|
Hi Patricia, Our temperature is moderated by the breeze
off of the bay and the river, but we make up for it by having higher humidity
than Richmond. I generally try to avoid anything involving the bookdrop,
because it can be destructive in many ways. Ours is connected to a closet
on an exterior wall of the 24-hour study room, so it gets some AC. I imagine
that moisture is condensing in ours whenever the door is opened, because the
HVAC in our building doesn’t dehumidify (and I have measured 70% RH in
another part of the building). The relative humidity might be lower in
the freestanding kind, since the temperature is higher. That can’t be
reassuring, though. I think Peter is right to suggest sticking
a datalogger in there to gather hard statistics. Unfortunately, silica gel won’t
last long with constant exposure to the outdoors. Outdoor bookdrops are
just bad news. Is there another book drop connected to a
climate-controlled area of the building? If you can’t eliminate the
bookdrop altogether, you might be able to get it installed in a better place. Could
you put one inside the Commons or some other building that is open all night? I
realize that it would mean transporting books outdoors, but the duration of
exposure would be brief compared to what you have now. People might even view
it as a public service if indoor book drops are added to places that are open
when the library is closed. I wish there were a magic dehumidifying
bullet. It would be great for all of those summer power outages. Aaah, an
off-the-grid dehumidifier that drains to the landscape drip irrigation system... Valinda Carroll Preservation Manager Harvey Library Hampton University From: Patricia E. Selinger [mailto:patricia.selinger@xxxxxxx] Hello everyone, -- Patricia Palmer SelingerHead, Preservation DepartmentVirginia Commonwealth University LibrariesBox 842033Richmond, VA 23284-20233phone: 804.828.8679 (*NEW)fax: 804.828.0151patricia.selinger@xxxxxxx |