Please describe any challenges or opportunities you faced and how you responded to them
The Somerset Heritage Centre does not have a drying room, or separate fumigation suite, so alternative accommodation was needed to dry the mould without contaminating other archival material. Staff re-purposed their Sort Room, covered shelving and other equipment with plastic sheeting and laid the volumes out to dry. A dehumidifier was also used.
The volumes were checked every day to ensure they were drying sufficiently, and where necessary pages of books were turned to ensure even drying. Apart from the staff doing the daily checks, who always wore suitable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the room was out of bounds to all other staff.
After the documents were dry and the was mould inactive, staff wrapped them in acid-free tissue, and stored them in a temporary location in the strongrooms. Relative humidity (RH) levels below 55% made certain the mould would not reactivate. The Sort Room was then cleaned with alcohol to ensure that mould spores did not transfer to other collections, and to ensure that the room was safe for staff use.
Without access to a specific drying room or fumigation suite, the decision was made to clean the documents outside. Staff waited for a dry sunny day to set up a cleaning station in the staff car park. With staff wearing appropriate PPE, they brushed the surface of the documents, ensuring that the mould and dust was brushed away down-wind from the staff.
The documents were then packaged in archive boxes and moved to permanent storage in the strongrooms, where the environmentally controlled conditions will ensure no re-growth of the mould.