Preservation

PRESERconVersATION

Our Own Little Piece of Alaska: A Tour of the NLA's Cold Store

Hi! Got your coat and gloves? You'll probably need them down in the LG2 cold store because we keep it pretty cold, maintained at 8C and 35% relative humidity, ideal for long term preservation of most film based collections.

This small room we've entered first is the acclimatisation room. Because we store material at temperatures much colder than those in the rest of the building, we have to allow material we retrieve to reach a temperature closer to room temperature to prevent condensation problems. Could you just close the outside door? We can't enter the cold store until it's closed. The acclimatisation room acts as an 'air lock' to maintain stable conditions in the store.

The store itself is about half the size of the Brindabella Bistro, large enough to hold the National Library's film based collections and provide space for material from other cultural institutions. Microfilms and microfiche masters, photographic negatives, motion picture films and colour transparencies of Pictorial works are held here.

Because our cold store provides such specialised environmental conditions, other major collecting institutions lease shelf space for their collections. The National Film and Sound Archive, the Australian War Memorial, and the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Studies have all deposited parts of their collections in the cold store.

The cold store is a good place to hibernate

Because of the importance of the collections we hold here there are some materials we can't place in the store. Some old movies and photo negatives were made using cellulose nitrate base film which can benefit greatly by cold storage. But we can't house them in the cold store because their ageing process releases gasses which can cause damage to other photographic materials. Nitrate based materials can also pose a potential fire risk. Ideally, cellulose nitrate based material should have it's own purpose built cold store.

Get's pretty cold in here after a few minutes doesn't it. I'll quickly tell you about the projects that will keep Preservation Services busy (and cold) over the next few months. Collection Preservation staff are progressively surveying and rehousing the Pictorial glass plate negative collection in the cold store. Information Preservation staff are coordinating a project to make duplicates from original microfilm to ensure there are back-up copies held in long term cold storage. The Cold store Management System is also being progressively upgraded to make control and access of collections easier. We are also about to start moving and reorganising the collections to provide room for expanding collections.

Well that's the LG2 cold store. Let's get out of the cold. Remember to close the door behind you so you don't let the cold out.

Top

About This Site | Copyright | Privacy | Accessibility | Site Map | Site Search | Content A-Z | Contact Us