International standard for permanent paper--ISO/CD 11108

The international standard ISO 9706 (1994) "Information and
documentation-Paper for documents-Requirements for permanence" has now
been published by the International Organization for Standardization.
This is the first international standard with technical requirements for
permanent paper intended for documents. ISO 9706 is based on a limited
number of quantitative tests. The limiting values have been selected so
that bulk quantities of paper classified by ISO 9706 can be produced at
reasonable cost. The standard is available from all national member
bodies of ISO. The national member body in USA is ANSI.

A committee draft CD 11108, ISO/TC 46/SC 10/N 77, "Information and
documentation - Archival Papers - Requirements for permanence and
durability" is still under study and subject to change. The closing date
for the ballot is 1994-04-30. The scope is: "This International Standard
specifies the requirements for archival papers. It is applicable to
unprinted papers intended for documents and publications required for
permanent retention and use. For these documents and publications paper
of high permanence and durability is required." A note says that
archival paper is primarily required for documents and publications
intended to be kept for use permanently because of their high
historical, legal or other significant values. In CD 11108 you will find
the requirements of ISO 9706 supplemented with some additional
requirements for fibre composition, grammage and folding endurance.
Papers made principally from fibres of cotton, cotton linters, hemp,
flax or ramie or mixtures thereof will normally be used in small
quantities, and this draft supplements the technical requirements of ISO
9706 in order to combine high durability with permanence. Some permanent
papers for documents produced in one copy (or very few copies) may be
subjected to heavy use, and CD 11108 is intended as an alternative
standard when papers need more durability than papers specified by ISO
9706.

ISO/TC 46/SC 10 Information and Documentation/Physical keeping of
Documents has P-members in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa,
Sweden, UK, USA and O-members (observers) in Belgium, Bulgaria, China,
Iceland, Korea, Rep. of, Netherlands, Romania, Thailand. All formal
communication to the committee shall be directed to the national
standardization organizations as the national member body, but I will
appreciate all relevant information you will provide to me while I am
serving as chairman of SC 10 Physical keeping of Documents.

Rolf Dahl
Riksbibliotektjenesten
(National Office for Research and Special Libraries)
POB 2439,
N-0201 Oslo,
Norway
47-22-43-08-80
Fax: 47-22-56-09-81
    Permanent paper (ISO 9706) will preserve important information...

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:72
                  Distributed: Monday, April 11, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-7-72-004
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