Outdoor storage

Lois Petersen <lois_petersen [at] eed__state__ak__us> writes

>I had a librarian ask me how much it would damage books to be placed
>in an outside enclosed, but not heated, storage container in Alaska
>for a period of time (perhaps a month) while a library was moved
>from one location to the next.  Expected temperatures would be
>between 0-30 degrees.

One only needs to think of what is done to wet books after a
disaster--they are often frozen.  there should be no problem
freezing the volumes as long as a few precautions are taken.

    1.  The boxes need to be sturdy enough that they will not
        collapse under the weight of other boxes.

    2.  When they are packed, they should be either packed upright,
        flat or spine down (one layer only).

    3.  Effort should be made to raise the boxes off the floor, e.g.
        on pallets, to protect them from unforeseen problems.

    4.  When they are to be brought back into the library, they need
        to have a period of acclimatization so that there will not
        be a condensation problem.  Furthermore, the materials may
        be stiff and potentially brittle at that temperature so care
        needs to be exercised in any handling that is necessary.

    5.  The best thing would be to box them, move them to their
        storage place, and leave them there until they are needed
        again. then bring them back to room temperature gradually.

Gregor Trinkaus-Randall
Preservation Specialist
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
648 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02215-2070
617-267-9400, 800-952-7403 (in-state)
Fax: 617-421-9833

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:33
                 Distributed: Friday, December 3, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-33-005
                                  ***