Preservation and Conservation Section
Report on Open Sessions
IFLA/WLIC, Oslo, 2005
"Housing for eternity - sustainable solutions and mistakes to avoid. The role of library buildings in preservation"
Report prepared by:
Jean Whiffin
Corresponding Member
Preservation and Conservation Section
This meeting was organized by Per Cullhed (Sweden) and Arthur Tennøe (Norway) of the Preservation and Conservation Section, together with the Sections on Asia and Oceania, Library Buildings and Equipment, and the IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation.
Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff, IFLA-PAC Director, set the scene with her presentation entitled "The First Step in Preservation: Building the Right Building". She emphasized that, among the essential missions of libraries, two - preservation and access - are complementary, not contradictory. In the past, all efforts have been concentrated on the curative care of single documents, i.e. "conservation", but conservation is part of the wider concept of preservation. The speaker acknowledged that all
library documents will sooner or later become unusable and inaccessible. Librarians can only try to delay the inevitable.
This was followed by a comprehensive summary of the threats (internal and external) against which preventive measures should be taken to safeguard the documentary heritage, while considering issues of accessibility, operability and architecture. Different missions call for different buildings, but preservation is of fundamental importance for all. Architects and librarians must respect each other.
Choosing a location for a future library requires assessment of the threats and risks, whether it is new, an adaptation of an existing one, or shared with another institution. New-building planners should be aware of fashions and not sacrifice preservation needs to the taste of the moment. More important considerations include: using proven local traditional materials and techniques, and materials which are fire-resistant; assessing the best location for fire-resistant walls and doors; relationship of installations, storage areas, machinery, technical areas, etc. to collections; security control; fire and flood detectors and response systems; HVAC systems; distance between functions, and so on. Adequate equipment also involves considering many factors. The problem of light must be discussed in detail between the librarian, the architect and illumination specialists.
The recommended standards - and the realities - of climate and environmental control were summarized, with the added comment "As a rule, what is good for the preservation of documentary heritage (security controls, low temperatures, dark), is not comfortable to the user and vice versa, everything the reader enjoys (free access, photocopy, bright lights) is harmful for documents."
Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff ended her comprehensive and universally useful presentation by outlining the requirements for "specific preservation premises" and "specific stacks" (photographic collections, acetate films, and back-up collections). She also summarized her personal approach: "For me, preservation is more of an attitude or a philosophy than a set of technical measures. It requires common sense and experience. Standards, guidelines, and best practices exist but they need to be adapted to each individual situation. It is just like children, there is no single way to raise them, each one being unique...Preservation should not be considered as a separate and specific mission within the library, but that it is an omnipresent function that is to be found everywhere, whatever the activity..."
Feng Jieyin, Shi Zhonghua and Wu Zhongxia (Shanghai Library), in their paper entitled "Preserving our Collection - The New Building of the Shanghai Library", examined the regulations of the Chinese National Standard for Library Building Design where collection preservation and disaster prevention are concerned. This report described how the design of the Shanghai new building (a municipal and research institution) abides by these regulations, and discussed the special plans established in the library for disaster preparedness and management.
The design of the new 1996 building is representative of modern library ones in China. It is so constructed and equipped with necessary devices that it can sustain heavy earthquake (7 on the Richter scale), and provide protection from the harmful effects of the southern climate and possible water damage.
Security devices provide protection from fire, water damage, theft, insects, mould and mildew, etc. Many design features, which are described in detail, contribute to resisting the spread of fire, and provide convenience for personal evacuation and fire-fighting operation, in addition to a very well co-ordinated fire prevention system integrating process control and information management. Since book drop fires are common, the 24-hour book return is placed in the Security Office, where guards are on duty 24 hours a day. Other protective methods include infrared lamps in rare book storage and computer room to ensure clear video images in darkness. The library preservation staff insert papers containing a certain chemical between the pages of rare books to prevent moth and insects. To prevent mildew from growing on books, the book preservation staff regularly distribute sanitizing tissues (containing a chemical concocted by them), protecting people's hands, thus library documents. Very strict disaster management plans are enforced at various levels to ensure the reliability of the facilities and the compliance with disaster prevention codes.
Gunhild Myrbakk (National Library of Norway, Mo i Rana) presented a paper on "Mountain Vaults: A Thousand Years Perspective". Her institution manages four major storage facilities, and one is situated a thousand kilometers north of Oslo, in the industrial town of Mo i Rana. This facility provided employment when the iron market was in decline, affecting thousands of workers in a state-owned iron company. It consists of a mountain vault built for preservation purposes containing the lending material of the Repository Library with an automated storage and retrieval system. This storage solution is the first of its kind in the Nordic library sector. The vault has a capacity of 1.5 million books, and is capable of handling 200 book reservations per hour. A separate vault for nitrate film is situated outside the mountain. Originally built to house 11 tons of nitrate film formerly kept by the Norwegian Film Institute in Oslo, it now holds 45 tons.
The speaker summarized the NLN approach since the Norwegian legal deposit act came into force in 1989. The main task was to create an environment that would preserve the collections for a thousand years. Deacidifying books and other documents on paper was considered but abandoned in favour of large scale passive conservation, i.e. Climate, Security, Shelving, Boxing, Disaster Planning and Control, all factors which have duly been taken into consideration. There is a constant temperature of 8 ºC all the year inside the mountains of northern Norway. All material going in and out of the storage vault is acclimatized. New fresh air from outside is dehydrated and filtered before it goes into the storage rooms. 80% of the air coming out from the different rooms is cleaned again and then recycled. Only people working there have access, and the public only through analogue or digital copies. Various groups of materials are stored in separate rooms, so that the breakdown products from one will not affect others. An area for reception and cleaning of collections is provided, and the vaults have to maintain a high level of cleanness. Most materials are placed in acid-free, lignin-free buffered cardboard boxes or envelopes. Preventive measures have been taken against both external conditions and internal factors that might damage the collections. Preservation policy includes condition testing. Newspapers are microfilmed and collections of old photographs digitized.
The greatest challenge is modern media such as magnetic tape, optical discs and digital documents. Retrieving information from damaged objects "will happen in the hands of sound, video and IT engineers, making their magic in rooms where conservators fear to tread..." Gunhild Myrbakk reported they have a large number of videotapes without a player, and wonders if any have to be preserved. "As a rule of thumb you can say that the keeping quality of the information is inversely proportional to the amount of technology involved in storing and retrieving it." She raised the question of dualism and authenticity. Which is the most original? Do we have to use time and effort to preserve material when it can be copied and digitized and even given "corrected" colours?
"Original documents contain information which it is not possible to save in a copy, either analogue or digital. Footprints from production and direction of motion picture films are for example of great importance to a film archivist. The originals are also documentation of the technological development and history. Can we allow those footprints to be erased?" Good storage conditions and follow-up programmes are essential, but they are not a solution to all preservation problems.
Vladimir Gnezdilov, Ekaterina Ilina, Olga Perminova, and Tatiana Stepanova (Russian State Library) collaborated in a paper entitled "Russian State Library: Old Buildings and New Solutions".
This described the reconstruction of the main book depository Block "D" to meet modern requirements and provide a long-term preservation facility. Since the early 1940s - the entire service of this building - there had been no repairs and no renewal of engineering systems. Fire prevention requirements were not met. Using an obsolete air-conditioning system and an exhausted ventilating one, temperature and humidity were out of control. The recommendations of a UNESCO committee of experts resulted in investment from France to finance the reconstruction, which commenced in 2003.
23 million books were involved. Remarkably, the old stacks were refurbished without removing this extensive collection. The racks were "swaddled" with specially impregnated cloth with fire-preventing properties, and work proceeded 4 tiers at a time. The authors detailed the storage conditions, state of the premises and communications before and after reconstruction, and also
provided graphs of temperature and moisture conditions over the 2002-2004 period.
Doors, lighting, windows, the main engineering system, air-conditioning, ventilation, and fire-fighting systems were replaced. As each block of tiers was completed, it was fitted out with the necessary equipment. 80 workstations have been provided with the requirements for the local computer network.
The reconstruction of the Russian State Library has resulted in a building meeting modern needs and providing long-term preservation of all the material kept in it.
Per Cullhed (Uppsala University Library) referred in his presentation on "The Almedalen Library - An Energy Lost-Cost Solution" to IFLA's role in promoting good standards in library collections preservation, and specifically IFLA Principles for the Care and Handling of Library Materials. These guidelines acknowledge the problems with giving general advice because of climatic differences in different countries, and that it is unrealistic to maintain a building or stack temperature at one setting throughout the year, especially in countries with extreme temperature variations, without incurring huge costs. Modern technology has provided excellent systems to cope with excessive dryness, heat, dampness and cold, but very little attention has been paid to the issue of energy costs necessary for keeping systems active. "The real threat to library collections in the future may be when one cannot afford to pay the huge energy costs necessary for keeping the counter-balancing HVAC-systems alive."
The aim of this technical paper was to raise the issue of the importance of low-cost solutions. Per Cullhed wants us to look beyond conflict-ridden issues such as the oil crisis, and consider other initiatives which are being taken by organizations such as ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil) or the EUBART Project (EUropean Bio-climatic Architecture with integrated Renewables and Real-Time user feedback). The latter project consisted of 8 partners, out of which one was the newly built Almedalen Library in Visby, Sweden, located on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
The Almedalen Library uses the ground (and ultimately the sun) as its energy source for both heating and cooling. Seawater is the source of heat for the pump by means of a water-to-seawater heat exchanger. The pump is driven by solar energy and employs propane as its medium. Passive systems such as the exposed concrete construction, as well as the refined technical systems out of which the heat pump is perhaps the most important contribution to the overall results, lead to 36% energy use, compared to a conventional building. The energy is 100% renewable.
This energy concept could serve as a model for sustainable library buildings. Such technical systems need to be integrated with the construction of a building, not amended in a secondary planning strategy.
Helen Shenton (British Library) commented that her institution was looking at utilizing geothermal boreholes in the North of England, and the possibilities of a heat pump system.
Christian Nørgaard Madsen and Geir Jensen (COWI A/S, Norway) together with Jan Holmberg
(Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) gave a technical paper evaluating a new technology called "Hypoxic Air Venting - Fire Protection for Library Collections", and its planned application for an existing medieval building (the Arezzo Public Library) in Italy, and for two new large libraries in Oman. Sample designs for these proposed installations were provided.
One disadvantage of all conventional active fire protection systems is that they do not prevent damage by the initial fire prior to extinguishment, and they all to some extent involve secondary damage to the protected objects. Inert air venting (hypoxic air) in which 5% oxygen is substituted by 5% nitrogen prevents fires from starting, allows continuous occupation of protected spaces, causes no secondary damage, and offers high reliability. Inert air is produced by simple and reliable generators that fit into existing or new air conditioning systems so that no pipes, nozzles or other equipment needs to be installed in the rooms to be protected. The air is safe enough to breathe, but common materials cannot ignite or burn in it. The presentation included supplying documentation regarding health and safety issues. Inert air is acceptable for all application categories of museums, libraries and historic buildings by simple precautions. "To most people regular occupation and controlled exercise in inert air will increase their health." But public spaces should be treated as airplanes by not allowing individuals with predispositions for disease in hypoxic air, as the inert air atmosphere is equal to that in airplane cabins.
The main challenge appears to be running costs due to the energy consumption in applications that require high air exchange rate or have great leakage rate. "Contrary to most other extinguishing media, inert air is promising for effective protection during escape from terrorist incidents involving fire or toxic agents in structures. Inert air may also protect libraries in similar large scale incidents, and allow for removal and rescue of valuable items."
In discussion afterwards, several participants expressed reservations about the health and safety aspects of this novel method of providing fire protection.
