In and Out Air Strategies Conference: Speakers’ presentations on line!
International Conference, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 5-6 March 2009
This event was the first of a cycle of four which will be organized by PAC Core activity in collaboration with other institutions, focusing on the four elements: Air, Water, Fire and Earth and how libraries and archives have to deal with them, obviously in terms of preservation.
The programme about Air was dense, beginning with a morning session dedicated to climate change.
Robert Kandel pictured the global climate change, followed by specialists in cultural heritage buildings among whom Elizabeth English presented fascinating post-Katrina studies.
1. First session of the conference: Robert Kandel, keynote speaker, Carlota Grossi and Valérie Vesque-Jeancard (from left to right). Pascal Lafay/BnF
The afternoon session was dedicated to indoor air quality: VOC was one of the main topics.
On Friday 6, a large round table gathered experts dealing with air management issues, mainly concerning air-conditioning and natural ventilation.
2. Round Table (from left to right): Jean-Luc Bichet, introducing the Pierrefitte project, Tim Padfield, Thi Phuong Nguyen, France Saïe Belaïsch, Isabelle Formont and Bruno Bonandrini.
The last session offered the presentation of new tools and researches, particularly in the realm of anoxia.
3. Anoxia session: Fenella France explaining anoxic encasements for select treasures, Nieves Valentin, Michelle Gunn and John de Lucy.
More than one hundred persons, coming from Europe, attended the sessions. Thanks to the support of Airinspace and Stouls these two days allowed us to have the best experts on these topics, coming from USA, UK, Spain and France.
Speakers’ contributions are now on line: please, check the website from time to time for newly posted presentations.
Thursday March, 5, 2009
First session: Climate change and cultural heritage
- Global climate change, By Robert Kandel, Keynote speaker, Emeritus Senior Scientist, CNRS Laboratory of dynamic meteorology, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
- Global climate change impact on built heritage: Presentation of Noah’s Ark project, By Carlota Grossi, Senior Research Associate, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK
- DARE, Data rescue project, applied to France and Europe storms history, By Pierre Bessemoulin, President of WMO (UN World Meteorological Organization) Commission for Climatology
- Wind resistance strategies for cultural heritage buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, by Elisabeth C. English, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo School of Architecture (Canada), Louisiana State University Hurricane Centre Faculty Advisor (USA)
Second session: Microclimate and indoor air quality in cultural heritage institutions
- Measuring the emission of volatile organic compounds from books, By Velson Horie, Research Project Manager, Collections Care, The British Library
- Microclimate and air pollution in the Palace of Louvre in the context of AER European Project (Assessment of Environmental risk related to unsound use of technologies and mass tourism), By Roger-Alexandre Lefèvre, Professor Emeritus at the Paris XII Universit, France
- Air quality in display cases, By Brigitte Leclerc and Caroline Laffont, Biologists, Laboratory of Conservation Department, National Library of France
Friday March 6, 2009
Third session: Air management
Round table gathering experts from libraries, museums and archives
- Presentation of Pierrefitte project, By Jean-Luc Bichet, Architect, French National Archives
- Archives buildings, By France Saïe Belaïsch, Architect, Directorate of Archives of France: Presentation I and Presentation II
- Design of museum and archives storage, By Tim Padfield, Consultant in preventive conservation
Fourth session: Air research and development
Anoxy, as a way of preserving, disinfecting and protecting collections
- Anoxic encasements for select treasures: presentation of the project led by the Library of Congress, By Dr Fenella France, Preservation Directorate, Library of Congress, USA
- Collections disinfection: presentation and experimentation of Veloxy, By Nieves Valentín Rodrigo, Conservation scientist, Instituto del patrimonio cultural de España, Spain, and Tiziana Plebani, Head of preservation and restoration, Biblioteca nazionale Marciana – Venezia, Italy
- British Library low oxygen case study: the future of fire prevention in archival stotage, By John de Lucy, Head of Estates and Facilities, The British Library, UK
Healthcare and aerospace research applied to cultural heritage
- Presentation of PLASMAIR, By Nicolas Laudinet, Claim support manager, Airinspace