cheers, Brandon
____________________________________ Brandon Burke Archivist for Recorded Sound Collections Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6010 vox: 650.724.9711 fax: 650.725.3445 email: burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Randye:
Humidity levels are relative to temperature. You did not indicate the temperatures involved. The thing to do is have good instruments to watch and measure both temperature and humidity readings periodically. You will notice major changes with the four seasons of the year and also perhaps with the number of people in the room.
The low humidity is good for both media and equipment as it retards various negative unwanted chemical reactions and also keeps down the risk of the growth of mold and fungus. Humidity of 20% to 30% is excellent for media and is typically recommended in various well established long term storage standards for many chemical reasons.
Your note did not mention heating and air conditioning issues. Air Conditioning dehumidifies and removes moisture when it drops the air temperature. Heating is of different kinds. If the heating is by radiators, or electric coil heaters, these tend to dry out the air and drop the humidity. Heating by forced air systems may or may not have a humidifier in the furnace room which can be adjusted to add humidity moisture as desired and specified to the warm air circulated through the system. As I do not know any of these heating and cooling issues in detail, I simply make the above general comments.
Evidently the staff or others are feeling some discomfort at the lower humidity levels, with perhaps dry throats, etc.
If the humidity is raised for people, then this is not good for the media and equipment, so there is a bit of a conflict on the humidity issue. The best thing is to leave the room humidity as it is, not add a humidifier, and for those who feel dried out to drink some water, soft drinks, etc. occasionally to re-hydrate themselves. Most places have humidity levels that are way too high and thus have lots of high humidity related media and equipment problems. They have to use dehumidifiers to get rid of the high moisture. So consider yourself fortunate not to have the high humidity problem. If people will drink more water based liquids, then everyone and everything should be happy.
Also another issue not mentioned that may be a factor in staff discomfort is Oxygen levels and Carbon Dioxide levels. If the
room is tightly sealed and does not get fresh air circulation occasionally, and there are a lot of people in the room, they can consume a fair amount of Oxygen, just from ordinary breathing. The Carbon Dioxide levels will also then go up, and this can make people feel stuffy, drowsy, or uncomfortable. It might be a good thing to look into the fresh air and Oxygen level issue just to be sure things are OK on this front, especially when a lot of people have been in the room for a long time. Are doors closed or open?
Hope this helps. Charlie Richardson
On Dec 4, 2008, at 11:39 AM, Jones, Randye wrote:
Good day, all!
We are considering installing a humidifier to address the low humidity (21-22% at present) in our library's Listening Room. However, I'm very concerned about whether it would adversely affect the audio and video equipment and/or the video and audio collections housed here.
One thing we are considering is placing the humidifier in the outer public area so that the steam generated would be less likely to directly contact the equipment or collections.
What is your experience? It has been suggested that the higher humidity would not only benefit the staff but the materials in the room.
Thanks for any input you can provide.
Regards,
Randye
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=- | | Randye Jones | ) | Listening Room Supervisor / | | Grinnell College Libraries, Grinnell, IA 50112 ( | ) | jonesran@xxxxxxxxxxxx | | Phone: 641-269-3365 FAX: 641-269-4283