Vacuum Freeze-Drying, a Method Used to Salvage Water-Damaged Archival and Library Materials: A RAMP Study with Guidelines (UNESCO, 1987)

(introduction...)

Preface

Foreword

1. Introduction

1.1 Water: the ubiquitous hazard

2. Water-soaked paper

2.1 Associated problems

2.1.1 Absorption and swelling

2.1.2 Microbiological infection

2.1.3 Adhesion of leaves

2.1.4 Migration of inks and dyes

2.1.5 Time

3. Stabilization by freezing

(introduction...)

3.1 Advantages

3.1.1 Halts mold attack

3.1.2 Stabilizes soluble inks and dyes

3.1.3 Prevents adhesion of leaves

3.1.4 Permits orderly, unhurried planning

4. Vacuum freeze-drying

4.1 A primer on freeze-drying

4.1.1 Units of measurement

4.1.2 Sublimation/evaporation

4.1.3 Temperature-pressure values of water

4.1.4 Vapor pressure

4.2 Conditions required for freeze-drying

4.3 The basic components of a freeze-dry system

4.4 Degree of vacuum required for freeze-drying

5. Alternate methods of drying

5.1 Vacuum drying

5.2 Deep freeze drying

5.3 Natural freeze-drying

6. Vacuum freeze-drying vs vacuum-drying

7. freeze-drying is not a new process

(introduction...)

7.1 Examples of its use

7.1.1 Pharmaceuticals

7.1.2 Foodstuffs

7.1.3 Biological specimens

7.1.4 Archaeological artifacts

8. Early experiments in freeze-drying books and documents

8. 1 Precursors

8.1.1 Canadian entities

8.1.2 Smithsonian institution, Washington, D.C.

8.1.3 Technical university of Denmark

9. The use of vacuum chambers for recovery of water-damaged archival and library materials

9.1 Case histories

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9.1.1 Corning museum of glass library flood, corning, New York, June 22, 1972.

9.1.2 Charles Klein library fire, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 1972.

9.1.3 National personnel records fire, St. Louis, Missouri, July 12, 1973.

9.1.4 The Stanford Meyer library flood, Stanford, California, November 4, 1978.

9.1.5 Taylor institution library flood, oxford university, January 1979

9.1.6 Regional office of income security services fire, Winnipeg, Canada, January 22, 1981.

10. Other vacuum and freeze-drying activities

10.1 A selection by countries

(introduction...)

10.1.1 Austria

10.1.2 Canada

10.1.3 England

10.1.4 France

10.1.5 Germany (FRG)

10.1.6 Holland

10.1.7 Norway

10.1.8 USA

11. Commercial sources for freezing and drying

11.1 Cold storage

11.2 Freeze-drying

11.3 Vacuum chambers

12. Cost of vacuum-drying and freeze-drying

13. Low cost freezing and drying in an emergency

13.1 General considerations

13.2 Materials required

13 3 Recovery of water-damaged materials

13.3.1 Handling wet materials

13.3.2 Cleaning and washing

13.3.3. Wrapping and packing

13.4. Freezing

13.5. Air drying

13.5.1. Picking a work area

13.5.2 Drying documents

13.5.3 Drying books

13.6 Pressing

13.7 Prevention of mold infection

14. What freeze-drying will not do

15. Cooperative approach to the use of freeze-dry chambers

15.1 General considerations

15.2 Regional cooperation

15.3 Cooperation with public institutions

15.4 Commercial cooperation

16. An open forum on freeze-drying

16.1 Questions and answers

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16.1.1 In simple terms, what is the difference between freeze-drying and plain vacuum-drying?

16.1.2 Is freeze-drying expensive?

16.1.3 What about the cost of vacuum-drying?

16.1.4 Can wet (non-frozen) materials be freeze-dried, and conversely, can frozen materials be vacuum-dried?

16.1.5 Which is the better system, freeze-drying or vacuum-drying?

16.1.6 Shouldn't time be taken to sort or weed out wet materials prior to wrapping and crating for freezing?

16.1.7 Shouldn't wet materials be cleaned of soilage prior to freezing?

16.1.8 What is the best way to wrap wet materials for freezing?

16.1.9 At what temperature should water-damaged materials be frozen and stored?

16.1.10 Vet books and documents undoubtedly swell and expend with freezing. doesn't that cause damage?

16.1.11 Do you deed a special chamber for-freeze-drying books and documents?

16.1.12 Bow do you know when the materials in a chamber are dry?

16.1.13 Is there a risk of overdrying and, as a consequence, run the risk of damage to the materials?

16.1.14 Can parchment and leather be freeze-dried?

16.1.15 In the freeze-drying process, heat is sometimes applied to the frozen materials. first of all, why is it done and doesn't the heat harm the materials?

16.1.16 Once the materials come out of the freeze-drying chamber can they go straight back to their shelves?

16.1.17 Would it not be less costly to replace water-damaged materials than freeze-dry?

16.1.18 It is generally knows that freeze-drying will not destroy mold spores, but what about insects?

16.1.19 How do you go about freezing insects?

16.1.20 Why weren't the infested books fumigated?

16.1.21 What should you do ii mold is widespread before the wet materials can be frozen?

16.1.22 Can mold-infected materials be fumigated in the same chamber where freeze-drying takes place?

16.1.23 It freeze-drying seems to destroy the visible growth caused by mold spores, why is it 80 necessary to sterilize and fog with a buffers? Why not put the dry materials in proper storage?

16.1.24 Some institutions hare photographic materials in their holdings. can they be frozen and freeze-dried?

17. A final word: disaster preparedness planning

17.1 Why prepare for a disaster?

17.2 What a disaster preparedness plan contains

17.3 Prevention: central to disaster preparedness

18. References