What are the main risks for archival fonds? |
In general climatic variation of temperature and relative air humidity, water pipes, power supply lines, contamination through mould, insect infestation, damage done by mice, bad quality conservation material Emergency cases fire, water leakage, floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks etc. |
||||
How to prevent an outbreak of mould? |
|
||||
What are the effects of mould in archival fonds? |
|
||||
What to do in case of mould contamination? |
|
||||
What type of protective clothing should be used in contaminated archives? |
|
||||
What kind of protective clothing is needed? |
Single-use protective suit for small-scale tasks of short duration
|
||||
Mould in the archives: |
|
||||
In case of flood in the archives can humid documents be saved? |
Humid documents must be immediately frozen. Afterwards the documents will be dried through vacuum freeze-drying (lyophilisation). |
||||
How to proceed in case of flood in the archives? |
Different types of procedure concerning the quantity of material and the extent of the damage
|
||||
What is important to consider when dealing with wet documents? |
As soon as the wet documents are exposed to the air, the drying procedure will start (for instance by using dehumidifiers, sunlight or high temperatures). There is a risk that the pages will stick together and that there will be an increase of mould growth. These secondary damages can substantially increase costs for the restoration of damaged material. |
||||
Can wet documents be air-dried? |
Depending on the material, some objects that are not too wet can be air-dried by fanning the pages. However for materials such as leather, parchment, art paper or modern papers, the type of drying may incur in distortions, adherence or mould. As far as leather is concerned there is also a risk that the book cover will become brittle. |
||||
What type of objects can be dried by vacuum freeze-drying? |
|
||||
What does „dynamic" vacuum freeze-drying mean? |
By using specific software programmes we are able to accurately coordinate the process of vacuum lyophilisation to the type of material and the extent of the damage. These parameters as well as the technical specifications of our installations are based on our paper restoration know-how and our long-standing experience. All the software and machines are developed and built by docusave. |
||||
What kind of documents is it possible to dry by using dynamic vacuum freeze-drying? |
|
||||
What kind of impact does fire have in an archive? |
|
||||
What is to be taken into account when handling fire-damaged documents? |
There is the danger that the soot deposits will be distributed in case of uncontrolled manipulation. |
||||
What is the procedure for the restoration of fire-damaged documents? |
|
||||
How many books can be dried all at once at docusave? |
from 300 to 400 kg all at once, depending on the size of the books; we have two installations for drying 300 to 400 kg each and one other installation for 200 to 300 kg
|
||||
How long does it take to dry frozen humid documents? |
from 2 to 7 days, depending on the degree of humidity, on the type of material and the type and extent of contamination |
||||
How long does it take to dry frozen wet documents? |
from 5 to 21 days, depending on the degree of humidity, the type of material, the extent of contamination and special measures taken |
||||
Is it possible to dry documents using the method of vacuum deep-freezing without freezing them before? |
No. |
||||
How many books is it possible to freeze at docusave? |
from 1 to 100 tons and more |