The Storage and Packing of Archives - Essay Example

Author Note.

Archival Storage

Introduction

Teygeler et al. (2001), Archives in their very nature are unique, in terms of documents in context as well as individual documents. It should be remembered that once archives have been lost, it is impossible to replace them, and thus they will be irreplaceable. Archives are essential because they are valuable, depending on the context. Historical archives are significant since they were handed down to us by our parents; therefore, it's our responsibility to ensure that they have been preserved for future generations. Archives have been known to be the skeleton upon which human memory is anchored. They contain factual information and the informational context in which other elements of life can be studied and understood.

The rich archival heritage is always threatened by both internal and external threats, rodents, acidity, and molds. It, therefore, means that archival storage is the safekeeping of archives, and owing to the importance that archives have been given, ensuring that they are stored and preserved correctly, becomes essential. This essay is going to look at the best practices in archival storage, and the pros and cons of better preservation of archives.

Best practices in archival storage.

Various best practices of archival storage are in existence, which ensures that the archives are appropriately stored. The first best practice is ensuring that the physical storage media is preserved. Physical storage media entails the physical media on which the information of the records is stored. Paper is the medium that is most significantly encountered in any archive. The properties of paper are that it is a durable medium if and only if stored in archival storage and handled with care. Therefore, the best practice here is that storage media like paper should be stored in an environment where the temperature is not so high. The relative humidity should also be lower so that the life of the article is prolonged (You and Karamanolis, 2004)

Another best practice is ensuring that the archives' storage and appropriates storage environment must be provided. All archivists must ensure that all archival records are stored or kept in suitable environments so that the life of the archives can be prolonged. If the storage environment is appropriate, it will reduce the need for the conservation treatment of the archives, which is most expensive and may not even be available. Therefore, the concept of providing an appropriate storage environment implies that a clean and stable climatic condition that takes into consideration individual materials being stored should be provided. Also, proper enclosures and shelves and good housekeeping and handling practices should be observed.

You and Karamanolis (2004) examine that another best practice of archival storage is environmental control. It implies that the climatic conditions for the proper preservation of archival materials should be observed in accordance with the international standards. For example, if the archival material is paper, it should be stored under an average temperature of 18oC, and the fluctuation should not be more than 1oC. For storage of paper, the relative humidity should average at 50% with a maximum fluctuation of 2o. The international standards have different conditions for different materials.

The storage and packing of archives should be done in a manner that ensures there is sufficient air movement to avoid the creation of air pockets in the storage rooms and also to be able to remove off-gassing from the materials that are deteriorating. The building of the shelves should consider strengths as well as proper bracing. The Archival records should also be stored in acid-free boxes, and the boxes should be made from high-quality materials (You and Karamanolis, 2004).

Pest control is also a best practice in archival storage. Pest control has been known to be one of the problems on archive preservation, even when the environment has been controlled effectively. If pests' invasion is coupled with the rise in relative humidity, then mold will be formed on the archives, and this has the potential to destroy these archives (Walker, 1990). That is why guidelines have been given to guide the conduct in the repositories so that pests can be controlled. It is advised that eating and drinking should not be allowed in the repository of archival materials. Also, all arriving materials should be thoroughly inspected before they are put into the archive storage. All suspected items should be quarantined so that they are inspected to ascertain whether they have been infested by the pests and if so, proper elimination of pests should be done. Past control in the archival storage, is tied to the maintenance of cleanliness and the control of humidity.

Discuss Pros and Cons of better preservation of records taking into consideration climatic conditions of the storage area, furniture and types of different enclosures for different media.

Archive, are composed of organic materials which may include paper, clothe, animal skins and even adhesives and these materials, undergo a natural aging process that is inevitable. Entirely stopping this process of deterioration my be impossible but sure it can be slowed down. Measures can be taken to ensure that the deterioration is slowed down through the careful handling of the archives and through provision of and adequate sympathetic environment. Preservation of the archives therefore, entails all the activities that lead to the prolonging of the usable life of all the archives. The design of these activities is meant to reduce the chemical and physical deterioration of the archive which may lead to the permanent loss of informational records. Therefore, various way is employed to ensure that the archives are safeguarded and preserved for posterity.

Security

The first way of ensuring better preservation of archives, is by ensuring that the storage area of the archives has sufficient security. It is the responsibility of management repositories to ensure that a security policy is in place so the archives are secure at all times. The first line of securing is ensuring that the repositories are not accessed by unauthorized people. Various ways can be used to deter unauthorized access which may include, erection of perimeter walls, establishment of secure entrances manned by security staff at all times and the utilization of technology to deter unauthorized access (Buchanan 2019). The use of technology has been found to be effective in ensuring that that there is no unauthorized access to premises. The management of the repositories can install biometric technology which will ensure that every person who accesses the repositories can be known and tracked. Alarms and electric fences can also be installed to deter unauthorized people from accessing the repositories (Millar, 2016).

Millar (2016) further postulates that, having a secure fence, and restricting unauthorized access has the advantage of ensuring that the archives will be secure and no damage will be caused by unauthorized access. The disadvantage of undertaking this measure, is that it may cause cost and managerial problems. Its is costly to erect credible walls around premises, and installation of appropriate personnel and technology to man the wall and the entrances is costly.

Various medium and proper ways of preserving them.

Archive are made up of different media, which require different methods of preservation. Archives may be made of paper records, which may also include all cartographic records. The ideal way of preserving paper is ensuring that the light in the storage area is controlled. The light levels in places where paper is stored, should be below 50 lux, and the temperature, should be kept at 8o C. As the age of paper advances, the level of acidity causes it to be weak and therefore environmental conditions are essential in the design and establishment of paper archives to ensure that they don’t deteriorate. Paper archives should also be kept in acid free folders to deter its deterioration (Siegrist, 2016).

Archives can also be made of vellum and parchment., which are resistant to acid attacks and are really durable if they are correctly stored. Vellum and parchment, is however very susceptible to changes in relative humidity and they should be exposed to as little light as possible. The temperature in the storage area should be kept between 18 to 20o. Photographic prints, all also very sensitive to light and some of them like the ambrotypes need to be stored in special cases which are costly (Boyatzis, Velivasaki and Malea, 2016). The advantage of this effective method of archive preservation id that it protects archives from environmental conditions and thus prolonging their life. However, it is costly to install gadgets that regulate environmental conditions like temperature and the level of humidity.

For purposes of this paper, its is not possible to exhaust all the types of materials that archives are made of and how they are stored, however it is important to not that each media that the archives are made of, need to be stored under certain conditions so that their life is prolonged and their original appearance is preserved. Also, the type of material that the archives are made of dictates the type of furniture e.g. shelving that will be installed in the repositories. It is important to note that in order to protect archives, care should be taken to ensure that they are not destroyed by environmental condition, intrusion of disaster. Genovese (2016) postulates that it is therefore imperative that devices that control temperature, humidity, and light are installed in the repositories. Also, disaster prevention and mitigation devices like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and alarms are also essential in ensuring the safety of archives. All these have the advantage of ensuring the preservation of the archives, and ensuring that no damage befalls the. The disadvantage here is that it is costly to install and maintain some of these technologies, and it requires that additional staff be recruited who have the technical expertise in handling some of these gadgets (Genovese, 2016).