PRESERVATION / PROTECTION OF ARCHIVES Jozef Hanus hanusjozef1@gmail.com

Transcription

1 PRESERVATION / PROTECTION OF ARCHIVES Jozef Hanus hanusjozef1@gmail.com

2 Who am I? Chemical engineer - graduated 1973 Chemical-Technological Faculty, Slovak University of Technology Bratislava Head, Department of Archives Preservation at the Slovak National Archives since PhD. in macromolecular chemistry and technology International Council on Archives - Committee on Preservation since International Council on Museums - Working group for conservation of graphic documents since International Institute for Archival Science Trieste-Maribor External lecturer at the Comenius University Bratislava Preservation of archives Participant at the EU projects MIP, PaperTreat, COST D42 Research stays - National Archives Canada Ottawa 1991, - CRCDG Paris 1998, 2000, 2002, - University La Rochelle 2004 Director, Archives Department, Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic January 1, 2009 Jan. 31, 2013 Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava

3 Preservation, conservation and restoration of documents crucial importance among the main tasks of archives Preservation of archives is a summary of processes and proceedings ensuring stability of documents against damage or destruction, treatments of damaged documents by conservation and restoration processes as well treatments of all documents during processing, making accessible, using, exhibition, etc.

4 Basic principles and conditions for protection / preservation Legal provisions Practical preservation preventive measures conservation and restoration

5 Legal provisions Declaration of the National Council of the Slovak Republic on preservation of cultural heritage from February 28, 2001 the Act no. 395/2002 on Archives and Registries and on the Amendments of Certain Acts from 17 May 2002 the Decree no. 628 of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic from 29 October 2002 by which some provisions of the Act on Archives and Registries are executed

6 Protection in legislation Act no. 395/2002 on Archives and Registries Article 2 Definitions (8) Protection of archives, shall mean a complex of specialised activities intended for their preservation and protection against theft and destruction. (10) Conservation copy of archives (hereinafter referred to as conservation copy ), shall mean a copy of the archives that is usually saved on microfilm in order to preserve the information that the archives contain.

7 Protection in legislation Article 3 Basic provisions (1) Archival heritage shall form an integral part of the cultural heritage of the Slovak Republic. The state shall be obliged to provide for the preservation of archival heritage and everyone shall be obliged to provide collaboration to the state with respect to it. (2) The acquisition of archives, protection of archives, their processing and access to the information contained in archives, shall be subject to public interest.

8 Charter of Zobor dated 1111, Bishop s Archives Nitra, Slovakia Golden bull of king Matej 1464 Coat of arms charter granted by emperor Zigismund to Bratislava in 1436,AMB Decree of Gratianus, 13th century, SNA Founding charter of Academia Istropolitana in Bratislava granted by Pope Paul II in 1469, SNA Antiphonary of Bratislava, 15th cent. SNA

9 Where does actually preservation begins? Original quality of archival documents which are already kept in archives or records which already have been produced 1. Creation and origin of record/document - process cannot be influenced and will become archival documents CANNOT BE INFLUENCED

10 Evidence/registration is an integral part of preservation which also enables the exact access to information Quality of archival aids can significantly reduce useless manipulation with documents Nothing will be lost in the archives! However, not always it can be found!

11 Archives buildings - the basic condition of preservation Ensuring of suitable /optimal conditions for storage of archival documents is a first-rate responsibility and task from preservatiuon point of view Preservation strategy is of a primary importance in planning, building or reconstruction/adaptation of any archives building There are a lot of publications dealing with these problems - among them some numbers of ATLANTI journal or proceeding of traditional conferences on professional and technical problems of archive works Sudobni Arhivi which have been held since 1979

12 Archives buildings - the basic condition of preservation BS 5454: 1989, rev British Standard Recommendations for storage and exhibition of archival documents. ISO 11799: Information and Documentation Document storage requirements for archive and library materials

13 APPENDIX B (informative) Paper, optimal storage Parchment, leather Photographic film b&w, ester of cellulose Photographic film b&w, polyester Microfilm colour, ester of cellulose Photographic microfilm colour, polyester Photographic sheets b&w Photographic sheets colour Photographic paper b&w Photographic paper colour Microfilm b&w, ester of cellulose Photographic microfilm b&w, polyester Vinyl plates Magnetic media (audio, video) Temperature [ C ] min max. changes 2 18 ± /h < 21 ± 2 < 21 < 2 < 2 < 20 < < 2 < 21 < 21 < ± 2 ± 2 ± 2 4/deň ± 2 ± 2 Relative humidity [ % ] min. max. changes ± %/h No changes No changes No changes No changes No changes No chans

14 Active gases and vapours of greatest concern which may be expected to harm archival documents and which are found in a polluted atmosphere are sulphur dioxide SO 2 oxides of nitrogen NO X ozone O 3 hydrogen sulphide H 2 S The major acidic pollutants sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are presented in urban air worldwide with typical ambient concentrations of 5 50 ppb for SO 2 and ppb for NO 2.

15 ISO Information and Documentation Document storage requirements for archive and library materials Annex A - Maximum limits for air pollution Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) Nitrogen Oxides (NO x ) Ozone (O 3 ) Parts/billion (by volume) μg / m 3 Dust particles 50 British Standard 5454: 2000 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents Annex A - Environmental conditions for the storage of modern media (photographic materials) 1 μg / m 3 5 μg / m 3 25 μg / m 3 carbon 45 μg / m 3 dioxide Theory - and reality; gaps between scientific knowledge and reality?

16 Nationaal Archief: different ways of storage Courtesy of Ted Steemers, The National Archives, The Netherlands

17 National Archives The Netherlands The Hague

18 Nationaal Archief: monitoring Klik om tekst in te voeren Courtesy of Ted Steemers, The National Archives, The Netherlands

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20 The Slovak National Archives

21 The air-inlet to the building

22 The air outlet from the storage room the 5th floor

23 Nationaal Archief: Air filtration AIRFILTRATION SYSTEM DUSTFILTER EU4 5. ACTIVATED CARBON 2. VENTILATOR 6. DUSTFILTER EU9 3. ELECTROSTATICAL FILTER 7. OPTIONAL 4. CHEMISORBANT Courtesy of Ted Steemers, The National Archives, The Netherlands

24 Selection of proper place for archival building

25 Flood 1966 Firenze

26 2002 Prague

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28 Fire in Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany The Anna Amalia Library, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, went up in flames in Roughly 50,000 books from the 16th to 20th centuries were destroyed.

29 After fire in Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany The restoration of the library has cost roughly 12.8 million.

30 Köln,

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34 The British Library s Additional Storage Building (ASB) at Boston Spa, West Yorkshire Archives & libraries - the same institutions from the point of their needs for quality storage conditions for keeping and long-term preservation Remarkable approach & solution using low-oxygen level atmosphere in new building of the BL provides not only fire protection precautions It can considerably reduce the rate of degradation of materials e.g. paper - by oxidation.

35 The British Library s 26m Additional Storage Building (ASB) at Boston Spa was officially opened on 3 December 2009 (Start/Completion ) It provides the BL with additional storage capacity for seven million items from the UK national collection. The fully-automated facility comprises 262 linear km of extra shelf space for the collection which is currently expanding at a rate of 12.5km of linear shelf space per year The project is also the first of its kind in the world to incorporate automated storage and retrieval systems Optimum environmental controls, and pioneering low-oxygen fire prevention technology in a single building. Although sprinklers are (usually) the preferred solution for libraries (wet books can be freeze dried), the BL has adopted a low-oxygen system of fire prevention which sees oxygen levels kept to just 14.8% (fires can only break out if oxygen levels are at 17% and above) To support this, the building is also one of the most air-tight in the UK - the leakage rate specification is not more than 0.5 cubic meter of air per square meter of wall area per hour (0.5m 3 /m 2 /hr).

36 The ASB building will house low-use material including patent specifications, books, serials and newspapers in 144,000 storage containers. The air conditioning system maintains a controlled, microbe-free climate at a constant temperature of 16ºc (+/- 1%) and constant humidity of 52% (+/- 5%). The storage repository itself features insulated vertical walls with a four hour fire resistance rating and a double-sealed, thermally efficient roof. These collection items form a substantial part of the memory of the nation and since now will be stored in environmental conditions that will ensure their long-term survival

37 The National Archives in Prague

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40 The Moravian Regional Archives in Brno

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49 Project of the National Archives of France in Pierrefitte sur Seine

50 The two current National Archives centres, located in Paris and in Fontainebleau, both reached saturation point (100 and 200 linear kilometres). To relieve this situation, the French Government decided to build a new centre at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine with a capacity about 320 kilometres linear which will be open to the public in A building of huge capacity will have some parameters as follows: 320 km of storage capacity (75% of the building) for 4-6 km increasing /year m 2 for reading room for 300 readers/day 800 m 2 hall and auditorium 500 m 2 exhibition hall 500 m 2 educational workshop m 2 transfer, appraisal, etc. Site : m 2, m 2 useful areas Building size: 163 metres length, 48 metres width, 40 metres height

51 The building will be equipped with a permanent fire protection system and used a new automatic fire suppression system: a water mist system with high pressure of 100 bars containing ten times less water than a traditional.( microns sprinkler (each droplet is split into 800 particles of diameter of 50 Special attention is devoted to rational organization of the internal traffic and transport (records and people movement Climatic conditions for repositories (storage areas of 200 m 2 ) are based on thermal inertia which is ensured by very compact building; external walls are composed of insulation and concrete associated with a waterproof barrier. Climatic conditions will be based on the control of the air intake and constant air circulation. Conditions of temperature and relative humidity will be maintained within acceptable limits - less strict but highly controlled Air conditioning will be provided only for special documents (photos, (. etc audiovisual, films,

52 Conclusion There are a lot of theoretical and practical experience in archives building Problems of new buildings or reconstruction of adapted premises for archives purposes - very complex task It should be kept in mind that archive buildings are usually not uniformed and in most of the cases they are remarkable and significant architectonic constructions Despite the diversity of archival buildings there exist the common principles and rules which should be kept in their construction close co-operation is necessary - archivists, architects, engineers, conservators and all experienced experts in this field Low-energy housing new tendency in archival buildings