Developing Data Models and Best Practices for Diagnosis and Improvement of Preservation Environments

FAIN: PR-50010-07

New York Public Library (New York, NY 10016-0109)
Evelyn Frangakis (Project Director: July 2006 to April 2009)

A joint project of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) to determine best practices for monitoring, evaluating, and optimizing environmental storage conditions in cultural repositories.

The New York Public Library and its research partner, the Image Permanence Institute, seek $351,077 to develop best practices for monitoring, evaluating, and optimizing collection storage conditions from an environmental perspective. The Library proposes to research fundamental environmental control issues and develop tools for communicating about and managing environmental problems. Research will be carried out through the implementation of an environmental monitoring system at the Library. The project will enhance a prototype data management system to provide high-level analysis of the raw data and tailored environmental monitoring reports that are accessible and comprehensible to the variety of stakeholders who have an interest in improving preservation environments. Project tools such as data models and user interface guidelines will be made publicly accessible to help libraries, museums, and other repositories realize good preservation environments for their collections.