Floods in Czech libraries
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Floods in Czech libraries: steps to recovery Dr Vojtech Balik Floods and their consequences About fifty Czech libraries were inundated in the floods of 2002, more than 600.000 volumes were soaked and consequently 150,000 of them had to be frozen. Books that have not been frozen or dried promptly have effectively been liquidised. Amongst rare printed items, one incunabulum, thousands of printed books from 1501 to 1800 and tens of thousands volumes of periodicals from the 19th and 20th centuries and similar numbers of books representing Czech and foreign research literature from the same period were soaked and frozen. Other documents for example research reports were afflicted equally. Most (hundreds of thousands) of the books destroyed in municipal and local libraries represent contemporary Czech publications that can be replaced. Much more damaged documents are those from the archives of various institutions, some of them of unique historical value (for example the Architecture Archives of National Technical Museum, Military Historical Archives etc.). But most of these documents are publications of various institutions (Municipal Court, registries of various ministries etc.) that have no historical or cultural value, due for scheduled destruction. Most of archival documents have been frozen. Most frozen paper documents have been stored in the freezing plant Mochovske mrazirny (Cooling Plant Mochov), in the subsidiary plant Kladno near Prague. Preservation of frozen documents There are in total ca 900 palletised units (2000m3) of paper documents of various types in freezing plants. Total costs calculated for freezing are CZK 23 million (EUR 770, 000) per year. However, most of the frozen paper documents are not in the category of national cultural heritage; there are for example files and materials of various authorities and institutions, and as such, they may be after a certain period shredded. Since, on the one hand, the destruction of such record material may very much complicate the work of the authorities and institutions and, on the other hand, it is not possible to make a selection of frozen documents, it will be necessary to dry these documents, too, in order to make the selection afterwards and decide on subsequent treatment (copying, conservation etc.). Long-term freezing is only justifiable with documents considered to be of cultural heritage value. From the point of view of their cultural value and their importance for research, development and education, the frozen documents can be roughly divided as follows:
This classification should serve as a basis for making a strategy of further progress and for choosing a proper technology of drying to be used for individual types of documents. Testing the drying technologies Very soon after the floods, the National Library together with the staff of the State Central Archive and other experts started testing various drying technologies. For this purpose, samples of various types of paper were produced and newspapers from the late 1930s were used as well. The following drying technologies have been tested:
Results of tests are displayed on the web page of the National Library of the Czech Republic: http://www.nkp.cz/fondy/suseni.htm (in Czech only, for the time being). The tests focused on establishing changes of physical qualities of various types of paper during the drying process, on deformation, changes of colours, and the influence of individual technologies on the occurrence of mildew. The results of tests will make it possible to recommend a proper drying technology for the particular type of a document. Activities up to the end of 2002 Thanks to a gift received from the British Council, the National Library was able, as early as November 2002, to start drying documents by using the technology of vacuum-packing. The frozen book is wrapped into a non-woven textile material, then filter paper and old newspapers, working as an absorber of humidity, are put round it, and all that is vacuum-packed. This process must be repeated several times depending on the thickness of a book and on the content of water in it. Since this technology requires manipulation with microbiologically contaminated documents, strict regulations must be observed in order to protect the working staff. The National Library temporarily provided the Municipal Library in Prague with a room and equipment for treating its rare books. The tests show that this method is the most suitable one for treating books. However, as the method is highly time-consuming, it cannot be applied to drying all publications. In addition to drying by vacuum-packing, the National Library is testing the technology of drying by warm air with controlled humidity and temperature. For testing the latter method, the library obtained kilns for drying wood in the town of Kralupy nad Vltavou near Prague. Each kiln has a capacity of 7 m3 and it seems that a great number of documents could be dried there. The kilns have been equipped with sensors for measuring temperature and humidity both inside the books, and in the kiln, with a recorder, and a device for a long-distance transfer of data to the server of the National Library, to enable the staff to control the drying process from distance. It is necessary to complete the equipment with a remote feedback control of the drying regime reacting to measured values. Books that have been dried out can be then sterilised in the ethylene oxide rooms of State Central Archive. Surface preventative disinfection can be provided in the facilities of the National Library. Coordination of rescue activities In the beginning of the floods, two coordination centres were established, one in the National Library and the other in the State Central Archive; both of them tried to help and give advice to the flooded institutions. Members of the National Library’s staff contacted refrigeration plants, removal companies, and producers and suppliers of various types of equipment and materials, and forwarded the information and all the offers obtained to those in need. The Ministry of Culture established a coordination group from representatives of various institutions, in order to distribute the offers of aid from abroad. An interdepartmental commission has been established headed by the Vice-Premier and its task is to propose further steps. Assistance from abroad While the floods were in progress, various Czech institutions received offers of aid from foreign institutions and individuals as well. The government of Switzerland sent an expert in drying frozen paper documents to learn about the existing situation in the country and propose to the Swiss government appropriate means of assistance. The British Council donated to the National Library three vacuum-packing machines, the installation of which was assisted by experts from Great Britain, who also trained restorers from both the National and the Municipal Libraries in Prague in their use. Further aid was consulted with specialists from France, Spain, and Russia. The Polish government together with the National Library in Warsaw donated to the National Library and to other Czech institutions dehumidifiers and a lot of material suitable for restoration of dried documents. Financial means for restoration of rare documents have been obtained from the Liechtenstein government. The Danish government provided means for drying publications and research reports of the Archaeological Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences in Denmark. Very important was the aid provided by the A. W. Mellon Foundation which awarded a considerable grant to support research and development in the field of drying and restoration of documents damaged with water. Thanks to that the National Library and other Czech institutions will be able to carry out various tests, analyses and operative research in the years 2003 and 2004. UNESCO covered costs for measuring equipment and is ready to support the purchase of books to replace those damaged by water. Further steps A great number of books, which will be dried step by step, will need to be stored in protective boxes permanently or until they will be restored. The National Library has at its disposal a facility for producing such protective boxes, based on the Kasemake box-making machine (cutting and pen plotting machine for packaging and other applications). For that purpose a special cardboard was developed, made of pure cellulose, which is suitable for long-term storage of rare documents. In view of huge number of material to be stored in this way, another piece of identical equipment would be necessary. Many documents will need to be reformatted, especially newspapers and periodicals printed on acid paper. We plan to use capacities of the existing facilities for microfilming and digitisation. However, there is a need of a special camera for scanning rare documents open only at 90° (micrographic camera with 90° book cradle, e.g. the Zeutchel type). Part of produced microfilms can be scanned in National Library facilities, and then made accessible in digital form. Direct scanning of documents that are not endangered with degradation or that need not be preserved forever, is possible with planetary scanner (or if need be a colour one). Restoration will be a long-lasting problem and in many cases a very specialised one. It will be possible to restore a part of early printed books at the facilities of the National Library and of the Municipal Library in Prague. With regard to a great volume of restoration, it will be necessary to equip both the centres with some special machines and to increase number of their staff. Drawings and plans of project documentation from the National Technical Museum will be a serious problem. They are frozen in packages of large dimensions and contain different types of paper and records. Their drying, conservation, and restoration will be possible only by special methods. Another serious problem will be to rebuild damaged library collections, both research and technical literature of various universities, colleges, and research institutes, and domestic literature, fiction and non-fiction, of numerous public libraries. The floods showed the necessity to invest money and organisational effort into prevention. Heritage institutions should not underestimate disaster planning; and they should cooperate more on devising a common rescue system. When making decisions on storage for library collections, the flood experience should be taken into account: e.g. the collections shouldn’t be stored in basements of buildings; the danger may be expected not only from the river, but from the underground and sewerage system. A library collections rescue centre should be built as a part of a major institution, equipped with necessary facilities (rooms for storage and freezing of documents, rooms for vacuum freeze-drying and other drying capacities, rooms for sterilization of contaminated documents etc.). |
