Investigation of indoor microclimate of historic libraries for preventive conservation of manuscripts. Case Study: Tire Necip Paşa Library, İzmir-Turkey

Abstract

Conservation of library collections requires an interdisciplinary approach. Dealing with the agents of deterioration via curative and preventive conservation methods has become a significant goal with new standards and norms in recent years. Preventive conservation aims indirect physical interventions such as climate control, good housekeeping and pest management. The aim of this study is to assess the degradation potential of indoor climate on valuable manuscripts that date back to 12th century, in a historic library in Tire-İzmir, Turkey. Through the study, first the library, namely Necip Paş a Library was continuously monitored by measurements of thermo-hygrometric parameters for one year. Then, the measured data were evaluated for the risk assessment based on the control classes of ASHRAE Chapter 21 to evaluate the mechanical, chemical and biological degradation risks. Finally, the conservation-oriented measures were proposed in order to keep the manuscripts under the better conditions.Results suggest that introducing a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system to the building should be considered as the last option since natural hygrothermal behavior of the library gives reasonably sufficient evidences to prevent the manuscripts from degradations to some extent. Therefore, passive solutions should be given higher priorities not to disturb environmental past of the historic library.

How Green Possibilities Can Help in a Future Sustainable Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Europe

“…Preventive conservation is a very important tool for the protection of materials-museum objects (i.e., paintings, frescoes, archaeological metals) [62][63][64], books, paper [65][66][67][68], or wooden materials [69][70][71]) and large artworks-as it allows long-lasting conservation without any direct intervention on the material, instead monitoring the environmental parameters that can influence their degradation [72][73][74].…”

Historical and Scientific Investigations into the Use of Hydraulic Lime in Korea and Preventive Conservation of Historic Masonry Structures

“…A typical approach is to minimize the environmental impact on the heritage by optimizing light, temperature, relative humidity, and indoor air quality. In this context, many studies have focused on the indoor environment of historic buildings, such as museums [11,12] and libraries [13][14][15]. Lucchi [16] summarized this type of study on museum buildings conducted over 50 years, starting in 1965.…”

A procedure for identifying chemical and biological risks for books in historic libraries based on microclimate analysis

“…Later on, attention was driven towards the conservation of books. Many researches focus on the relation between microclimate parametersmostly temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) -and conservation problems of books [4][5][6]. In some cases, the issue of books preservation is coupled with multi-objective problems: for example, in [7], the authors study a demand controlled ventilation system to improve energy efficiency in a library, while maintaining suitable microclimate for the library collection conservation.…”

“…The campaign highlighted possible risks in some halls of the library due to too-high RH and too-high/too-low T, depending on the season: this is caused by the absence of a HVAC system. Sahin [6] presented the results of a monitoring campaign in Tire Necip Pasa Library, in Turkey. In this case, the manuscripts were found to undergo degradation due to high temperatures occurring during summer.…”