The monitoring of environmental conditions within corporate collections at Keyworth and Murchison House : 2002-2003

This report presents the environment data gathered during the calendar year 2003 in the storerooms for the British Geological Survey’s Corporate Collections Archives. Comparisons are made with data collected in pervious years to assess the benefits or otherwise of modifications to either working practices or the fabric of the building. The rationale for recording the environment, the location of the instruments and the equipment used to monitor and record data are described in chapter 1. The data are discussed in chapters 2 and 3 where they are also illustrated in graphical format. A full copy of the data is contained on the accompanying compact disk, together with an Adobe Acrobat format version of this report. Monitoring the environment has allowed certain measures to be taken that will not only have a positive impact on the conditions of the storerooms, and therefore the specimens held therein, but in some cases, on the condition of the fabric of the buildings. We will illustrate that there are a number of factors that affect the temperature and humidity of a storeroom. These factors range from duration and number of workers present in the room to changing air movement by altering doors openings. Other factors include heating cycles of the building and external influences such as variations in the weather, from temperature and precipitation to the direction of the wind. In some cases a change in working practices has all that has been required to improve the environment, in others building work has been required. In all cases none would have been obvious without the benefit of factual data. Alterations to working practices and improvements in the fabric of the stores over the period of reporting will be discussed. Possible future modifications are identified, however these are made in a controlled manner to allow changes in the environment to be assessed.