Continuous Efforts over 10 Years for Storage Re-organization at the National Museum of Ethnology,Japan

ABSTRACT

The National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan, collects a vast amount of materials and information related to peoples’ life and culture, and makes them available to society through exhibitions and other activities. The number of collected items is increasing every year: 343581 objects have been collected from Japan and abroad as of March 2017. The continuous efforts have been necessary to improve storage conditions and to save space for both general and special storerooms. The former, which account for 90% of the storage capacity of the museum, are air-conditioned during working hours, with temperature and relative humidity (RH) settings varying with the seasons. The latter, which house objects for which strict conservation conditions are required, are air-conditioned for 24 hours with fixed settings of temperature/RH throughout the year determined by the nature of the materials from which the objects have been made or formed. Storage re-organization began with special storerooms, for which the number of objects and the storage area are far more limited in comparison with the general storerooms. The storage shelves for fur/skin/feather (almost 1000 objects) and for carpets (almost 550 objects) were all renewed in FY2007/2008. Then two large-scale innovation projects for general storerooms were conducted: construction of storage areas for ships equipped with a CO₂-based and anoxic pest treatment facility (FY2015), and a complete refurbishing of the general storeroom for large objects (FY2016). Windows were set in the corner of this storeroom to provide visitors an opportunity to view and learn about the museum activities. In parallel to the above projects, daily storage improvement efforts have been undertaken. Storeroom No. 3, chosen as an example for general storerooms for small and medium-sized objects, was used to investigate the range of issues related to the shelving arrangement and storage conditions. Guidelines for storage re-organization were formulated according to the results of the investigation and according to the experiences gained through the renewal of special storerooms. Storage re-organization undertaken in storeroom No. 3 was conducted for 6 years at the rate of around 2000–4000 objects per year with a low budget and with reuse of existing shelves. In FY2016, all objects in storeroom No. 3 were properly redistributed. About 40% of the storage space was saved. Over these 10 years of storage re-organization, preventive measures have been taken for sustainable collection management. As early as FY1992, pest trap investigations have been carried out seasonally. Since FY2004, the results of investigations have been analyzed using a customized computer program. Subsequently, appropriate integrated pest management measures have been taken. In addition, since FY2014, energy-efficient air-condition control has been adopted for general storerooms. It consists of switching off air-conditioning in spring and autumn, and of starting it only when the temperature or RH values become too high in summer or too low in winter. Because the turning-off of air-conditioning causes comparable or even less climatic fluctuation, it was considered acceptable both economically and from a conservation perspective. It is estimated that turning the air-conditioning off during transitional seasons brings cost savings of about 3000000–4000000 JPY (about 26800–35700 USD as of 23 September 2017) per annum, which accounts for almost 30% of the electricity expenditures for all general storerooms.     

A Method for Studying Climate-related Changes in the Condition of Decorated Wooden Panels

Museum objects are often highly complex and composed of materials with varying properties, some of which may have changed as a result of ageing and/or conservation treatments. Research into defining sustainable environmental conditions by balancing energy cost and risk to these vulnerable objects has mainly focused on experiments in laboratories with new, single materials or on computer modelling, but only to a limited extent on actual objects. This paper presents a method to collect empirical data from a large group of decorated wooden panels in order to investigate the effects of humidity fluctuations on these objects and relate them to their material properties and construction. Wooden panels were chosen as they are regarded to be particularly sensitive to fluctuations in relative humidity. The fluctuations may cause the wood to shrink and swell and can result in open glue joints, cracks, and deformation of the panels as well as losses and cracks in the decorative layers. Empirical data are scarcely available as yet but are essential to study relationships between material properties, type of construction, damage, and as input and validation for modelling and experimental studies. The method, referred to as the Rijksmuseum Study, was performed on a group of 300 objects from the furniture and paintings collections of the Rijksmuseum.     

An Investigation of Deterioration of Archaeological Iron

Abstract

A small but significant proportion of the archaeological iron objects in the British Museum collection have been problematic in that some of them have required repeated treatment. The deterioration of iron objects during storage was studied using microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and ion chromatography. A total of 125 iron objects, including 56 from two British Roman sites and 69 from three Anglo-Saxon sites, were studied. Both surface corrosion and corrosion layers on polished cross-sections were investigated. The study revealed that the present condition of the iron objects varies; some are in a stable condition and others have been deteriorating, with pitting and weeping present on the surface. No treatment method had stopped corrosion for every object, although the alkaline sulphite treatment seemed to be more effective than the other methods. The results also showed that chloride ions can be present at the interface of the metal and inner corrosion layers. It is recommended that iron objects which have been mechanically cleaned without desalination treatments are kept in a dry environment to prevent further deterioration.     

Archival objects in motion: historians’ appropriation of sources in nineteenth-century Austria and Switzerland

This contribution examines the social, material, and epistemic practices of historians and their counterparts engaged in the textual and visual reproduction of historical sources in nineteenth-century Austria and Switzerland. The Schweizerische Urkundenregister (1863–1877), a Swiss register of medieval charters, and the Monumenta graphica medii aevi (1859–1883), an Austrian collection of photographic facsimiles of medieval sources, were both intended to make historical sources accessible outside the archives in the framework of national history. The article analyzes institutional collaborations and the social interactions among the actors involved and follows the trajectories of the mobilized archival objects. These projects for national source publications appear as a negotiated social practice, in which archival objects were dislocated conceptually as well as materially in order to be stabilized and reified again in new infrastructures of research. The conflicts surrounding the projects reveal disputes about authority over the archival records, their significance, and the techniques required to represent them properly, and show how the emergence of scholarly source publications accompanied a conscious erasure of older contexts of meaning.     

The status of a document

The question about the status of a document follows from the situation that has been established in modern science, where the concept of a “document” has lost any definiteness and the phenomena of the reality that it means have almost no boundaries in their diversity. What material objects are documents and what are not? This question still remains debatable. This question can be answered by introducing the concept “status of a document” into the categorical apparatus of document science. The goal of this paper is to conceptualize this idea.     

Can't We All Just Get Along? Pan-Domain Collaboration Through an Innovative Collections Review Project at the Royal College of Surgeons of England

ABSTRACT

Although libraries, archives and museums were historically linked as ‘cabinets of curiosity,’ professionalization within the domains in the 19th century seems to have divided these collections. The creation of different working practices and standards built up barriers between these cultural or ‘information’ objects. However, in recent years there has been a well-developed trend towards pan-domain collaborative work which is slowly re-uniting collections and re-establishing links between the specialists that care for them. This article outlines how a project in the Royal College of Surgeons of England brought the library, archive and museum staff together to create a more collaborative environment which has served to benefit the collections, their users, and the staff themselves.     

Evaluation of Touchable 3D‐Printed Replicas in Museums

The multisensory aspect of the museum, while neglected for many years, is undergoing a resurgence as museum workers have begun to push towards re‐establishing the senses as a major component of museum pedagogy. However, for many museums a major roadblock lies in the need to conserve rare objects, a need that prevents visitors from being able to interact with many objects in a meaningful way. This issue can be potentially overcome by the rapidly evolving field of 3D printing, which allows museum visitors to handle authentic replicas without damaging the originals. However, little is known about how museum visitors consider this approach, how they understand it and whether these surrogates are welcome within museums. A front‐end evaluation of this approach is presented, finding that visitors were enthusiastic about interacting with touchable 3D printed replicas, highlighting potential educational benefits among other considerations. Suggestions about the presentation of touchable 3D printed replicas are also discussed.     

Taking Paint Samples for Pigment Analysis in Nineteenth-Century England

ABSTRACT

During the nineteenth century, chemists became increasingly engaged in the conservation treatment of polychrome surfaces. While collaborations between chemists and museum workers in charge of easel painting collections were mostly oriented towards the improvement of conservation practices, the involvement of chemists in the nascent field of archaeology was oriented towards material characterization, such as pigment analysis of polychrome surfaces. Since this type of analysis is destructive and damages the artwork, it could, therefore, be assumed that chemists were in these cases less concerned with the conservation of objects with an archaeological and historical provenance. On the contrary, my new reading of nineteenth-century English primary sources reporting pigment analysis shows that chemists also had ethical concerns about the physical integrity of archaeological objects and their conservation. This is apparent in the process in which paint samples were taken from the artworks for their subsequent analysis.     

科技期刊刊载文献的类型分布和传播规律——以中国科技核心期刊为例

中国科技论文与引文数据库所收录的论文来自约2 000种中国科技核心期刊.从2012年开始,对中国科技核心期刊所刊载的文献进行了更详细的分类标引,共分为“论著”“综述和评论”“短篇论文和研究快报”“工业工程设计”“研究材料和标准文献”“交流材料”“书评”“社论”“消息动态”“译文”“文摘和其他”等11类文献类型.通过统计分析发现:“论著”类型的论文是份额最大的文献类型,且保持着持续增长的态势;“综述和评论”文献被引用规模比较大,被引用速度也比较快,但是从文献数量上看,在全部文献中所占比例比较少,且数量规模也相对稳定;“短篇论文和研究快报”类文献被引用的规模和比例与“论著”类型文献差距较大;“交流材料”类文献所产生的学术影响很小,约6成在发表之后3年内不会得到引用.     

图书档案学类国家级精品课程建设调研及启示

论文以2004-2010年间教育部评选的15门图书档案学类国家级精品课程为研究对象,对精品课程网站进行了详细调研,从教师队伍、教学内容、教学方法、教材建设、教学管理等五个方面对精品课程建设质量进行了调查,总结了图书档案学类国家级精品课程建设的经验与不足,并据此提出了相关的改进建议。     

FINDING THE FALLEN: CONSERVATION AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Abstract

This study concerns a group of objects excavated in First World War trenches in France and Belgium and brought for conservation to the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. These objects were associated with unidentified human remains thought to be of soldiers killed in battles between 1914 and 1918. The contribution of the Institute to this project was to investigate the objects in relation to their context in an attempt to identify the human remains with which they were associated. The experience of working on sensitive material in a very particular context is discussed, and how this influenced the conservation context in which the decision-making process happened is described. It also addresses how some conservation boundaries were crossed, in order to contribute to a better understanding of life during the First World War, and discusses how material culture is valued differently in different contexts (and how this will influence conservation decisions). It concludes that neither object meaning nor conservation decisions can be viewed objectively and that conservation has to be viewed as a social process governed by economic, political, religious, social and cultural dynamics, rather than a primarily technical process.     

谈文献修裱材料的选用之忌

长期以来, 在文献修裱材料的选用上, 存在着一些往往被人们忽视的重要问题。有鉴于此, 本文提出选用文献修裱材料, 一忌随意性, 二忌用熟宣纸, 三忌用丝绢。并从相关材料的结构、性能等方面, 进行了深刻的分析。这些认识和观点, 对今后的文献保护工作, 在理论上和实践上, 都有着重要的意义和价值。     

A synergetic paradigm for the scientific study of documents

Document theory is the least explored area of study about documents. It lags significantly behind applied document research, which summarizes various document processing practices that have accumulated for thousands of years. This problem has recently been complicated by the rise of so-called general document theories. The boundaries of the document concept have become blurred due to the development of parallel areas of study and their forced differentiation into “classic” and “library” document science. In addition, knowledge about objects that are referred to as documents that can neither be properly integrated nor applied in practice is being developed. This situation is mainly due to the lack of attention that is paid by document scientists to the theoretical and methodological issues of document science. This paper reviews the origins, nature, and the social roles of documents from the perspective of a synergetic paradigm and has the goal of constructing a synergetic document theory.     

浙江金石拓片探究

金石拓片是一种独特的文献形式,具有重要的史料价值、文物价值和书法价值。文章揭示了浙江地区金石拓片的区域性、历史真实性和多样性三个方面的特点,提出了文献拓片编目和数字化建设的要求,并从科学文化研究和文化建设方面指出应对金石拓片加以开发和利用,以发挥其应有的价值。     

公众生活中的图书馆——对天涯社区近11年来关于图书馆的帖子的分析

在对天涯社区近11年来以"图书馆"为标题的364篇帖子进行文本分析时分析了应注意的问题。分析发现,公众视图书馆为追求知识的、高雅、宁静、安全的殿堂,同时也是一个难得的社交场所;公众对图书馆关注度不高,除非它与媚俗内容相关联。公众喜欢图书馆和图书馆职业但对图书馆人和图书馆管理感情复杂。图书馆应改善服务和管理尤其是一线服务,以提高社会声誉。     

档案文献定义辨正

档案文献是档案文献编纂学中的核心术语,但自1981年首次提出以来,对于它的定义却是众说纷纭。本文首先梳理档案文献的六种代表性定义,然后从档案文献是开发对象还是解读对象,是编纂对象还是编纂成果,档案文献或档案文献的组成部分是否只是档案中具有较高价值的那部分,档案学的双重学科属性与档案文献定义等四个角度,对这些定义进行比较分析,最后提出能够反映当前学科发展和编纂实践需要的定义。     

(10) Pictorial collection

Work has been going forward on the development of a frame of reference for locating and invoking digital information services and objects over communication systems and pathways having computational capabilities. An important concept in this context is the notion of a “digital object” as a set of sequences of bits, including a unique identifier for the object called a “handle”. A digital object may incorporate digital works and other digital information in which copyright, patent, trade secret and other rights or interests are claimed, although this need not always be the case. To take full advantage of the global information infrastructure, it is helpful for a commercial enterprise to develop a flexible terminology for thinking about digital information from a copyright perspective; in this regard, the concept of “digital work” is suggested. Clearance of rights and interests in connection with the “contents” of digital objects may be treated separately from compliance with procedures for accessing digital objects viewed as entities that incorporate and identify contents. A suggested legal framework is discussed.     

Managing Access to Digital Information: Some Basic Terminology Issues

Work has been going forward on the development of a frame of reference for locating and invoking digital information services and objects over communication systems and pathways having computational capabilities. An important concept in this context is the notion of a “digital object” as a set of sequences of bits, including a unique identifier for the object called a “handle”. A digital object may incorporate digital works and other digital information in which copyright, patent, trade secret and other rights or interests are claimed, although this need not always be the case. To take full advantage of the global information infrastructure, it is helpful for a commercial enterprise to develop a flexible terminology for thinking about digital information from a copyright perspective; in this regard, the concept of “digital work” is suggested. Clearance of rights and interests in connection with the “contents” of digital objects may be treated separately from compliance with procedures for accessing digital objects viewed as entities that incorporate and identify contents. A suggested legal framework is discussed.     

Spread or Sacrifice: Dilemma for Lighting Policies

ABSTRACT

Light sensitive objects will fade on display. Collection managers and curators face the dilemma whether to spread fading over several similar objects or sacrifice one. This paper describes an experiment in which participants were asked how they would want to pass on a collection of seventeenth century hand-coloured maps to coming generations. Results show that while colour changes are hardly visible, both public and professionals do not perceive them as damage and prefer to spread fading. Once fading becomes clearly visible in all maps, the preference shifts to sacrificing one map. The tipping point lies around five just noticeable changes. This information can be used when selecting objects for exhibition. The outcome also implies it would be prudent to assess the degree of fading of much exhibited objects and consider whether and when to choose for a sacrifice strategy.     

基于对象行为的情报关注模型研究

情报关注模型的构建是实施网络科技信息结构化监测的前提,在网络科技信息情报价值判断、科技动态监测中发挥着重要的作用.本文以能源科技领域监测动态快报为基础,对情报人员关注的网络科技信息的特征进行分析,发现对象及其行为在情报价值判断中具有重要的作用,对象及其行为具有机构特殊性,领域重要机构的数量具有收敛性.在此基础上构建基于对象行为特征的情报关注模型,该模型不但关注对象本身,而且关注对象的行为以及行为背后的事件.对情报关注模型应用效果进行的评测和分析的结果表明,该模型可以有效提高网络科技信息情报价值判断的准确性和精细化程度.