In this article, we will examine one collaborative Oregon preservation effort that we believe is both enlightening and instructive for the example that it provides and for the direction that similar efforts may take in the future. The initiative that we have chosen to examine is that of the Disaster Recovery Group (DiRG) established by the Portland Area Library System (PORTALS). PORTALS was a library consortium founded in 1993 to meet the research and educational needs of libraries in the greater Portland area through cooperative and creative access to information resources and services. What made the consortium somewhat unique was its composition. Private and public universities, community colleges, public libraries, and an historical society in the states of Oregon and Washington were sustaining members of PORTALS. In the summer of 2000, The PORTALS Library Council, the consortium’s governing body which consisted of the directors of member libraries and a historical society, sought out possible cooperative activities to undertake. Among those put forward was that of disaster response training. Recognizing that disasters could affect any and all participating institutions and that preparation to mitigate such events was in the interests of all members, the Council agreed that some form of disaster response planning and management would be mutually beneficial for PORTALS members.