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
246 Archive Buildings problem may be to install internal intruder alarms and to have a key system by which only members of the archive staff may have access to the security area84). The design of the reading room is important if the loss of material is to be minimized. It is important that a raised desk be provided for a member of staff to invigilate and that all areas of the room be visible from it. At the new building of the Public Record Office in London, the reading desks were specially designed so that readers would sit directly opposite one another; the intention was that they would, to some extent, supervize each other. All the features which have been described so far: locks, barred windows, strong doors, a separate area for the records can be characterised as physical security and are essential in preventing crime. They can be supplemented but not replaced by electronic devices: TV cameras, alarms and sensors. These electronic systems have a number of features in common. They are increasingly reliable and are very sensitive. Unlike human guards they are not subject to fatigue or boredom. Their major weakness is that they cannot react to an intruder; all they can do is send a message to a human guard that a person is present in the building. Although such equipment can be valuable in some circumstances, on fire exits or in shared buildings, it should never be used as an alternative to good design and the construction of a physically secure building. Two pieces of electronic equipment are worthy of special mention: TV cameras and library security devices. TV cameras were installed at the Public Record Office in London to supervize the exterior and to invigilate in the reading rooms where they were intended to supplement the staff who were also present. They have been a success in their role outside the building, but failed in the reading rooms. They were found to have two weaknesses: their image was sometimes not sufficiently clear to make effective supervision possible and the staff very much disliked sitting and watching TV pictures of academics and genealogists reading records. Library security devices are coming to play an increasing role in the protection of books. There are two basic systems: electromagnetic and radio frequency. In both systems small targets - either sensitized strips or pressure sensitive labels - are concealed in books. These targets are detected by sensors (placed at the exits from the reading rooms) if anyone tries to remove a book. There are a few drawbacks to this system. They can be compromised; two notorious American book thiefs, James Shinn and Thomas Freeman were able to steal from libraries with security equipment. There is also some risk of damage to books when the strips are inserted in the spines and some manufacturers have supplied strips with acidic adhesives. These devices cannot protect individual sheets or maps or prevent manuscripts from being mutilated. Moreover, they do impose design constraints as gates or other forms of detectors have to be installed at the exits. Within these limitations they do have a role to play in archives. Although they are not suitable for use on original records, they are a valuable way of protecting reference works and other books on reading room shelves. Any archive with a valuable collec- 64 64) Bell Archival Accommodation 363.
