Jamie,

One reason your collection isn't dust yet may be that the quality of the
paper the documents were printed on was far superior than paper used today.
Older paper was made with cotton/linen rags and as time went on paper was
then made out of wood pulp, which is cheaper and deteriorates at a much
faster rate because of the lignin present in the wood pulp.

Another reason is that these documents may not have always been kept at the
temp/RH they are kept at now.  Although, if your current conditions are 67
degrees Fahrenheit and 50% humidity, I would say those are really close to
ideal for paper storage, especially in an area where staff are expected to
work! The most important factor is stability-- as long as your temp. and RH
levels don't fluctuate a lot in a given day, I'd say your collections should
last a very long time!

Here are some conservation/preservation resources that I have found
extremely helpful in the past:
        CoOL (Conservation OnLine) <http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/>
        NEDCC (Northeast Document Conservation Center)
<http://www.nedcc.org/>
        SOLINET's Preservation Leaflets, available via CoOL
<http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/solinet/leaflets.htm>
        AMIGOS Imaging and Preservation Services
<http://www.amigos.org/preserve.htm>
      Commission on Preservation and Access Newsletter, available via CLIR
<http://www.clir.org/pubs/cpanews/cpanews/html>
      Regional Alliance for Preservation <http://www.rap-arcc.org/>
      American Institute for Conservation <http://aic.stanford.edu/>
      Arizona History and Archives Division
<http://www.lib.az.us/archives/conservation.htm>
      Preservation and Storage Division, State Library of Victoria
<http://www.slv.vic.gov.au./slv/conservation/>
        NISO (National Information Standards Organization)
<http://www.niso.org>

Or you might consider joining the Conservation DistList.  For more
information, see <http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/>

Good luck!

Sammie Morris, CA
Archivist
Dallas Museum of Art
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nelson, Jamie [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 8:28 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      environmental controls - preservation index
>
> I'm re-posting this in hopes that someone will respond.  The original post
> seems to have been lost amid all of the food chatter.
>
> Colleagues -
>
> I've been reading New Tools for Preservation: Assessing Long-Term
> Environmental Effects on Library and Archives Collections by the
> Commission on Preservation & Access (1995).  I am a bit confused about the
> Preservation Index and the Time-Weighted Preservation Index.  I am in the
> process of garnering institutional support to improve our environmental
> conditions and I am looking to provide some information to convince the
> administration of the need to have better control over our temp and RH.
>
> This is where my confusion comes in.  According the the PI chart, our
> materials have an approximate predicted lifetime of 47 years, based on our
> current temp and RH (67 and 50%).  I would like to show that investing in
> a better HVAC system and some building upgrades will allow us to change
> the temp and RH and lengthen the predicted lifetime of the materials.
> Basically, I'm looking for a justification for the expense (to justify it
> to them - I don't need much convincing).
>
> The question I've already been asked is:  If the PI chart is right, how
> come our collections (dating to 1860 and before) aren't dust already?
>
> I'd appreciate it if someone could point out my faulty logic or better
> explain the value of the PI and TWPI charts.
>
> Much obliged for any assistance, and I will post a summary if there is
> enough interest.
>
> Jamie Nelson
>
> Jamie Nelson
> Special Collections Librarian
> Augustana College
> [log in to unmask]
>
>

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