Connecting to Collections Care

Hello,

I posted several months ago about rapid shifts in RH between controlled storage areas and reading rooms in relation to parchment materials. I'm wondering if folks at other institutions have room humidifiers that they like? Since we don't have space for materials to acclimate to the reading room in advance, we are hoping to purchase a humidifier that could bring the RH up to an appropriate percentage before the materials are handled.

Thanks so much,
Anna Shepard

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Anna Shepard
Collections Care Specialist
University of Minnesota Libraries
Minneapolis MN
(612) 747-8000
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Hi Anna, 

Thanks for posting to the community! While I don't have experience working in a space with a room humidifier, I did some digging through the archives here and found a potential recommendation. Heather Galloway had recommended the following on the post "Stand alone humidifiers" from 1-27-2021. It was in response to the poster being concerned about low RH where wooden sculptures were being stored while their new HVAC system was being brought up to speed. Heather's response is below:

Hi Martha,

For what it is worth I have stand alone humidifier that has worked reasonably well for me.  It is an Aircare MA 1021.  It is an evaporative humidify that holds 3.6 gallons.  The space I was working with is about 400 sq ft.  The unit has settings that go up in intervals of 5 rH points.  The scale starts at 25 and goes up to 65 which is not something I have attempted!  While it is no HVAC system I found that it's setting tracked well with the gages I had around the space.

You know where to find me if you have other questions.

Best,
Heather

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Heather Galloway
Conservator, Fellow
Galloway Art Conservation
1305 W 80th St. Suite #225
Cleveland, OH 44102
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Hopefully some of our other members can chime in about their experiences as well! 
All the best,
Liz
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor

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Elizabeth Peirce
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Arlington VA
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Thank you so much for digging this up, Elizabeth!

I will check out Heather's recommendation.

All best,
Anna

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Anna Shepard
Collections Care Specialist
University of Minnesota Libraries
Minneapolis MN
(612) 747-8000
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2022 09:58
From: Elizabeth Peirce
Subject: Room humidifier?

Hi Anna,

Thanks for posting to the community! While I don't have experience working in a space with a room humidifier, I did some digging through the archives here and found a potential recommendation. Heather Galloway had recommended the following on the post "Stand alone humidifiers" from 1-27-2021. It was in response to the poster being concerned about low RH where wooden sculptures were being stored while their new HVAC system was being brought up to speed. Heather's response is below:

Hi Martha,

For what it is worth I have stand alone humidifier that has worked reasonably well for me.  It is an Aircare MA 1021.  It is an evaporative humidify that holds 3.6 gallons.  The space I was working with is about 400 sq ft.  The unit has settings that go up in intervals of 5 rH points.  The scale starts at 25 and goes up to 65 which is not something I have attempted!  While it is no HVAC system I found that it's setting tracked well with the gages I had around the space.

You know where to find me if you have other questions.

Best,
Heather

------------------------------
Heather Galloway
Conservator, Fellow
Galloway Art Conservation
1305 W 80th St. Suite #225
Cleveland, OH 44102
------------------------------

Hopefully some of our other members can chime in about their experiences as well!
All the best,
Liz
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor

------------------------------
Elizabeth Peirce
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Arlington VA
------------------------------