Library materials. Where a kaitiaki mātauranga is available and willing, they are a natural fit for this role.
• Route revision bulletins and errata sheets (Section 9 of this document) to marae contacts using the same distribution protocols applied to public libraries.
• Involve kaitiaki mātauranga with relevant domain expertise in the editorial process for documents on agriculture, wild harvest, fibre processing, coastal navigation, and construction — the domains where mātauranga Māori provides field-tested knowledge with no Western equivalent for NZ conditions.

Doc #150 (Treaty of Waitangi and Māori Governance) provides the broader governance context. Doc #160 (Heritage Skills Preservation, §4.5–4.7) documents partnership protocols for Māori knowledge documentation and the specific knowledge areas that kaitiaki mātauranga hold and their recovery applications.

Bilingual access to critical recovery information

The justification for bilingual access is practical. Recovery decisions made by Māori communities will be more effective if those communities have access to guidance in the language in which they discuss, debate, and collectively decide.

The practical requirement is:

• A targeted set of public-facing action documents where comprehension by te reo-dominant speakers has practical consequences should be translated into te reo Māori during Phase 1–2. These are documents that directly affect compliance, safety, and daily life for communities where elderly or isolated members may be te reo-dominant. The priority list is: Doc #2 (Public Communication), Doc #3 (Food Rationing), Doc #4 (Medical Supply), Doc #53 (Fuel Allocation), Doc #122 (Mental Health), Doc #125 (Public Health Surveillance), Doc #144 (Emergency Powers), and Doc #147 (Ongoing Public Communication).
• Translating technical documents — sulfuric acid production, electric arc furnace operation, transformer rewinding, semiconductor roadmaps — into te reo Māori serves no practical recovery purpose. The audience for such documents consists of technical practitioners who read English. Broader translation of the Library into te reo should be deferred to Phase 5–7, when recovery is mature and resources allow.
• Where bilingual documents are produced, side-by-side formatting (English and te reo Māori in parallel columns) is recommended to allow users to cross-reference between languages and verify their reading.

Te reo Māori translators should be identified through the skills census (Doc #8) and assigned to the priority translation list. Technical vocabulary development for recovery-relevant domains can proceed as a longer-term project coordinated through Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, but should not delay the translation of the public-facing documents listed above.

Practical case for maintaining the Crown–Māori relationship through bilingual access

Maintaining the Crown–Māori relationship is practically important because iwi hold substantial land, workforce, and institutional capacity needed for recovery. Māori freehold land comprises approximately 1.5 million hectares. Iwi organisations employ thousands of people and manage significant economic assets. Marae provide over 800 community infrastructure sites nationwide. This institutional capacity is not automatically available to the Crown — it depends on ongoing cooperation.

Providing key public-facing documents in te reo Māori demonstrates respect for Māori communities and maintains the cooperative relationship on which recovery logistics depend. This is a practical investment in social capital. The specific practical returns are:

• Marae function as distribution nodes, community coordination centres, and emergency shelters. Their cooperation with national recovery logistics is not guaranteed — it must be maintained through demonstrated good faith, including providing critical information in te reo where speakers need it.
• Iwi-managed land and resources will be essential for agricultural expansion, forestry, and wild harvest under recovery conditions. Decisions about how that land is used require iwi engagement, which requires functional communication.
• Consulting with iwi and hapū on knowledge infrastructure decisions — which documents to prioritise, how marae-based distribution is organised — is practically sound because it produces better outcomes: marae contacts who were consulted will distribute materials more effectively than those who were not.

Doc #150 (Treaty of Waitangi and Māori Governance) provides the full governance framework. Doc #160 (Heritage Skills Preservation, §4.5–4.7) documents partnership protocols for Māori knowledge documentation and recovery applications.

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1. WHAT THE RECOVERY LIBRARY IS

1.1 Purpose

The Recovery Library is a structured collection of technical guidance for New Zealand’s recovery from a scenario in which global supply chains are permanently severed. The reference scenario is a NATO-Russia nuclear exchange involving approximately 4,400 warheads, producing 5–8°C of global cooling and 5–10 years of nuclear winter.⁴ New Zealand is physically unscathed — no warheads fall on NZ territory — but is permanently cut off from the manufactured goods, raw materials, fuel, pharmaceuticals, and components it currently imports.

The Library does not address the nuclear exchange itself, fallout modelling, or direct war effects. It addresses what happens next: how a modern country of approximately 5.2 million people manages the transition from import dependence to self-sufficiency across every domain — food, fuel, manufacturing, healthcare, governance, education, transport, and communications.

1.2 What the Library is not

The Library is not an operational manual issued by any government authority. It is not peer-reviewed. It is not error-free. It was produced through human-AI collaboration — one individual directing AI tools (Claude, Anthropic) with strategic and editorial oversight — and published as a proof of concept by Recoverable Foundation. See Section 8 for a full discussion of limitations.

1.3 Baseline assumptions

All 172 documents share a common set of baseline assumptions about NZ’s post-event conditions:⁵

• Electrical grid: Continues operating indefinitely with proper maintenance. NZ’s generation is 85%+ renewable (hydro, geothermal, wind) and does not depend on imported fuel.
• Domestic telecommunications: Likely functional for years — fibre, cell towers, domestic internet — as long as grid power continues and equipment is maintained.
• Road network: Physically intact. Usability limited by fuel, tires, and vehicle maintenance, not road damage.
• Government: Functional. The Emergency Management Act 2023 provides legal authority for emergency measures.
• Food production: Reduced by nuclear winter but sufficient for NZ’s population with managed rationing and agricultural adaptation.

Where individual documents address scenarios outside this baseline (grid failure, institutional collapse, worse-than-expected cooling), these are explicitly labelled as contingencies.

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2. HOW THE LIBRARY IS ORGANISED

2.1 Fifteen categories

Every document belongs to one of 15 categories. The categories cover the full scope of recovery challenges, from immediate government response through long-term industrial development.

#	Category	Docs	Scope
1	Government Emergency Response	1–9	Stockpile requisition, rationing, public communication, census
2	Precomputed Reference Data	10–28	Navigation tables, engineering data, medical references, atlases
3	Printing and Knowledge Distribution	29–32	Print production, paper making, manual printing methods
4	Consumables — Depletion and Substitution	33–52	Tires, lubricants, batteries, clothing, soap, water treatment
5	Fuel Transition and Transport	53–64	Fuel allocation, wood gasification, biodiesel, rail, cycling, aviation
6	Electrical Grid	65–73	Hydro, geothermal, grid operations, transformers, micro-hydro, solar
7	Agriculture	74–87	Pastoral farming, cropping, seed saving, food preservation, aquaculture
8	Manufacturing	88–115	Spare parts, steel, machine shops, foundry, chemicals, cement
9	Medical and Health	116–126	Pharmaceutical rationing, surgery, anesthesia, mental health, midwifery
10	Communications and Computing	127–135	Telecommunications, HF radio, AI facility, device repair
11	Maritime	136–143	Ports, sailing vessel design, navigation, boatbuilding, trade routes
12	Governance and Social Organisation	144–155	Emergency powers, workforce, economics, Treaty, justice, currency
13	Education and Skills	156–162	Skills census, trade training, curriculum, apprenticeships, heritage skills
14	Construction and Housing	163–167	Insulation, timber construction, plumbing, firefighting
15	Knowledge Preservation and Distribution	168–172	This index, regional libraries, archival strategy

2.2 Document numbering

Documents are numbered 1–172. Numbers are permanent — a document’s number does not change even if the document is revised, moved, or superseded. Gaps in the numbering exist where planned documents have not yet been produced. Cross-references throughout the Library use these numbers: “Doc #89” always means “NZ Steel Glenbrook: Operational Continuity” regardless of which edition you are reading.

2.3 Phase tags

Every document is tagged with the recovery phase(s) it primarily serves. The phase system reflects how NZ’s situation changes over time — what is available, what is running out, and what new capabilities are developing.

Phase	Period	Key characteristics
1	Months 0–12	Modern systems functional but not being resupplied. Government action window. Peak political capital.
2	Years 1–3	Peak nuclear winter. Peak consumable depletion gap. Maximum hardship.
3	Years 3–7	Nuclear winter easing. Local production developing. Maritime trade beginning.
4	Years 7–15	Agriculture normalising. Industrial expansion. Electronics ageing.
5	Years 15–30	Mature self-sufficiency. Sail trade network. Pre-war electronics exhausted.
6	Years 30–60	Regional industrial civilisation. Possible powered shipping.
7	Years 50–100+	Computing re-emergence. Industrial chemistry maturing.

Phase tags help you find documents relevant to your current situation. In Phase 1, you need documents tagged Phase 1. In Phase 3, you need both Phase 3 documents (what to do now) and Phase 4 documents (what to prepare for next).

2.4 Feasibility ratings

Every document carries a feasibility rating indicating how achievable its subject is with NZ’s resources.

Rating	Meaning	Count
[A]	Established. Uses existing NZ capability or well-proven methods with known NZ materials.	103
[B]	Feasible. Requires developing new capability, but materials, energy, and knowledge exist in NZ. Significant effort and time.	58
[B/C]	Mixed. Partially achievable; harder portions are long-term.	2
[C]	Difficult. Dependent on precursor industries or skills that do not yet exist in NZ and must be built first.	4
[D]	Long-term. Requires decades of industrial development. Documented as a roadmap, not an instruction set.	4

An [A] rating does not mean easy — it means the capability exists. An [A]-rated document may still describe work that takes months and requires hundreds of people. The rating addresses whether NZ has the materials, skills, and infrastructure to do it at all.

2.5 Cross-referencing

Documents cross-reference each other by number and title. These references are not decorative — they indicate real dependencies. When Doc #35 (Batteries) says “sulfuric acid availability depends on Doc #113 (Sulfuric Acid Production),” it means the battery manufacturing process described cannot proceed without the precursor industry described in Doc #113.

Dependency chains are one of the Library’s most important structural features. Many capabilities depend on other capabilities that must be built first. The Library traces these chains explicitly. For example:

• Biodiesel production (Doc #57) requires methanol, which requires wood gasification (Doc #56) or methanol synthesis (Doc #111)
• Lead-acid battery production (Doc #35) requires sulfuric acid (Doc #113)
• Transistor computer construction (Doc #135) requires germanium extraction, which requires hydrochloric acid, which requires salt and sulfuric acid

Reading the cross-references tells you what else needs to happen before the document you are reading becomes actionable.

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3. WHAT TO READ IN THE FIRST 48 HOURS

If a catastrophic supply-chain severance has just occurred, the following documents are immediately relevant. They are listed in approximate priority order for government decision-makers.

Immediate — read today

Doc	Title	Why now
#2	Public Communication: The Case for Emergency Measures	The public needs honest information before rumours fill the vacuum. Messaging framework for the next 48 hours.
#1	National Emergency Stockpile Strategy	Master framework for which stocks to secure, in what order, using what legal authority.
#144	Emergency Powers and Democratic Continuity	Legal basis for emergency action under the Emergency Management Act 2023. Constraints that preserve democratic legitimacy.
#3	Food Rationing and Distribution	Supermarket supply chain disruptions — including panic-buying, transport interruptions, or distribution failures — can deplete retail stock within days.6 Controlled distribution management should begin before retail stocks are visibly stressed.

First week

Doc	Title	Why this week
#53	Fuel Allocation and Drawdown	Fuel is the most time-critical consumable. Every day of unrestricted consumption wastes irreplaceable stock.
#4	Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Management	Controlled distribution through existing pharmacies. Some drugs (insulin, biologics) need immediate attention.
#8	National Asset and Skills Census	Begin data collection now. Every other planning document depends on the information this census produces.
#128	HF Radio Network	Begin establishing the communications backup immediately. Do not wait for modern systems to fail.
#145	Workforce Reallocation	Begin identifying critical skill shortages and redeployment needs.
#129	AI Inference Facility Operations	If a pre-positioned AI inference facility exists, confirm operational status immediately. An operational facility provides a substantial force-multiplying capability — real-time consultation for medical, engineering, agricultural, and policy decisions. Do not treat it as a document library; engage directly with the AI system for planning, analysis, and specialist guidance across every domain where NZ has critical expertise shortages.

First month

Doc	Title	Why this month
#5	Printing Supply Requisition	Secure toner, paper, and printer stocks. Begin printing the most critical documents.
#29	National Printing Plan	What to print first, how many copies, where to distribute.
#74	Pastoral Farming Under Nuclear Winter	Agricultural planning for the first nuclear winter season.
#77	Seed Preservation	Secure and distribute seed stocks before the first planting season under changed conditions.
#6	Vehicle and Transport Asset Management	Suspend non-essential vehicle use. Centralise tire and battery stocks.
#7	Agricultural and Industrial Consumables	Requisition wholesale stocks of fertiliser, bearings, belts, filters, welding consumables.
#163	Housing Insulation Retrofit	Begin mass insulation programme before nuclear winter temperatures arrive.
#122	Mental Health: National Grief and Social Purpose	Community-level psychological response. The entire nation is grieving.

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4. HOW TO USE THE LIBRARY BY TIMEFRAME

4.1 Phase 1 — First year: Secure and stabilise

The Phase 1 documents focus on government emergency response, stockpile management, and immediate operational continuity. The Library’s recommended priority sequence for government action is detailed in the catalog (Appendix C), but the essential logic is:

1. Days 1–3: Fuel and food distribution management, public communication, emergency powers activation
2. Week 1: Pharmaceutical management, census activation, HF radio
3. Month 1: Workforce reallocation, printing operations, agricultural planning, seed security, insulation retrofit
4. Months 2–12: Remaining stockpile requisitions, begin Phase 2 preparation

Key Phase 1 documents: #1–#8, #53, #74, #77, #122, #128, #144, #145, #163.

4.2 Phase 2 — Years 1–3: Survive the worst

Phase 2 is the hardest period. Nuclear winter is at its deepest. Consumable stocks are drawing down. NZ is building local production capability while managing the most severe conditions.

Key documents for Phase 2 planning:

• Agriculture: #74 (pastoral), #75 (cropping/dairy), #78 (food preservation), #79 (geothermal greenhouses), #80 (soil fertility)
• Manufacturing startup: #89 (NZ Steel), #91 (machine shops), #92 (blacksmithing), #93 (foundry), #94 (welding consumables)
• Consumable substitution: #33 (tires), #34 (lubricants), #37 (soap), #56 (wood gasification), #57 (biodiesel)
• Medical: #116 (pharmaceutical rationing), #117 (surgical consumables), #119 (local pharma production)
• Energy: #65 (hydro maintenance), #66 (geothermal), #67 (grid operations)

4.3 Phase 3–4 — Years 3–15: Build and expand

Nuclear winter eases. Agriculture recovers. Local manufacturing scales up. Maritime trade begins.

Key documents: #89 (steel), #97 (cement), #100 (harakeke fibre), #105 (wire/nails), #138 (sailing vessel design), #141 (boatbuilding), #151 (trans-Tasman trade), #148 (economic transition), #157 (trade training).

4.4 Phase 5+ — Years 15 and beyond: Long-term development

Documents rated [C] and [D] become relevant. These include chemical industry development (#111 methanol, #113 sulfuric acid, #114 ammonia synthesis), semiconductor roadmaps (#115), and powered vessel propulsion (#143). These are roadmap documents — they describe multi-decade development paths, not near-term instructions.

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5. READING STRATEGIES BY AUDIENCE

Different readers need different entry points into the Library. The following are recommended starting sequences.

5.1 Government decision-makers and senior officials

Start with: Doc #1 (Stockpile Strategy), Doc #2 (Public Communication), Doc #3 (Food Rationing), Doc #144 (Emergency Powers).

Then: Doc #145 (Workforce Reallocation), Doc #148 (Economic Transition), Doc #8 (Census).

If the AI inference facility is operational: Doc #129 (AI Facility). This changes the decision-making environment fundamentally. The facility provides real-time specialist consultation across every domain — medical triage guidance, engineering analysis, economic modelling, policy drafting, agricultural planning — multiplying the effective capacity of NZ’s limited expert workforce. Leaders should engage directly with the AI system for scenario analysis and planning, and ensure that medical practitioners, engineers, and other specialists across the country have access through NZ’s domestic fibre network. The facility also produces specialized inference modules for community spoke devices (Doc #129), extending AI capability to regional and community level.

Why this order: Decision-makers need the strategic framework and legal basis first, then the economic and workforce planning that shapes every other decision. Technical details come through subordinates who have read the domain-specific documents.

5.2 Technical practitioners

Start with your domain. The Library is organised by category specifically so that a hydroelectric engineer can go straight to Category 6 (Docs #65–#73), a nurse can go to Category 9 (Docs #116–#126), and a farmer can go to Category 7 (Docs #74–#87).

Then read the cross-references. Every technical document references the other documents it depends on or connects to. Follow those references to understand how your domain fits into the wider recovery.

Key domain entry points:

Domain	Start with
Agriculture / farming	Doc #74 (pastoral farming), Doc #75 (cropping/dairy)
Medical / health	Doc #116 (pharmaceutical rationing), Doc #4 (medical supply)
Engineering / manufacturing	Doc #91 (machine shops), Doc #89 (NZ Steel), Doc #88 (spare parts)
Electrical / energy	Doc #65 (hydro), Doc #67 (grid operations)
Maritime / fishing	Doc #138 (vessel design), Doc #139 (celestial navigation)
Communications / IT	Doc #127 (telecom), Doc #128 (HF radio), Doc #129 (AI facility)
Construction / building	Doc #163 (insulation), Doc #97 (cement)
Education / training	Doc #157 (trade training), Doc #162 (university reorientation)
Governance / legal	Doc #144 (emergency powers), Doc #148 (economic transition)

5.3 Educators and trainers

Start with: Doc #157 (Accelerated Trade Training), Doc #158 (School Curriculum Adaptation), Doc #162 (University and Research Reorientation).

Then: Doc #160 (Heritage Skills Preservation), Doc #91 (Machine Shop Operations — which doubles as a training guide), Doc #8 (Census — for understanding what skills exist and what gaps need filling).

Your role is critical. The Library describes capabilities that NZ needs to develop. The workforce to develop them must be trained. Every technical document in the Library implies a training requirement — Doc #92 (Blacksmithing) implies blacksmithing instructors; Doc #139 (Celestial Navigation) implies navigation courses. The education documents provide the framework for connecting Library content to training programmes.

5.4 Community leaders, marae coordinators, and local organisers

Start with: Doc #122 (Mental Health — community-level response), Doc #2 (Public Communication — what the government is saying and why), Doc #3 (Food Rationing — how local distribution works).

Then: Doc #37 (Soap Production — one of the first community-scale local manufacturing activities), Doc #78 (Food Preservation), Doc #163 (Housing Insulation — community retrofit projects).

Your role: You are the interface between national-level planning and local implementation. Many Library documents describe activities that happen at the community level — food preservation, soap making, insulation retrofit, heritage skills preservation. You do not need to read the entire Library; you need to read the documents relevant to what your community is doing.

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6. FINDING WHAT YOU NEED

6.1 By topic

If you know what subject you need, use the Quick-Reference Table in Appendix A. It lists all 172 documents by number with title, category, phase, and feasibility rating.

Common topics and where to find them:

Topic	Key documents
Food — how much NZ can produce	#74, #75, #76, #82
Food — distribution and rationing	#3
Food — preservation without refrigeration	#78
Fuel — how long stocks last	#53
Fuel — alternatives (wood gas, biodiesel)	#56, #57
Medical — which drugs last, which run out	#116
Medical — local drug production	#119
Medical — surgery without imports	#117
Tires — how long they last, alternatives	#33
Steel — can NZ make it?	#89
Electricity — will the grid survive?	#65, #66, #67
Transport — what replaces cars?	#59 (bicycles), #56 (wood gas vehicles), #61 (electric rail)
Water — treatment without chemicals	#48
Clothing — what to wear when imports stop	#36, #100 (harakeke fibre)
Heating and insulation	#163
Printing — how to preserve knowledge	#5, #29, #31
Trade — reconnecting with the world	#138, #141, #142, #151
Governance — emergency powers and democracy	#144, #148
Mental health — national grief response	#122
AI facility — real-time specialist consultation	#129
Computing — long-term capability	#135, #132, #134

6.2 By urgency

The catalog’s Appendix C provides a detailed priority-ordered list of Phase 1 government actions. The summary:

Must happen in days (delay costs are measured in hours/days): - Fuel rationing (#53, #1) - Food distribution management (#3) - Public communication (#2)

Must happen in weeks: - Pharmaceutical management (#4, #116) - Census activation (#8) - HF radio network (#128)

Should happen in months: - Printing operations (#5, #29) - Agricultural planning (#74, #75, #77) - Vehicle and tire management (#6, #33) - Insulation retrofit (#163) - Workforce reallocation (#145)

Can be planned over months to years: - Manufacturing development (#89, #91, #92) - Maritime capability (#138, #141) - Trade route development (#142) - Chemical industry (#111, #113)

6.3 By feasibility

If you are asking “what can we actually do right now?”, filter for [A]-rated documents. There are 103 of them. These describe actions using existing NZ capability and proven methods.

If you are planning what to develop next, look at [B]-rated documents. There are 58. These are achievable but require building new capability — expect months to years.

[C] and [D] documents (8 total) describe multi-decade development paths. They are roadmaps, not immediate action items. An additional 2 documents carry a [B/C] rating, indicating partial achievability with harder portions requiring long-term development.

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7. PRINT DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

In a post-event scenario, physical printing becomes the primary knowledge distribution mechanism. The Library is designed to be printed and distributed on paper.

7.1 What to print first

The printing priority is determined by two factors: urgency (how soon will someone need this?) and breadth (how many people need it?).

Priority 1 — Print immediately (first weeks)

These documents are needed by government decision-makers and operational planners now. Print in small quantities (50–100 copies) for central and regional government distribution.

• Doc #1, #2, #3 (stockpile strategy, public communication, food rationing)
• Doc #144 (emergency powers)
• Doc #53 (fuel allocation)
• Doc #4 (medical supply management)
• Doc #8 (census framework)
• Doc #168 (this document — the index and user guide)

Priority 2 — Print in first months

Technical documents needed by practitioners and regional planners. Print in moderate quantities (200–500 copies) for distribution to hospitals, farms, workshops, and community centres.

• Doc #116 (pharmaceutical rationing)
• Doc #74, #75, #77 (agriculture documents)
• Doc #65, #67 (electrical grid)
• Doc #163 (insulation)
• Doc #122 (mental health)
• Doc #5, #29 (printing operations — these enable the printing of everything else)
• Category 2 reference tables (#10–#28) — navigation, engineering, medical, agricultural data

Priority 3 — Print in first year

The full Library, in sets distributed to target locations. Each set is estimated at 25,000–35,000 pages.⁷

7.2 Where to distribute

The Library’s distribution targets are locations where people will look for information and where it will be preserved:

• Every public library in New Zealand. Libraries are purpose-built for storing and lending documents. Librarians are trained in information access. There are approximately 300 public library facilities nationwide.⁸
• Every hospital and major medical centre. Medical documents (Category 9) must be physically present where medical decisions are made.
• Regional and district council offices. Government documents (Categories 1, 12) must be where local government operates.
• Marae. Community hubs that will serve as coordination centres in many communities, particularly in rural areas. There are over 800 marae in New Zealand.⁹
• Schools. Education documents (Category 13) plus general reference copies.
• Civil Defence Emergency Management centres.
• Major farms and agricultural cooperatives. Agricultural documents (Category 7).
• Port facilities. Maritime documents (Category 11).

7.3 How many copies

The minimum target: one complete Library set per community of 5,000–10,000 people. For a population of approximately 5.2 million, this means roughly 500–1,000 complete sets nationwide.

For individual high-priority documents (food rationing, pharmaceutical guidance), print runs should be substantially larger — thousands of copies — because they need to be available at the point of use, not just in a reference library.

Doc #5 (Printing Supply Requisition) and Doc #29 (National Printing Plan) contain the detailed analysis of NZ’s printing capacity, toner stocks, and production scheduling.

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8. LIMITATIONS AND CRITICAL USE

This section is the most important in this document. Read it before relying on any Library content for operational decisions.

8.1 AI-generated content

The Recovery Library was produced through iterative human-AI collaboration. One individual provided strategic direction, the 172-document catalog architecture, editorial principles (captured in the published Style Guide), and iterative corrections on realism, urgency calibration, and factual accuracy. AI tools (Claude, Anthropic) provided research, drafting, technical content generation, and revision.¹⁰

This means:

• The Library reflects broad but shallow expertise. An AI writing about transformer maintenance or pharmaceutical chemistry draws on wide-ranging training data, not hands-on experience. A specialist in any single domain will find errors.
• Factual claims may be wrong. Despite footnoting, some numbers, dates, capacities, and technical specifications will be inaccurate. Footnoted sources should be checked where possible.
• Judgements may be miscalibrated. Feasibility ratings, timeline estimates, and difficulty assessments reflect informed guesses, not expert evaluation. Some [A] ratings may be optimistic; some [B] ratings may be pessimistic.
• NZ-specific data varies in quality. Some documents draw on detailed NZ data sources. Others rely on proxies, international data, or general technical knowledge adapted to NZ conditions.

8.2 Not peer-reviewed

No document in the Library has been reviewed by a domain expert in its subject area. Peer review would significantly improve every entry. The Library is published as a demonstration that AI tools can produce substantial, structured technical documentation — not as authoritative operational guidance.

8.3 How to use the Library critically

Treat the Library as a strong first draft. It asks the right questions, organises information logically, and covers most of the important ground. But it will contain errors that matter. Before implementing any specific technical recommendation — chemical processes, engineering specifications, medical protocols, agricultural practices — verify the relevant claims with available domain experts.

Use the Library’s structure even if you distrust its content. The 15-category organisation, the phase system, the dependency chain mapping, and the urgency calibration framework are useful planning tools regardless of whether every factual claim is correct. Even if a specific document’s technical details are wrong, the questions it raises and the cross-references it identifies are valuable.

Mark corrections. When a domain expert identifies an error, mark it in the printed copy. The Library is designed to be annotated. Corrections should be propagated to other copies in your distribution network through the version management process (Section 9).

Do not rely on a single document in isolation. The Library’s value is in its interconnected structure. A document about battery production that does not account for the sulfuric acid supply chain (Doc #113) is incomplete. The cross-references exist to prevent this kind of isolated reading.

8.4 Known weaknesses

Based on internal quality review, the following areas are known to be weaker:

• Economic justification sections are underdeveloped across many documents. Person-year cost comparisons and breakeven analyses are present in some documents but missing from others.
• Footnote density varies. Some documents are well-sourced; others rely more on general knowledge claims.
• Mātauranga Māori integration is substantive in some documents (Doc #160, §4.5–4.7) but thin or absent in others. This is a practical gap, not a symbolic one. Mātauranga Māori contains tested knowledge about NZ-specific soils, plants, materials, weather patterns, and resource management developed over centuries of occupation without industrial imports — precisely the conditions this library is preparing for. Documents on agriculture, wild harvest, fibre processing, coastal navigation, and building construction that do not draw on this knowledge are missing relevant, field-tested techniques that have no Western equivalent for NZ conditions.
• Depletion estimates are rough and depend on assumptions about stock levels, rationing compliance, and usage rates that are uncertain. The depletion table in the catalog (Appendix B) should be treated as order-of-magnitude guidance, not precise forecasts.

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9. VERSION MANAGEMENT

The Library will be updated. Errors will be corrected, conditions will change, and field experience will reveal gaps. In a print-primary environment, managing versions requires explicit protocols.

9.1 Version numbering

Each document carries a version number (e.g., “Draft v0.1”). When a document is revised, its version number increments and the revision date is updated. The version number appears on the first page of every printed copy.

9.2 Revision bulletins

When a document is revised, a revision bulletin should be produced — a single page listing the document number, old version, new version, date, and a summary of what changed. Revision bulletins are printed and distributed to all locations holding copies of the affected document. Recipients attach the bulletin to the front of their existing copy or replace the document with the new version when reprints are available.

9.3 Errata sheets

For corrections that do not warrant a full revision (a wrong number, a misidentified species, an incorrect source citation), an errata sheet can be issued — a single page listing specific corrections by page and section. These are cheaper to print and distribute than full document reprints.

9.4 Master copies

At least two complete, current master copies of the entire Library should be maintained in geographically separate, climate-controlled locations. These masters are the source from which reprints are produced. One obvious location is the AI inference facility (Doc #129), if operational; another is the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington.¹¹

9.5 Update frequency

During Phase 1, updates may be frequent as field experience reveals errors and conditions change rapidly. During Phase 2–3, the Library should stabilise, with annual revision cycles for most documents and immediate revision for safety-critical corrections (medical protocols, chemical handling procedures).

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10. START HERE: DECISION TREE FOR FIRST-TIME USERS

Use this decision tree to find your starting point.

Are you a government decision-maker or senior official? - Yes –> Read Docs #1, #2, #3, #144, then #145 and #148.

Are you a technical practitioner (engineer, farmer, doctor, electrician, etc.)? - Yes –> Go to the category table in Section 2.1, find your domain, and start with the first document in that category. Follow cross-references from there.

Are you an educator or trainer? - Yes –> Read Docs #157, #162, #160. Then read the technical documents relevant to what you will be teaching.

Are you a community leader or local organiser? - Yes –> Read Docs #122, #2, #3, #37, #78, #163.

Are you trying to answer a specific question (“How long will fuel last?” / “Can NZ make steel?”)? - Yes –> Use the topic index in Section 6.1.

Are you evaluating this Library before any event has occurred? - Yes –> Read Section 8 (Limitations), then browse the catalog (Appendix A) and sample 2–3 documents from different categories to assess quality and scope.

Are you responsible for printing and distributing the Library? - Yes –> Read Docs #5 and #29 immediately. Then Section 7 of this document.

None of the above? - Start with Doc #2 (Public Communication) for context on what has happened and why emergency measures are in place. Then read Doc #122 (Mental Health) — it is relevant to everyone.

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CROSS-REFERENCES

This document connects to virtually every other document in the Library. The most important structural references are:

• Doc #1 — National Emergency Stockpile Strategy (the master action framework)
• Doc #2 — Public Communication (how the situation is explained to the public)
• Doc #5 — Printing Supply Requisition (how the Library gets printed)
• Doc #8 — National Asset and Skills Census (the data foundation for all planning)
• Doc #29 — National Printing Plan (printing schedule and distribution)
• Doc #129 — AI Inference Facility Operations (the facility that updates and extends the Library)
• Catalog — The complete document list with descriptions, feasibility ratings, and depletion estimates

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APPENDIX A: QUICK-REFERENCE TABLE — ALL 172 DOCUMENTS

Documents are listed by number. Category numbers correspond to the table in Section 2.1.

Category 1: Government Emergency Response and Stockpile Management

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
1	National Emergency Stockpile Strategy	1	[A]
2	Public Communication: The Case for Emergency Measures	1	[A]
3	Food Rationing and Distribution	1	[A]
4	Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Management	1	[A]
5	Printing Supply Requisition and Management	1	[A]
6	Vehicle and Transport Asset Management	1	[A]
7	Agricultural and Industrial Consumables	1	[A]
8	National Asset and Skills Census	1	[A]
9	Textile, Household, and Specialist Goods	1	[B]

Category 2: Precomputed Reference Data and Tables

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
10	Nautical Almanac (Precomputed 100 Years)	1	[A]
11	Sight Reduction Tables	1	[A]
12	NZ Tide Tables (Precomputed 50+ Years)	1	[A]
13	NZ Coastal Pilot and Harbour Guide	1	[A]
14	Mathematical Tables	1	[A]
15	Star Atlas (Southern Hemisphere)	1	[A]
16	NZ Topographic and Infrastructure Atlas	1	[A]
17	Engineering Reference Tables	1–2	[A]
18	NZ Climate Baseline Data	1–2	[A]
19	Food Composition Tables (NZ Foods)	1–2	[A]
20	Pharmaceutical Reference	1–2	[A]
21	Chemical Safety Data	1–2	[A]
22	NZ Geological and Mineral Resource Atlas	1–2	[A]
23	Materials Properties Handbook	1–2	[A]
24	NZ Flora Reference	1–2	[A]
25	NZ Fauna Reference	1–2	[A]
26	Soil and Agricultural Capability Map	1–2	[A]
27	Astronomical Calendar (100 Years)	1–2	[A]
28	NZ Water Resources Atlas	1–2	[A]

Category 3: Printing and Knowledge Distribution

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
29	National Printing Plan	1	[A]
30	Print Optimisation	1	[A]
31	Manual Printing Methods	2–3	[B]
32	Paper Production from NZ Pulp	2–3	[B]

Category 4: Consumables — Depletion and Substitution

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
33	Tires	1–2	[B]
34	Lubricant Production	1–2	[B]
35	Battery Management and Lead-Acid Production	1–2	[B]
36	Clothing and Footwear	1–2	[B]
37	Soap and Hygiene	1–2	[A]
38	Fastener Production	2	[B]
39	Abrasives and Cutting Tool Maintenance	2	[B]
40	Refrigeration Transition	2	[B]
41	UV Protection	1–2	[A]
42	Contraception and Family Planning	1–2	[B]
43	Fencing	2	[B]
44	Fishing Gear	2	[B]
45	Chainsaw and Tool Maintenance	2	[B]
46	Lighting	2	[B]
47	Adhesives and Sealants	2	[B]
48	Water Treatment Without Imports	1–2	[B]
49	Wastewater Treatment Adaptation	2	[B]
50	Filter Fabrication	2	[B]
51	Ethanol and Vinegar Production	1–2	[A]
52	Wire Rope	2–3	[C]

Category 5: Fuel Transition and Transport

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
53	Fuel Allocation and Drawdown	1	[A]
54	Emergency Vehicle Electrification	1	[B]
55	Electric Milk Collection and Cold Chain	1	[B]
56	Wood Gasification	1–2	[A]
57	Biodiesel from NZ Tallow	2–3	[B]
58	Coastal and Inter-Island Shipping	2	[B]
59	Bicycle Fleet	1–2	[A]
60	Road and Bridge Maintenance	2	[A]
61	Electric Rail Expansion	2–3	[B]
62	Aviation: Realistic Capability Window	1–3	[B]
63	Hydrogen: Stationary Applications	3–4	[B]
64	Hydrogen for Mobile Use	4+	[C]

Category 6: Electrical Grid

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
65	Hydroelectric Maintenance (NZ-Specific)	1	[A]
66	Geothermal Maintenance (NZ-Specific)	1	[A]
67	Transpower Grid Operations	1	[A]
68	Rural Distribution and SWER	1	[A]
69	Transformer Rewinding and Fabrication	2–4	[B]
70	Copper Wire Production	2–3	[B]
71	Wind Turbine Maintenance	2	[B]
72	Micro-Hydro Design and Construction	2–3	[A]
73	Solar Panel and Inverter Maintenance	2	[B]

Category 7: Agriculture

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
74	Pastoral Farming Under Nuclear Winter	1	[A]
75	Cropping and Dairy Adaptation	1	[A]
76	Emergency Crop Expansion	1	[A]
77	Seed Preservation and Distribution	1	[A]
78	Food Preservation	1	[A]
79	Geothermal Greenhouses	2	[A]
80	Soil Fertility Without Imports	2	[A]
81	Aquaculture	2	[A]
82	Hunting and Wild Harvest	1–2	[A]
83	Beekeeping Adaptation	2	[A]
84	Pest and Weed Management	2	[A]
85	Animal Breeding and Genetic Diversity	2	[A]
86	Agricultural Recovery as Climate Normalises	3+	[A]
87	Tropical and Trade Crops	3+	[A]

Category 8: Manufacturing

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
88	Spare Parts Triage	1	[A]
89	NZ Steel Glenbrook: Continuity	1	[A]
90	Scrap Metal as Resource	1	[A]
91	Machine Shop Operations	2	[A]
92	Blacksmithing and Forge Work	2	[A]
93	Foundry Work	2	[B]
94	Welding Consumable Fabrication	2	[B]
95	Electric Motor Rewinding	2	[B]
96	Bearing Repair and Fabrication	2–4	[B/C]
97	Cement and Concrete	2	[A]
98	Glass Production	2–3	[B]
99	Timber Processing	2	[A]
100	Harakeke Fibre Processing	2	[A]
101	Tanning and Leather	2	[B]
102	Charcoal Production	1–2	[A]
103	Salt Production	1–2	[A]
104	Clothing and Textile Manufacturing	2–3	[B]
105	Fencing Wire and Nails	2	[B]
106	Electric Arc Furnace (Regional)	3–4	[B]
107	Rubber Recycling	3–4	[B]
108	Paper and Pulp Production	3–4	[B]
109	Aluminium Smelting and Recycling	3–4	[B]
110	Eyeglass Lens Manufacturing	3–4	[B]
111	Methanol from Wood	4+	[B]
112	Lime and Caustic Soda	4+	[B]
113	Sulfuric Acid	4+	[C]
114	Ammonia Synthesis: Prerequisites and Roadmap	4+	[D]
115	Semiconductor Processing Roadmap	4+	[D]

Category 9: Medical and Health

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
116	Pharmaceutical Rationing and Shelf-Life Extension	1	[A]
117	Surgical Consumable Conservation	1	[A]
118	Anesthesia Alternatives	2	[B]
119	Local Pharmaceutical Production: Honest Assessment	2	[B/C]
120	Eyecare	2	[B]
121	Dental Care	2	[B]
122	Mental Health: National Grief and Social Purpose	1	[A]
123	Midwifery and Maternity	1	[A]
124	Veterinary Medicine	2	[B]
125	Public Health Surveillance	1	[A]
126	Medical Device Maintenance	2	[B]

Category 10: Communications and Computing

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
127	NZ Telecommunications Maintenance	1	[A]
128	HF Radio Network	1	[A]
129	AI Inference Facility Operations	1	[A]
130	Device Life Extension	2–4	[B]
131	Radio Equipment Fabrication	2–4	[B]
132	Digital-to-Print Priority Schedule	1	[A]
133	Local Network Architecture	2–4	[B]
134	Computing Self-Sufficiency Roadmap	5–7	[D]
135	Computer Construction	5–7	[D]

Category 11: Maritime

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
136	NZ Port Operations	1–2	[A]
137	Cook Strait Link	1–2	[B]
138	Sailing Vessel Design (NZ Materials)	2–3	[B]
139	Celestial Navigation	1–2	[A]
140	Coastal Trading Network	2–3	[A]
141	Boatbuilding Techniques	2–3	[B]
142	Trans-Tasman and Pacific Trade Routes	3+	[B]
143	Powered Vessel Propulsion	5–6	[C]

Category 12: Governance and Social Organisation

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
144	Emergency Powers and Democratic Continuity	1	[A]
145	Workforce Reallocation	1	[A]
146	Border and Immigration	1	[A]
147	Public Communication (Ongoing)	1	[A]
148	Economic Transition	2	[A]
149	Land Use Reallocation	2	[A]
150	Treaty of Waitangi and Māori Governance	1–2	[A]
151	NZ–Australia Relations	1–2	[A]
152	International Relations: Wider World	2	[A]
153	Currency and Exchange	2	[A]
154	Justice System Adaptation	2	[A]
155	Population and Demographic Planning	2	[B]

Category 13: Education and Skills

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
156	Skills Census	1	[A]
157	Accelerated Trade Training	1	[A]
158	School Curriculum Adaptation	2	[A]
159	Apprenticeship System	2	[A]
160	Heritage Skills Preservation	2	[A]
161	Mātauranga Māori — Eliminated; content merged into Doc #160 (Heritage Skills Preservation, §4.5–4.7)	—	—
162	University and Research Reorientation	2	[A]

Category 14: Construction and Housing

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
163	Housing Insulation Retrofit	1	[A]
164	Timber Construction (NZ Seismic)	2	[A]
165	Plumbing and Water Systems	2	[A]
166	Firefighting Adaptation	1	[A]
167	Community Infrastructure	2	[A]

Category 15: Knowledge Preservation and Distribution

Doc	Title	Phase	Feasibility
168	Recovery Library Master Index and User Guide	1	[A]
169	Regional Library Network	2	[A]
170	Ongoing Printing and Publishing	2	[B]
171	Knowledge Adaptation for Other Regions	3+	[A]
172	Long-Term Archival Strategy	3+	[A]

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APPENDIX B: CONSUMABLE DEPLETION SUMMARY

These are rough estimates assuming competent centralised management. Without centralised management, all timelines compress substantially. Actual timelines depend on pre-event stock levels, requisition effectiveness, rationing compliance, and usage rates.¹² All substitutes perform worse than the products they replace — refer to the notes below the table and to the referenced documents for performance gap details.

Consumable	Estimated Managed Life	NZ Substitute	Key Docs
Diesel / petrol	3–18 months (strict rationing; depends on starting stocks and compliance)	Wood gas, biodiesel, electric	#53, #56, #57
Aviation fuel	2–5 years (stabilised storage, strategic use only)	Limited ethanol blends (minor range extension only)	#62
Laser toner	5–10+ years (stored, rationed)	Manual printing methods	#5, #29, #31
Vehicle tires	3–8 years (mothballed fleet + retread programme)	Solid rubber for slow/stationary vehicles only	#33
Lubricants	2–5 years (requisitioned wholesale bulk stocks)	Tallow, lanolin, plant oil	#34
Pharmaceuticals	Varies widely by drug	Limited local production	#116, #119
Clothing basics	2–4 years	Wool, leather, harakeke	#36, #100
Batteries (lithium)	5–15 years (managed charge cycles, reduced depth of discharge)	Lead-acid (locally producible)	#35
Refrigerant	1–5 years (strongly leak-rate dependent)	Ammonia, hydrocarbon refrigerants	#40
Water treatment chemicals	1–3 years	Salt electrolysis, sand filtration	#48
Electronics	5–25+ years (staggered by device type and usage intensity)	Repair; local manufacturing decades away	#130, #134
Eyeglasses	5–15 years (existing stock for common prescriptions)	Local lens grinding (Phase 4+)	#110

Substitute performance gaps (summary): All substitutes involve measurable capability reduction. Wood gas vehicles typically lose 30–50% power output compared to petrol and require a bulky gasifier apparatus (roughly 150–300 kg), reducing payload and range.¹³ Tallow and plant-oil lubricants have lower thermal stability and shorter change intervals than petroleum lubricants, increasing maintenance burden on engines and machinery. Solid rubber tires are suitable only for vehicles operating below approximately 30 km/h; at highway speeds, heat buildup causes failure. Local lead-acid batteries have lower energy density than lithium cells and require regular electrolyte maintenance. Harakeke and wool textiles are more durable than many synthetic fabrics for outdoor and agricultural use, but harakeke requires more processing labour and wool provides less protection against abrasion. Ammonia refrigerants are effective but require different handling procedures and are toxic in enclosed spaces. The referenced documents address these gaps in detail; this table provides orientation only.

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APPENDIX C: PHASE 1 GOVERNMENT ACTION SEQUENCE

Approximate priority order for the first 30 days. See Doc #1 for the full strategic framework.¹⁴

1. Declare national emergency under the Emergency Management Act 2023
2. Activate public communication — explain the situation honestly (Doc #2)
3. Fuel requisition and rationing (Doc #53)
4. Pharmaceutical stock management through controlled distribution (Doc #4)
5. Establish food rationing and distribution (Doc #3)
6. Printing supply requisition; begin printing critical documents (Doc #5, #29)
7. Suspend non-essential vehicle use; centralise tire and battery stocks (Doc #6)
8. Requisition agricultural and industrial consumables at wholesale level (Doc #7)
9. Launch skills and asset census (Doc #8)
10. Establish HF radio network (Doc #128)
11. Workforce reallocation planning (Doc #145)
12. Secure seed stocks (Doc #77)
13. Border management (Doc #146)
14. Agricultural planning for first nuclear winter season (Docs #76–#78)
15. Identify and protect critical personnel
16. Begin wood gasifier construction (Doc #56)
17. Community soap production (Doc #37)
18. Housing insulation retrofit (Doc #163)
19. Ethanol production (Doc #51)
20. NZ-Australia communication via HF radio

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This document is a draft produced through human-AI collaboration. It has not been reviewed by information management, library science, or emergency management specialists. The organisational framework and reading strategies described reflect the Library’s internal structure, which has been designed for practical utility but has not been tested in any real emergency context. The document’s core argument — that a structured, cross-referenced collection of recovery guidance is more useful than unorganised documents — is well-supported by basic information management principles, but the specific reading sequences and distribution priorities recommended here should be reviewed by emergency management professionals before operational adoption.

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1. Person-year estimates are derived from the Library’s own analysis of its workforce requirements. They are order-of-magnitude figures, not precise forecasts. The editorial figure (3–6 FTEs) is benchmarked against comparable technical documentation and standards-maintenance organisations (e.g., Standards New Zealand, which maintains approximately 4,000 standards with a staff of roughly 50 FTEs). The printing estimate assumes existing commercial equipment and toner stocks during Phase 1; Phase 2 transitions to manual methods per Doc #31. Regional librarian FTE estimate (16 FTEs) assumes one coordinator per NZ administrative region.↩︎

2. LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) estimated approximately 2,500 FTE librarians employed across NZ’s public and special library network as of 2024. The 16-FTE regional coordination layer represents less than 1% of this existing workforce — a minimal marginal addition to an existing professional infrastructure. Source: LIANZA workforce survey data, https://lianza.org.nz/↩︎

3. NZ diesel consumption figure derived from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) energy data: NZ consumed approximately 3.8–4.8 billion litres of diesel annually in the early 2020s, equating to approximately 10–13 million litres per day total. Agricultural and freight use represents roughly 40% of total diesel consumption. At strict rationing (agricultural priority), managed agricultural diesel consumption is estimated at 1.5–2.5 million litres per day. A two-week delay in rationing at normal total consumption rates therefore wastes approximately 140–180 million litres. Under managed agricultural rationing at 1.5–2.5 million litres per day, those 140–180 million litres represent more than a year of agricultural fleet operation. Source: MBIE Energy in New Zealand, annual publication, https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-n...↩︎

4. The reference scenario is based on analyses of nuclear winter effects from Robock, A., Oman, L., and Stenchikov, G.L. (2007), “Nuclear winter revisited with a modern climate model and current nuclear arsenals,” Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, D13107; and Xia, L., et al. (2022), “Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection,” Nature Food, 3, 586-596. The 4,400-warhead scenario falls within the range of arsenals studied. Cooling estimates (5-8°C) reflect Southern Hemisphere impacts, which are less severe than Northern Hemisphere effects.↩︎

5. Baseline assumptions are detailed in the Recovery Library Style Guide, Section 2.4, and are applied consistently across all 172 documents. The 85%+ renewable generation figure is sourced from the Electricity Authority’s generation statistics: NZ generated approximately 82–87% of electricity from renewable sources (hydro, geothermal, wind) in 2022–2024. Source: Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko, Wholesale Statistics, https://www.emi.ea.govt.nz/Wholesale/Datasets/Generation/... and MBIE, Energy in New Zealand, https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-n...↩︎

6. Supermarket supply chain vulnerability is well-documented in emergency management literature. NZ’s retail grocery chains typically hold 3–5 days of on-shelf stock under normal trading conditions; supplier warehouses hold further buffer stock. Panic-buying — characterised by purchasing rates 3–5× above normal — can clear visible shelf stock within 24–72 hours even when warehouse supply is intact, as observed during COVID-19 lockdown events in NZ in March 2020. Distribution chain disruption (transport unavailability, supplier access restrictions) compounds this. The practical implication is not that supply is exhausted in 48 hours, but that retail access becomes contested and unpredictable within 48–72 hours of a major shock event, creating equity and compliance problems that a distribution management system should pre-empt. Source: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Business Continuity for Essential Services guidance; and Greer, A. et al. (2020), observations on COVID-19 supply chain disruption, NZ context.↩︎

7. Total page count estimate from the Recovery Library Catalog. The range (25,000-35,000 pages) reflects uncertainty in final document lengths, illustration density, and reference table volumes. Category 2 (precomputed reference data) accounts for a disproportionate share — navigation tables and engineering references alone may total 5,000-10,000 pages.↩︎

8. Public Libraries of New Zealand (PLNZ). NZ has approximately 300 public library facilities across 67 territorial authority library networks. Source: LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa). https://lianza.org.nz/↩︎

9. Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry for Maori Development) maintains data on marae. The figure of over 800 marae is widely cited in government and community sources, though the exact number depends on counting methodology and the status of individual marae.↩︎

10. Full methodology is described in the Recovery Library project plan and the published Style Guide. The AI model used was Claude (Anthropic, 2026). Human direction covered: scenario definition, catalog architecture, editorial standards, factual corrections, urgency calibration, and cross-document consistency review.↩︎

11. The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, Wellington, is NZ’s legal deposit library and the natural custodian of national reference materials. https://natlib.govt.nz/↩︎

12. These estimates are reproduced from the Recovery Library Catalog, Appendix B. They are deliberately rough — the most important message is the order of magnitude and the relative urgency across categories, not the specific numbers. Actual stock levels would be established by the National Asset and Skills Census (Doc #8).↩︎

13. Wood gasification power loss is well-established from WWII-era and modern field data. Producer gas (wood gas) has a calorific value approximately 4–5 MJ/m³ compared to approximately 34 MJ/m³ for natural gas, and when used to replace petrol in spark-ignition engines the energy density difference results in 30–50% power reduction under typical conversion conditions. Gasifier units for trucks weigh 150–250 kg and occupy significant vehicle volume. Source: Kaupp, A. and Goss, J.R. (1981), State of the Art Report for Small Scale (to 50 kW) Gas Producer-Engine Systems, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and La Fontaine, H. and Reed, T.B. (1993), An Updraft Wood Gas Generator for Use with Small Gasoline Engines, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.↩︎

14. This sequence is reproduced from the Recovery Library Catalog, Appendix C. The ordering reflects urgency calibration as described in the Style Guide, Section 2.1 — actions are sequenced by actual cost of delay, not by rhetorical importance.↩︎