[PADG:565] Re: treating mold in archives and book collections

["Doris Hamburg" <Doris.Hamburg@xxxxxxxx>]

I am travel and will be returning to the National Archives at College Park, MD on Monday, July 18.

Please direct immediate questions to Clarence Simmons who will be Acting Director, Preservation Programs in my absence: clarence.simmons@xxxxxxxx .  301-837-2982

If there is a records emergency, please contact NARA security at 301-837-2900.  Security will contact the Records Emergency (Beeper) Response Team.


Doris A. Hamburg
Director, Preservation Programs
National Archives and Records Administration



>>> padg 07/14/05 18:15 >>>

Dear Patti,

In response to your recent query to the list 
about "experience treating mold on archives and 
bound materials in house," we are in the process 
of setting up a room at the HRC that will be 
dedicated to cleaning mold-contaminated 
collection materials. It is scheduled to be 
operational by the end of the summer at which 
time I will have more details. Our conservation 
and administrative staff has just begun working 
with the University Environmental Health and 
Safety Department (EHS) and HVAC engineers and 
this outside input has been enormously helpful.

The mold remediation room will be equipped with 
an, as yet undetermined, air ventilation and 
filtration system. The system should contain the 
mold and remove particulates from the room air. 
The addition of localized equipment in the 
workroom has also allayed EHS concerns that 
operation of the fume hood could heat up the 
workspace making it uncomfortable or worse for 
staff.

(Originally it was thought that use of a fume 
hood would be sufficient to contain the mold 
during cleaning; but because oversize works of 
art as well as paper documents and books will be 
cleaned in this room, the additional air 
filtration system was found to be necessary. We 
had also planned on installing a germicidal UV 
fixture in the room, as they do in the university 
mycology labs, to reduce the level of viable mold 
spores. By adding the air filtration system to 
reduce the levels of mold in the room, EHS felt 
that germicidal UV lamps were not needed. [EHS 
had expressed concern about the use of UV lamps 
due to recent eye damage to several university 
staff caused by UV exposure.])

The walls of the mold remediation room will be 
painted with a washable gloss paint to facilitate 
cleaning. The paint will be mixed with Interceptü 
a mold inhibitor.

We will remove mold from collection materials in 
a ductless fume hood, unless the item is too 
large to fit into the hood. Depending on their 
physical condition, we will clean documents by 
aspirating with a HEPA vac using micro tools. 
When cleaning books, a magnetic wiping fabric, 
such as the Dust Bunnyü, or a soot sponge is used 
after aspiration.

While cleaning, staff will wear personal 
protective gear including Tyvekü coveralls and 
hats, booties, goggles, nitrile gloves and 
respiratory protection- either an N95 mask or a 
respirator.

Conservation staff generally cleans contaminated 
materials. Unfortunately at this time, we have a 
large quantity of moldy materials, so, 
fortunately, we will be hiring additional staff 
to work on a couple of remediation projects.

Following the cleaning of the mold contaminated 
materials, our institution will have to work out 
an approach to the storage and access of these 
materials. There has not been research in our 
field as to the effectiveness of our methods of 
cleaning mold contaminated materials, although, 
currently, it is assumed that mold cannot be 
completely removed from the porous structure of 
paper and book cloth. We also do not know how 
long mycotoxins, antigens, or other irritants 
found in mold metabolic parts remain viable and 
could, therefore, cause health problems.


There is more information about how various 
institutions treat mold-contaminated materials in 
the recently posted responses to the "Survey on 
Acquisition, Treatment, Access, and Storage of 
Moldy Materials". The survey was posted on PADG 
[2319] and Cons DistList (17:59) in March 2004. 
Responses can be found at 
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/primanis/mold_survey_summary_2004-10.html


I am sure that many of the commercial restoration 
vendors have dealt with moldy materials. I have 
had several discussions with Kirk Lively, 
Director of the Technical Services Division, at 
Belfor in Fort Worth and found him to be 
knowledgeable about the general topic of mold 
contamination of library and archive materials as 
well as its removal.


Of the many information resources available, I 
have learned a great deal about mold and its 
remediation from the following texts:
-"Mould Prevention and Collection Recovery: 
Guidelines for Heritage Collections" by Sherry 
Guild and Maureen MacDonald (CCI 2004) gives 
excellent info on cleaning mold contaminated 
materials.
-"Fungal Facts" by Mary Lou Florian (Archetype Books, 2003)
-"Bio Aerosols Assessment and Control" (ACGIH 1999)

Good luck,
Olivia


>Hello,
>
>I would very much like to talk to people who 
>have experience treating mold on archives and 
>bound materials in house, and those who contract 
>work on moldy materials to outside vendors.
>
>In particular, I am interested to learn more 
>about your in-house facilities (where you treat 
>materials in your building, what equipment you 
>use); the type of staff who carry out the 
>procedures; and the general the techniques you 
>use to treat mold.
>
>If you have experience sending materials out for 
>treatment, I would be especially interested to 
>hear about your experiences. I would like to 
>learn where people send their materials, the 
>amount of material they send, and general costs 
>for treatments.
>
>Any information is welcomed,
>
>Patti Gibbons
>
>Patti Gibbons
>Preservation Manager
>Special Collections Research Center
>University of Chicago Library
>1100 East 57th Street
>Chicago, IL 60637
>t (773) 702-6027, f (773) 702-3728
>pgibbons@xxxxxxxxxxxx


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