Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)
Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - THOMAS, David: Architectural Design and Technical Equipment for the Physical Protection and Conservation of Documents
244 Archive Buildings there were arrangements for dealing with floods) might be an efficient way of providing stable conditions55). Colour photographs and films will need special facilities: an RH of 30% and a temperature of below 2° C. The simplest way to achieve this is to condition them to the correct RH and then to seal them into containers and place these in a freezer. This will require a small room equipped with a dehumidifier which can be used for conditioning the films before freezing and a domestic or commercial freezer of an appropriate size56). An area will also be needed where the films can reacclimatize in their containers before use. I have tried elsewhere in this paper to suggest low cost and effective methods of preserving records. In the case of audio visual materials, no such options are open. If archives are to preserve them, they have no option but to construct a suitable air-conditioned area equipped with shelving, freezers and dehumidification equipment. 5 The problem of providing adequate security has not, perhaps, been as widely discussed in archival literature as have other aspects of the preservation of records. The subject has been examined by the Society of American Archivists who published a useful manual in 1977. Evidence from the USA indicates that there is a problem of theft from archives, but that many institutions are unwilling to admit to losses because they are afraid of damaging their reputations or of scaring off potential depositors57). The main risk seems to be deliberate theft of documents from reading rooms; occasionally, one comes across the reverse: the deliberate introduction of forged material into records. The library profession in the USA is also very concerned about crime; a recent research project into library crime conducted a survey of 1647 public libraries. Of these, 80% reported that they had suffered book theft in a twelve month period; 66% had had books damaged and 54% experienced vandalism to the exterior of the building. Only 11% were free from all crime and disruption58). Although the main threat seems to come from members of the public in the reading rooms, other possibilities should not be excluded. Archives, like all other buildings are at risk from persons breaking in. There is also a possible risk from politically motivated individuals. Many archives contain records which could be regarded as political targets and the possibility of some form of terrorist action should not be excluded. One example of this sort of crime comes from the USA: Wayne State University nearly lost 15 items relating to 55) Michael Roper Advanced Technical Media: the Conservation and Storage of Audio-visual and Machine-Readable Records in Journal of the Society of Archivists 7 (1982) 106. 56) ISO 5466 section 7.1.2. 57) Philip Mason Archival Security: New Solutions to an Old Problem in The American Archivist 38 (1975) 478. 58) A. J. Lincoln Patterns and Costs of Crime in Library Trends 33 (1984) 69.
