Using a Multi-Methods Approach to Investigate Disaster Preparedness of Community Libraries in the North West Province of South Africa

Disasters can occur anywhere, and no organisation is immune to disasters. Community libraries in South Africa have experienced disasters over the past years, ranging from natural disasters to human-made disasters. This research aims to investigate the disaster preparedness of community libraries in the North West Province of South Africa. A multi-methods approach that involved questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis was used. The study results revealed that although community libraries have experienced disasters, they considered them as once-off events. Consequently, disaster management was not part of the collection management policy. However, disaster management should be a key component of collection development, and it should be part and parcel of a collection management policy.

Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) as a Non-Polar Masking Agent for Water-Sensitive Substrates During Polar Solvent Treatment

D5 (decamethylcyclopentasiloxane), a non-polar solvent that evaporates slowly, was tested for its suitability as a temporary masking agent for water-sensitive media on paper objects undergoing aqueous treatment. Three different treatment-related settings were tested on five different paper types, some prepared with water-soluble inks. In 10-min water immersion treatments, D5 proved largely ineffectual in protecting the water-soluble inks. In conjunction with melt-applications of cyclododecane, the addition of D5 enhanced its barrier function only in one case. To test the ability of D5 to prevent tideline formation, the test samples received applications of water, acetone, and a water-ethanol-mixture, creating an interface with freshly D5-impregnated areas. The papers were evaluated visually (VIS, UVA), some after artificial aging. D5 diminished the formation of visible tidelines in the two internally sized papers with low water absorbency in contact with acetone and the ethanol-water mixture, but did not prevent tidelines in contact with water. It also did not protect water-absorbent paper. The results indicate that D5, which is miscible with ethanol and acetone, may disperse tidelines caused by these solvents, but it proved largely insufficient for protecting media during water immersion.

Logwood Writing Inks: History, Production, Forensics, and Use

In the 16th century, the Spanish brought logwood from Mexico to Europe. Its extract was used for textile dyeing. The French introduced the logwood tree to Western Hispaniola, which became Haiti in 1804. Around 1880, Haiti exported most of its logwood to France. In 1847, Runge introduced the black chrome-logwood ink as an alternative for iron-gall ink, because the latter attacked the steel writing nibs. The most important constituents of logwood are hematoxylin and hematein. Due to the profitable import conditions from Haiti, chrome-logwood ink became the cheapest and most commonly used black writing ink in France. This could explain why Vincent van Gogh, during his French period, used it for writing and drawing and why most of the French postcards from the first half of the 20th century, studied in this publication, were written with chrome-logwood ink, while most of the Dutch postcards were written with an iron gall ink.

Mass Treatment of Flooded Archival Materials by Gamma Radiation

This work describes mass recovery processes of flooded archival materials at industrial scale. The presence of fungi on paper represents a threat to the integrity of the document because they degrade cellulose, one of the main components of paper. Gamma radiation treatments are investigated as mass disinfection agents for their high penetrating power, speed of treatment, and absence of risk due to chemical residuals. We compared two different recovery processes: thermal drying followed by gamma irradiation and gamma irradiation followed by thermal drying. Both these processes were conducted simultaneously on naturally contaminated archival items and on paper specimens artificially contaminated with species test. Efficacy was assessed by culture method and ATP assay, right after the treatments and after four years of storage at room temperature. Coupling gamma irradiation with a drying step with dry heat at 55–60 °C reduces the fungal loads on natural items up to levels close to the detection limits, and the reduction is maintained after four years. On artificial specimens, spore germination is completely inhibited, mycelia growth is also highly affected, but the melanised test species appear to be more resistant. A synergistic effect between gamma irradiation, water content, and thermal drying is highlighted in this paper.

Survey Methodology for a Collection of Technical Drawings

The YAMP (Projects and Specifications Archive Department) historical collection is part of the collections of technical drawings owned by the Historical Archive of Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP S.A.). The survey of the collection, which is presented here, was commissioned by the Company to the Department of Archival, Library & Information Studies, University of West Attica, Greece. The objectives of the survey were the documentation of the condition of the collection, the determination of the technical specifications, and the cost estimation for its conservation. Several aspects of the survey methodology are presented, mainly the documentation step, which was planned to collect all the essential data, and the process of the cost estimation. Automation and parameterization of the calculations necessary for the documentation and the cost estimation are discussed in detail. The results of the survey and the recommended best practices for the optimization of the management of the collection are briefly outlined.

Two Different Storage Environments for Palm Leaf Manuscripts: Comparison of Deterioration Phenomena

Precious palm leaf manuscripts are kept in public libraries, archives, museums, and temples in China. Recently, private collectors have gained interest in collecting such manuscripts as well. Different storage environments and preservation measures may have an impact on the overall condition and deterioration of manuscripts depending on the respective collecting entirety. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the storage situation of palm leaf manuscripts in different storage conditions, identify their state of deterioration and further analyze the underlying reasons. This research focuses on the palm leaf manuscripts stored at the Cultural Palace Library of Nationalities and in the Fandian Palace. Deterioration phenomena, such as acidification, staining, mold, tearing and blurred ink, have occurred. The main problems could be identified as inadequate storage materials and acidification of the wrapping materials. Unfavorable storage conditions also affect aging and deterioration. By comparing palm leaf manuscripts of the two collections, we found that the manuscripts of The Cultural Palace Library of Nationalities are well preserved as a whole, with few signs of deterioration and slight damage, while the manuscripts of the Fandian Palace show more serious problems. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the storage conditions at the latter location and take some measures to prevent the palm leaf manuscripts from continuing to deteriorate.

Evidence of Fungal Spreading by the Grey Silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudatum) in Austrian Museums

The grey silverfish Ctenolepisma longicaudatum is a new and serious pest spreading rapidly across Europe. Compared to the silverfish Lepisma saccharinum, it does not depend on relative humidity above 70% and thrives also in new museum buildings, modern storage depositories, apartments, and office buildings. Especially collections of graphic art, modern art on paper, photographs, but also archives and libraries are increasingly affected by this pest. Damage of paper objects has been reported by different authors and institutions across Europe. As these animals live in inaccessible cracks and crevices inside the buildings, we investigated the spread of microorganisms on living grey silverfish, to show a potential additional threat posed by this pest. In 8 locations in Austria living animals were collected with traps and placed for 10 min on agar plates which were incubated for 2 weeks. After incubation of 50 agar plates, between 2 and 20 colonies of fungi were growing on each plate. The most dominant fungal genera were Cladosporium (Cladosporium cladosporioides clade) and Penicillium (Penicillium glabrum, Penicillium decumbens); also, species of the genera Aspergillus, Alternaria, Botrytis, Bartalinia, Byssochlamis, Chaetomium and Mycothypha were found. The diversity of fungi reflects the common fungal community of museums and archives. The spores and mycelial fragments of the fungi are obviously travelling on the legs and bodies of the silverfish.

Stabilization Methods for Black-Dyed Silk Used for Seals Attachment

Textile cords and ribbons are an integral part of archival documents with pendent seals. These textiles are frequently highly degraded, especially in case of black-dyed silk. However, their maintenance in good condition is necessary for retention of the seal and thus the legal value of the document. Methods of chemical stabilization of iron-gall inks on a paper support are promising also for stabilization of degraded black-dyed silk. This chemical stabilization is based on deacidification or the use of antioxidants or a combination thereof. The deacidification is potentially dangerous for silk because of its high stability in the slightly acidic region. Therefore the stability of silk in the alkaline pH region was measured and even long-term immersion of silk in a medium with pH to 9 did not result in degradation changes. The selected reagents (methoxymagnesium methyl carbonate, tetrabutylammonium bromide, cysteine, calcium phytate and tannin) were tested. The effect of stabilization procedures was studied on artificially damaged samples of black-dyed silk containing unbound ferrous ions. The effectiveness of the stabilization procedures and their influence on the long-term stability of silk were evaluated by means of colorimetry, mechanical properties (flexural rigidity, thread tensile strength), measuring the pH of the silk surface and scanning electron microscopy.