Assessment of indoor air quality and the risk of damage to cultural heritage objects using MEMORI® dosimetry

Air pollution is one of the environmental influences that degrade cultural heritage objects situated indoors. Other essential influences, such as temperature, relative humidity, and light are often well monitored. The presence of air pollutants is less often measured or included in risk assessment. The MEMORI^® technology presented in this paper was developed as a tool for easy measurement and assessment of the general risk of degradation of heritage objects situated indoors due to indoor exposure to air pollutants. MEMORI dosimetry was performed in locations belonging to English Heritage and Tate (both located in London) and the National Archives of Norway in Oslo, to assess air quality. The related damage risk for collection objects and the protection offered by display and storage designs was assessed. A high level of acidic effect was observed inside a number of showcases, and a high level of oxidizing effect was observed in some room locations. Relatively simple mitigation measures, such as constructing tightly sealed showcases using low emitting materials, installing active carbon absorbing media inside a ‘microclimate’ frame, and using cardboard storage boxes for paper, significantly improved air quality. Overall, implementation of such measures is likely to improve the preservation of objects and reduce conservation costs.     

数字信息资源生产质量监测与控制的粗糙集模型

数字信息资源已经成为当今信息化社会重要的战略资源。考虑到数字信息资源生产的复杂性和不确定性,引入可以较好处理这类不完备和不精确数据的粗糙集理论,在分析数字信息资源生产质量影响因素的基础上,构建数字信息资源生产质量监测与控制的粗糙集模型,从复杂的生产质量相关数据中挖掘出有效的生产质量影响因素的相关规则,这些规则可用于数字信息资源生产质量的监测与控制。通过对数字历史纪录片生产的应用实例的分析,验证该模型的有效性。     

‘The State is Me.’ My Role as a Conservator: Do Conservators Have Power Within the Cultural Structure?

ABSTRACT

Preventive conservation plans must include the collaboration of all the different departments within an institution to be able to diagnose the situation, provide proper maintenance, and allocate a budget. Preventive conservation entails understanding the collection’s needs, organizational culture, institutional priorities, and risk factors. Beyond the intervention of objects, the conservator is the creator of guidelines and the implementer of solutions. In this paper, need-based approaches are provided showcasing how tailor-built preventive conservation plans became merged into the backbone of everyday activities. In the Louis C. Morton Auction House in Mexico City, diagnosis tools were adapted, redefining conservation terms within a business-oriented model to guarantee success. In the National Museum of Art in Mexico, the sustainable preservation plan categorized actions within their realization capability. Tasks were allocated to different departments and suppliers; outsourcing, not the responsibility, but the commitment of continuity with service providers via contracts. At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the complex conservation projects have focused on high standard continuity. Motivating people to participate in the steady innovation, an encyclopaedic museum must have not only to conserve its collections, but also to serve as an international example.     

Building an Environmentally Sustainable San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

ABSTRACT

In June 2016, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) completed a three-year expansion project that more than doubled its overall size. The SFMOMA expansion complies with one of the most rigorous sustainable building requirements in the USA, the City of San Francisco’s Green Building Ordinance. The ordinance requires that the new addition achieve at least Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification and an energy reduction of 15% or better over California’s energy code. The new SFMOMA thus balances its commitment to preserve works in the collection with the demand to maximize energy efficiency and minimize its carbon footprint. Cross-disciplinary expert teams – including curators, conservators, architects, engineers, and sustainability consultants – were integral to a project design process that affirmed the museum’s promise to its collection while also realizing its broader vision to enhance visitor experience and public access and they continue to be essential to evaluating these design outcomes.     

图书馆、博物馆和档案馆评估比较研究

基于图书馆、博物馆、档案馆评估对比研究的必要性和可行性分析,文章论述了始于20世纪80年代中期的图书馆评估工作,其形成了评估制度的常规化、评估过程的自动化、评估主体的多样化等评估特色。而兴起于21世纪初的博物馆评估具有评估流程的现代化、评估结果的共享化、运行评估的常态化等特色。借鉴两者的工作经验,我国的档案馆评估工作可从评估主体的多样化、评估管理的现代化、评估结果的共享化、评估机制的制度化和常态化等方面加以参考。     

Light damage to selected organic materials in display cases: A study of different light sources

The protection of works of art and cultural assets against light-induced aging is vital when planning exhibitions. Newly developed lighting systems render the selection of suitable light sources more difficult, not least in the context of energy–economical systems. This study accordingly examines different lighting systems (fluorescent tubes, halogen lamps, low-voltage metal halide lamps, and LED lamps) in terms of the damage potential they hold for the materials concerned. The changes in color were evaluated using the CIEDE2000 color-difference formula. This study focuses on selected organic materials and shows that changes in color already occur after only a brief exposure time. The color changes induced by the fluorescent tubes were consistently more intense than those induced by the other light sources. The results obtained with the remaining lamps show that the color changes depend more on the material under investigation than on the source used. The changes determined after a relatively short exposure period (five months) vividly demonstrate that exposing sensitive materials to light for longer terms (as is the case during a permanent exhibition) is most definitely a non-viable option.     

Environmental conditions for safeguarding collections: What should our set points be?

This paper explores the complex question of environmental conditions in museums and the current status of the IIC and ICOM-CC working group on environmental conditions in museums. Reviewing environmental conditions in museums in the light of sustainability and cost of energy pressures has resulted in members of the conservation profession holding differing views on what can safely be implemented. These views vary from leaving conditions at the current recommend levels, to promoting a substantial broadening of parameters. To understand how these positions have been reached, the history of environmental guidelines is surveyed. Moving forward, IIC in conjunction with ICOM-CC has established a working group to investigate the current global perspective on environmental conditions on a country-by-country basis, to identify a methodology by which a fresh and relevant review of these current positions can lead to practical outcomes, and to encourage dialogue with the broader museum profession. This paper reports on the interim findings of the working group and discusses the issues that arise from them. These include the lack of transparency between institutions in regards to actual conditions, the need for wider debate with museum colleagues, and the necessity of further experiential knowledge sharing rather than experimental research.     

The Social and Historic Construction of Professional Values in Conservation

Summary

This paper discusses the social history of the emergence of conservation as a profession distinct from traditional restoration. It proposes that the development of conservation as a distinct field came about through the evolution of an existing area of practice, in a changing conceptual climate which increasingly acknowledged the necessity for, and the legitimacy of the scientific model. This paper considers the changes in societal values that led conservators to hold their present ethical principles, values and beliefs, focusing on two in particular: the importance of preserving the integrity of the object, and the belief that the best way to do this is through the application of science.