My small university art museum needs to store its entire collection off-site for approximately 9-10 months. The university doesn't have any other secure buildings we can use during that time, and we're concerned about transporting it to a nearby city due to budget constraints and potential damage from poor-quality rural roads. We're looking into climate-controlled storage pods to store the bulk of the collection, excluding highly-sensitive and high-value materials, and wondering if and how we could make them work.
Climate: We would install climate monitors that would connect directly to our computers, so we could track changes and address issues as they arise. We would also maintain a ventilation gap between collections and the walls. Electricity would be controlled via generators. Objects would be cavity packed with additional insulation, and particularly climate-sensitive items would be stored elsewhere. What are examples of these types of items that we should look out for?
Security: The pods would be near the building and we would have cameras, fencing, restricted keys, and campus security patrolling the area. Staff would also be nearby if we needed to access the collection. Crime rates in the area are low.
Disaster risk: The area is out of the flood zone and has low tornado and earthquake risk. We face heavy rainfall, hot summers, and cold winters.
What else should we consider as we are planning for this move? Keeping the collection in the building is not an option. While we would of course prefer to store everything in local buildings, we have not found any availabilities that would suit our climate, volume, and security needs. We are working to arrange more secure storage for items of highest concern, but space is very limited and will not accommodate the entire collection. We'd appreciate any advice in navigating this less-than-optimal situation.
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Faith Walker
Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum
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