Physical maintenance of the records

All metal paper clips, rusting staples, and rubber bands should be removed.

Documents should be in containers that prevent dust from entering

Large items should be stored flat.

The ideal storage area for records:

Amenable to consistent environmental control (temperature and humidity)

No water pipes running nearby

Little or no natural light

Why does paper deteriorate?

Wood pulp = acid content = slow burn

Any paper manufactured since the mid-19th century, unless it is of the type designated permanent/durable or acid-free, has an expected useful life of less than fifty years.

What is the best defense against paper deterioration?

Environmental controls

A chemical reaction is taking place in acidic paper, and this reaction is accelerated by high temperatures and high humidity

Ideal temperature: 60-68 degrees F

Ideal relative humidity level: 40-60%

If ideal conditions cannot be reached, try to maintain

CONSISTENT conditions

Preservation common sense:

Some records are valuable as physical artifacts while others are valuable primarily for the information they contain.

For some deteriorating items, photo-copying them onto acid-free paper and discarding the originals makes more sense than spending money to deacidify, repair, or encapsulate them.

Optical scanning and digitization are the most stable way to preserve records

Repairing materials:

NEVER use cellophane tape

Get some basic supplies:

archival repair tape

wipe cloths

acid free paper

Special needs for photographs

1) Never label photographs on their reverse with ballpoint pen. The ink may bleed through to the front. Reference numbers on mounts should be written discreetly in light-resistant ink. Reference numbers on the back of photographs that have not been mounted can be written with a soft pencil that leaves a clear mark.

2) If possible, put photographs in chemically stable polyester or paper sleeves (e.g., made of a material such as Mylar, or acid-free paper.) Such sleeves help prevent curling of photographs and reduce physical contact with the photos. It is also possible to label the sleeves with identifying information or to insert a separate written label inside the sleeve.

3) If it is not feasible for you to use sleeves, be sure to store the photographs in such a way that they will not curl over time and will not be subject to excessive handling.

4) Photographs should be handled with cotton gloves, or held by the edges to avoid skin contact with the image.

5) Photographs are very susceptible to water damage and should not be stored near sources of water. If you ever have a flood situation in the archives, be sure to rescue the photographs first.

6) Photographs are susceptible to insect damage, so may be best stored in a metal container if insects are likely to be a major problem.

7) Photographs should not be scanned or photocopied repeatedly.

Special needs for films and videos

Be aware of the dangers of nitrate film

Make a video cassette use copy for films;

Store videos upright with tape on bottom.

Rewind films and videos periodically

Electronic records:

The conservative stance for a repository to take regarding electronic records is to require that all records be deposited in hard copy.

This stance will be increasingly untenable as organizations and individuals wholeheartedly enter the electronic age.

Even now, there is a danger in requesting hard copy printouts of records to be saved. The extra steps of selecting and printing records to be saved will inevitably limit the number and variety of records saved.

Basic strategies for preserving electronic data:

Medium refreshing: copying data from one physical carrier to another of the same type, e.g. backing up a hard drive, diskette, or CD ROM.

Medium conversion: transferring electronic data from one medium to another – this might mean transferring to a non-digital medium.

High quality acid neutral paper can last a century or longer and archival quality microfilm is projected to last 300 years or more. Paper and microfilm have the additional advantage of requiring no special hardware or software for retrieval or viewing

Format conversion: converting the data format in order to reduce the number of different formats being used in a particular setting, e.g. converting WordPerfect word processing files to a Word format.

Migration: converting the data so that it can operate with different hardware and software than originally intended. This could involve transferring data to a central server or computer housed in the archives.

The most important thing that an archivist can do at this point is to work with those generating the records to raise their consciousness about the problems involved in preserving electronic data. If records are received in electronic format, repositories may need to reformat them at intervals to avoid obsolescent formats and the need for obsolete hardware.

A schedule should be put in place, and a particular person made responsible, to intentionally verify at specific intervals that the following types of electronic data are still readable:

Email
Word processing and web documents
Databases.

Disaster preparedness

A disaster plan in the event of fire or flood should be an integral part of any repository’s program.

It is important to have the plan in written form because of potential chaos and confusion at the height of the emergency

If there should be water damage, it is best to rescue photographs, microfilm, and any materials with coated paper first.

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