The International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) held its first conference September 2000, in Osaka, Japan, and Robert Barclay published a report on the meeting in the CCI Newsletter the following November. He is a senior conservator at the Canadian Conservation Institute. He wrote a brief CCI Note on the topic in 1995, and has been in touch with the society ever since.
The conference was planned to coincide with the opening of the upper section of the Osaka World's Fair time capsule, which had been enclosed in the grounds of Osaka Castle in 1970. It is designed to be inspected regularly, while the lower one is to remain in place and untouched for another 4970 years.
Proceedings of the conference should be published in the near future. For more information, visit the ITCS website: http://www.oglethorpe.edu/itcs.
For more information on time capsules in general, contact Janet Reinhold, Director of Future Packaging & Preservation (1580-C West San Bernardino Rd., Covina, CA 91722-3457 (tel. 626/966-1955; fax 626/966-5779; e-mail: info@futurepkg.com).
Last April 24, Underwriters Laboratories issued a news release saying that certain "Model GB" series fire sprinklers with "O-ring" water seals manufactured by Central Sprinkler Co. may leak or fail to operate in a fire because they may require a higher water pressure to operate than is available in some buildings. Twenty-six percent of the 1,800 "Model GB" sprinkler samples they had tested by then had required an inlet pressure greater than 5 pounds per square inch, and some had required more than 40 pounds.
The "Model GB" sprinklers being investigated were introduced in 1988 and are identified by 26 prefixes, not all of which begin with "gb." Those with O-ring seals are under investigation. UL's web site (http://www.ul.com/about/newsrel/nr042401.html) lists the models and gives pictures of sprinklers with and without O-rings. Building owners who want to have their sprinklers tested can send representative samples to UL.
According to USA Today for July 18, the Consumer Product Safety Commission was to issue a major recall potentially affecting 30 million GB sprinklers manufactured by Central Sprinkler. To find out the latest news, contact Joe Hirschmugl at UL (847/664-1508 or e-mail: Joseph.F.Hirschmugl@us.ul.com).
It turns out that this meeting will be by invitation only, to policymakers from institutions, and it will take place in September sometime, in connection with the National Book Festival.
ACTS FACTS for July 2001 announces that the National Toxicology Program's biannual Report on Carcinogens has upgraded eight substances to "known human carcinogens" status. Among them are ethylene oxide, tobacco smoke and the most toxic form of dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin). One non-substance made the list, too: sunlight and its surrogates, sunlamps and sunbeds.
ACTS FACTS' telephone number is 212/777-0062.
Mark Subers, President of Grade Finders, Inc., (publisher of the only paper directory that identifies alkaline papers in its lists), sent the following information July 31:
There have been an incredible number of changes in the Paper Industry in the past year. Here are some of the most notable:
Mill closings: Fletcher paper, Hennepin Paper, Lyons Falls Paper and Pajco Products.
In addition, Plainwell Paper has been reorganized as Shasta, Crown Vantage restructuring went from 84 grades to 15, Champion International was purchased by International, Consolidated Paper was purchased by Stora-Enso, and Via Papers was created as a new marketing division of IP.
Grade Finders is in Exton , PA (610/524-7070; fax 610/524-8912).
The August American Libraries reported devastating floods that hit West Virginia hard in July: A six-foot wall of water that wiped out all of Kimball, including its small public library; left one of McDowell's branch libraries leaning; left five to six inches of water in the War Public Library, which had just been salvaged and restocked after a fire set by arsonists in March 2000; and left five to six feet of water in the basement of a branch library in the Wyoming County Public Library System.
The Houston Public Library is reported as being "months away" from being dried out following tropical storm Allison. Damaged floors and shelves have to be replaced. Libraries at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center, the Houston Symphony, and other organizations were damaged too.
The Summer 2001 issue of the Disaster Recovery Journal is dedicated to the topic of data protection (preventing loss of computer data), but it also carries the news that Belfor, a company specializing in property restoration for large-loss commercial damages, responded quickly to Houston's water disaster (36" of rain) and worked with over 500 employees on over 60 projects in all parts of Houston. Underground spaces and facilities were hardest hit.
On p. 59, an article by a communications consultant firm explains "Communicating with the Press During a Crisis."
M. Susan Barger reported in the January 2001 WAAC Newsletter that she had worked to facilitate the transfer of the conservation library of Kendra Deerenee Lovette of Baltimore, Maryland to the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, Nebraska. (She is no longer able to work because of multiple sclerosis.) This is a major collection of books on paper and book conservation and related subjects. It includes books, dictionaries, industrial and scientific treatises, paper samples, journals, and more.
Duplicates of any journals in the Lovette collection already held by the Ford Center will be sent to the National Library of Cuba.. It is her hope that the placement of her library will make it possible for conservators and students in the middle of the country to have access to a major conservation library. She also hopes that this will inspire others to make arrangements for their libraries when they can no longer work. (From the January WAAC Newsletter.)
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