Measuring Environmental Quality in Preservation

The concept of preservation encompasses both the physical security of collections and the actions required to prevent, retard, and repair their decay. Once physical security has been established, the largest single influence on the preservation of collections is the storage environment, in particular the temperature and relative humidity conditions prevailing in storage and display areas. The Image Permanence Institute has a scientifically based approach to preservation that emphasizes environmental strategies. This new approach is being tested at the Library of Congress in a pilot project to optimize both the quality and the cost of storage environments.