Shelving

Sean Harrison wants to know more about shelving systems. The only
thing on this subject I've got for him is a warning. If your
intentions are to use movable shelving systems, you have to be aware
of the fact that when your HVAC is programmed with a regular
ventilation strategy, you want be able to reach good environmental
conditions. Simulation studies showed that when you have a source of
investation(?) or emission somewhere on your shelves the influence
of it will reach the opposite shelves with a distance of 50
centimeter. What you need for this type of shelving systems is a
ventilation rate of 1.5 per hour and a minimum distance between the
racks of 5 centimeters. This is the only way to avoid microclimates
in your shelving system and a high concentration of weak organic
acids and formaldehydes, caused by the degradation of the material
you store. The studies on this subject are not available in English,
only in Dutch.

Ted Steemers
Conservation Policy Officer
Dutch State Archives
Netherlands

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:4
                  Distributed: Thursday, June 18, 1998
                        Message Id: cdl-12-4-016
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