Indexado en

Licencia y uso

Citaciones

Cited 22 times in

Cited 16 times in

Altmetrics

Impacto en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)

Análisis de autorías institucional

Compartir

Microbial control in archives, libraries and museums by ventilation systems

Publicado en:Restaurator-International Journal For The Preservation Of Library And Archival Material. 19 (2): 85-107 - 1998-01-01 19(2), DOI: 10.1515/rest.1998.19.2.85

Autores: Valentin, N; Garcia, R; De Luis, O; Maekawa, S;

Afiliaciones

Resumen

Many archive, library and museum in hot and humid regions of the world constitute microenvironments in the building that are conducive to the growth of micro-organisms, on their collections. Conservators have often dealt with the problem through an extensive disinfection and cleaning of the collections which use harsh and toxic chemicals. Consequently, it became necessary to search for a safe, effective and locally sustainable solution for the problem. It is commonly considered that high relative humidity environments are the main factor for activity of micro-organisms on collections. However, ventilation has been proved to moderate the biodeterioration even when the objects contained high enough moisture for microbial activity. In the present work the efficacy of ventilation to arrest microbial growth and reduce activity in both contaminated air and historic objects has been investigated. Laboratory experiments were carried out using a 500-liter environmental chamber to simulate contaminated rooms in buildings. Specific ventilation requirements to control fungal and bacterial activities in the air and paper samples have been established. These constitute a safe, reliable, and low cost control method for fungal and bacterial contamination of historic objects. In addition, ventilation is an appropriate alternative to air conditioning for those buildings located in humid regions. Most importantly, it avoids the use of chemical disinfecting treatments.

Palabras clave