Implementing sustainable energy-saving strategies in collections environments

Image Permanence Institute

2017

English

Bib record

IPI's general approach to providing an optimal preservation environment focuses on three core principles:
1. Preservation of collections requires specific conditions, but these conditions can, and often should, vary, particularly seasonally. The previously accepted standard (an unwavering 70░F/50%RH) for collections storage environments is not ideal, and a holistic and flexible approach to environmental management is more successful.
2. Institutions commonly operate on a fine line when it comes to resources and time allocation - attention is given first to those things that are known to be broken. Most mechanical systems operate sub-optimally and this type of operation is not self-announcing. A system that is achieving its environmental goal, even through sub-optimal operation, is rarely diagnosed as broken, and it takes proactive inspection to discover the inefficiency.
3. The simultaneous achievement of both the best preservation and optimal system operation is a process that requires a series of carefully defined, risk-managed steps that serve to test individual strategies in order to come to a final strategic approach for a unique collection, space, and mechanical system.--website of the Image Permanence Institute, 2018.

Conservation Library

All rights reserved

19 Dec 2023