Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

and monitoring against adverse environmental
changes, as exemplified by the various climate
monitoring systems developed by the Image Permanence
Institute (IPI). 10 IPI research supports
the principle of reducing thermal- and photooxidation
through cold, dark storage systems. A
salient example of cold storage, maximized by
high-bay shelving, is the Library of Congress new
storage complex at Fort Meade. 11 Other examples
incorporate sustainability through naturally cool
environments, such as underground or mountain
storage, as in the National Library of Norway
facility in Mo-I-Rana. 12
Cold, dark storage can reduce the effects of thermal-
and photo-oxidation. But these effects can
also be moderated by reducing the levels of oxygen,
through low-oxygen or anoxic storage. An
example of the principle of low-oxygen storage is
the British Library’s Boston Spa storage facility,
planned to combine cold storage with robotic
retrieval in an atmosphere of low oxygen levels. 13
These environments are intended as fire prevention
systems, but they also may have some effect
in controlling object aging and pest infestation,
especially in anoxic environments. 14
For exhibition, anoxic, hermetically-sealed “visual
storage” cases for treasured collections on display,
such as the Library’s Waldseemueller Map,
have been developed in partnership with the
National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). 15 The notion of “visual storage” has been
maximized by several Smithsonian Institution
museums through the use of diverse compact
storage techniques. The Smithsonian American
Art Museum has entire galleries with public
displays on movable racks. 16 The Smithsonian’s
Museum Support Center has further examples
of innovative adjustable and compact systems,
employing cabinets and shelves that move in
innovative lateral-track directions, as well as in
the perpendicular-track direction found in many
library compact shelves. These compact shelving
systems can be hand-driven or automated.
Automation has also enabled more cost-effective
mass preventive care through computerized boxmaking
and mat-cutting systems, which help
containerize items on display or in storage. Such
containerization at the item- and collection-level
is important, as well, for emergency preparedness,
and is maximized when supplemented by
further containerization in furniture and room
design, especially when reinforced by innovated
fire prevention, detection and suppression systems.
17
A salient example of the principle of cold storage,
containerization and tailored fire suppression
systems is the National Audiovisual
Conservation Center on the Packard Campus
of the Library of Congress in Culpepper, VA,
which among other innovations including underground
cold storage vaults, has cubby niches
and innovative sprinkler designs for safe storage
of highly flammable and self-combustible early
nitrate film. 18
Recognition of the importance and extreme vulnerability
of analog and digital audiovisual collections,
which are most reflective of our current
cultural creations, has lead to substantial investments
in R&D at the Library. Enhancements in
digital imaging technologies, developed with the
Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL),
have resulted in the “IRENE” machine and newer
confocal imaging devices for sound reproduction
from unplayable audio recordings, including cylinders
of indigenous languages (such as the now
extinct Yahi tribe). This technology is so sensitive
it can even capture sound from soot on paper (in
the earliest phonautogram) or from emulsion
on glass (part of Alexander Graham Bell’s work)
and other experimental recordings of human
voices. Current efforts seek to make the “IRENE”
technology portable enough to serve collections
worldwide. 19
Developments such as this enable conservators
and other cultural stewards to directly assess and
prioritize needs for at-risk collections. Similar
efforts focus on developing other portable instruments
with innovative, and integrated, analytical
programs, such as a portable Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) programmed to
detect chemical markers of degradation in audiotapes
with “stickey shed” syndrome, which
renders tapes unplayable. 20
Other trends further access to the intrinsic and
associative value of collections by producing
“digital objects” while also promoting initiatives
in preservation of digital assets. Studies
in natural and accelerated aging of digital collections
have characterized the vulnerability of
ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013
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