مقدمة - حفظ الأرشيفات

Introduction - Preservation of Archives

• Archives aim to protect documents from damage and loss, safeguarding the nation's memory, as they are essential resources for historians to record their country's history.
• Preservation is defined as the actions taken to prolong the existence of something by preventing harm or addressing deterioration, materially by maintaining or restoring objects.
• Preservation, in the context of global memory, encompasses all steps to ensure perpetual access to documentary heritage, including preservation, and encompasses all measures, methods, and techniques used to preserve archival heritage for as long as possible, regardless of the documents' format or material.
• A key function of national archives is physical preservation; this holds legal weight per Article 19, concerning receipt, preservation, classification, and notification.
• Preservation includes two distinct categories: preventive and curative preservation.
• Preservation is a complex process including actions, measures, practices, approaches, and technological tools that archivists use once documents enter an archive. This ensures shielding documents from internal and external deterioration and maintaining their best possible condition for current and future generations.

Methods of Document Preservation

• Horizontal Open Preservation: Large documents like maps and flat drawings are stored in horizontal open drawers allowing multiple documents to be stored in a single drawer.

• Cylindrical Preservation: Maps, drawings, and rolled documents are stored on wooden stands.

• Suspended Preservation: Large documents are hung vertically on open shelves using special clips, leaving the bottom portion free.

• Vertical Preservation: Documents in cardboard boxes are stored neatly on shelves, with a summary of the document’s contents on the visible box edge.

• Confidential Documents: Stored securely in iron safes.

• Films: Stored in special drawers, with recorded sequential numbers, date received, film title, main subject, producing company, address, running time, image type (magnetic or optical), and whether the film is translated (original language indicated).

• Miniaturized Formats: Stored in acid-free film containers located in safes.

Preservation Types

• Preventive (Maintenance): The terms "conservation" and "preservation" were often used interchangeably until very recently.
• Archival document preservation is defined as a set of procedures applied to documents during circulation and storage. It is also called prevention or preservation, including actions and processes to protect records, archives, or documents from physical damage and deterioration.
• Preventive preservation further refers to actions to minimize further deterioration of original materials, with minimal technical intervention.
• In short, preventive preservation stops or slows the natural aging process using scientific methods to reliably protect and maintain archival materials.
• Documents are susceptible to risks, especially given their nature and importance; they require preventative measures tailored to their state and material composition, taking into account temperature, humidity, lighting, ventilation, and biological factors.

Factors Threatening Document Safety

• Internal Factors:

  • Poor document material quality.
  • Paper, historically made of cellulose fibers from cotton or linen, was resistant. This is not the case with other paper types produced from wood pulp, bound with colophony in acidic mediums.
    • Original acidity in paper (pH 5.5-5) increases with age, oxidizing cellulose, degrading polymer links, and decreasing mechanical resistance.
  • Leather, for binding, uses strong acids (lime, mercuric chloride) in its preparation and tanning. Exposure to gases degrades these materials and creates deposits on documents that can cause dirt coating, concealing writing with humidity.
  • Ink stability also depends on components.
    • Carbon ink is usually not erasable, may become powdered through degradation to stain or obscure the paper.
    • Metal ink (iron salts) reacts with humidity, creating iron sulfate acid that causes paper brittleness and yellowing.
    • Oil/protein ink dissolves with water, obscuring legibility and causing paper swelling.

• External Factors

  • Environmental factors:
    • Climate conditions include the physical, chemical, and biological effects of the environment on documents.

• Temperature and Relative Humidity

  • Critical factors, daily impacting archival collections. Good or bad preservation depends on their measurements and variations.
  • Measurements are needed at various times and across all areas archives occupy.
  • Recommendations from the French Archives Ministry and ISO 11799 standards emphasize temperature and humidity control for proper storage. (See a table for specific recommendations).

• Light

  • Ultraviolet (UV) and Infrared (IR) radiation are dangerous due to chemical reactions (oxidation) and physical transformation

  • To protect from light damage: less than 10% of glazing area for storage rooms, use filtered glass, avoid south-facing glazing, and ensure shelves are vertical to glazed windows.

  • Indoor work areas, sorting areas, binding/restoration workshops, require protection from UV light as well via double-glazing or curtains.

  • Artificial light: ISO 11799 and French Archives guidelines suggest 200 lux for ground level monitoring and cleaning and 400 lux maximum in communal areas.

  • Use fluorescent lamps and less UV emitters or incandescent lamps with a frosted glass diffuser.

-Dust, Sand, and Contaminants: -Dust, sand, and contaminants entering through poorly ventilated areas, accumulating over time, affecting documents. - Implement ventilation systems, regular cleaning using electric vacuum cleaners to control.

• Biological-Mechanical Factors

  • Mold and Fungi: High humidity, darkness, poor ventilation create mold and fungus growth in storage areas.
  • Insects (termites, cockroaches, bookworms): 120+ types can damage paper, leather, or cloth.
  • Rodents: infest and damage storage units, eating paper, leather, and fabric in stored archives. Losses can reach 20% or total destruction is possible.

• Catastrophic Events

  • Floods (natural or accidental): Rapid water damage. Preventive measures and speed of actions are vital.
  • Sandstorms (arid zones): Sand particles, mineralized particles, damage documents.
  • Fire: The most destructive event
  • Damage is total and irreparable. Causes can include electrical faults or human negligence (cigarettes, matches, technical areas with flammable materials).
  • Prevention: include fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers (multiple types, located appropriately and personnel trained in their use) and fire evacuation drills to be done on a yearly basis.

• Human Factors: Damage through negligence, mishandling, theft, vandalism, or improper use (writing on documents).

• Prevention: Strict control of access, secured storage, minimizing handling or documentation transfer using reproductions, copies, or other imaging systems (films, digital copies).

Conclusion

• Precautions are important to prevent archival damage and loss; however, some events will cause damage requiring restoration for extended lifetime of documents.

تتناول هذه الاختبار مفهوم حفظ الأرشيفات وأهميتها في حماية الذاكرة الوطنية. يتم تعريف الحفظ على أنه الإجراءات المتخذة لإطالة عمر المستندات ومنع الضرر. تتضمن العملية حفظ التراث الوثائقي لضمان الوصول المستمر إليه.