Preservation Department - Environmental Monitoring & Reports
Environmental Monitoring “Providing a suitable environment is the most fundamental means of preserving library and archives collections.” Paul Banks
The Preservation Department independently monitors storage conditions of 14 collection locations across campus, including 5 areas of the Main Library and 9 additional monitors placed in branch libraries including the Art Library, Hardin Library for Health Sciences, Rita Benton Music Library, Physics Library as well as the Law Library. Such monitoring produces (1) a base line for the identification of conditions adverse to the safe storage of library media, (2) a progressive record of any remediation efforts, and (3) a documentary record of any environmental incidents.
The Preservation department provides a bi-annual report to collection managers concerning collections storage conditions. This report summarizes, illustrates and interprets the data collected. A variety of advisories may call attention to conditions in a given library or stack area. The report may include advisories of deterioration and recommendations for corrective actions. Advisories can also be correlated with coincidental events, such as a mold outbreak.
Collection managers can use the PEM instrument displays to confirm conditions on-site, especially whenever changes of condition are noticed. Details of PEM hardware, Climate Notebook software, monitoring locations and other management features of the Preservation monitoring program are available. Questions related to data collection and report formats can be addressed to kristin-baum@uiowa.edu. Questions relating to adverse storage condition risks can be addressed to gary-frost@uiowa.edu. Questions relating to remediation options can be addressed to nancy-e-kraft@uiowa.edu. |
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