Slide mounting equipment

Our slide library mounts such large quantities of slides that they
can no longer do so by hand, and they are looking for a slide
mounting system that is not too expensive, is quick to use and will
not hasten the deterioration of the slides. They are thinking of
buying a machine-applied slide mount called "Quickpoint":  Around
the inside of the window of one of the two halves of the slide
mounting frame there is a pressure sensitive adhesive that holds the
slide in place before the halves are snapped together.  The
manufacturer's Safety Data Sheet states that this is a water soluble
poly acrylate dispersion which has a pH of 8.0 when in the liquid
state. It goes under the trade name "Adhesin J 1620"  and is made in
Germany by Henkel KG&A. The adhesive is about as sticky as the
adhesive on a repositionnable "Post-It Note."

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has information and/or an
opinion on the possible long term effects of this adhesive on the
slides with which it would be in contact.  Perhaps it is silly to
worry, because the slides (which are kept at about 20 degrees C) may
change colour anyway before the adhesive has a chance to have much
effect on them.  According to the supplier, Loersch Corporation of
Pennsylvania, the product is "archival" (There's that word again)
and has been used by clients for over twenty-five years without one
complaint about damage to slides.

Also, I would be glad to hear suggestions on easy-to-use,
inexpensive slide mounting systems which do not use adhesives.

Karen Potje
Head, Conservation/Preservation
Canadian Centre for Architecture
Montreal, Canada

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:16
                 Distributed: Wednesday, August 7, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-16-017
                                  ***