Environmental Monitoring for the Archives and Special Collections Division of the Brooklyn College Library

FAIN: PG-50750-10

CUNY Research Foundation, Brooklyn College (Brooklyn, NY 11210-2850)
Marianne E. LaBatto (Project Director: May 2009 to October 2011)

Funding supports the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment to preserve an archival and manuscript collection documenting the Brooklyn College community. The archive also includes books, photographs, film, newspapers, and memorabilia documenting the sport of boxing from 1890 to 2007.

This grant would support the acquisition of 8 new IPI PEM2 Preservation Environment Monitors for the Archives and Special Collections Division of Brooklyn College Library. The current devices, HOBO U30 Remote Monitors, were comparatively inexpensive and have been in use for three years; they currently do not function with the level of accuracy that an efficacious preservation plan requires. The Archives and Special Collections Division recently completed a CCAP grant-funded project to build a new conservation lab, but this achievement is rendered somewhat ineffectual without proper measures in place to monitor climatic variation in storage areas. The HVAC system is adequate, but controlling conditions is difficult without first assaying accurate measurements. The new monitors, which feature online tracking software, would complete the much-needed final piece of a comprehensive preservation program of conservation, environmental monitoring, and climate control.