Physical Setup of an Archive Room

1
Physical Setup of an Archive Room

• by Sylvain Dufault B.A.
• Archivist, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals

2
Introduction

• Why Set-up an Archive Room?
• It is critical that company information is
  securely stored. Loss of information may cause
  irreparable damage to the organisation.
• Code of Federal Regulations 21 CFR Part 58,
  sec.190 states

3
Introduction

• There shall be archives for orderly storage and
  expedient retrieval of all raw data,
  documentation, protocols, specimens, and interim
  and final reports. Conditions of storage shall
  minimize deterioration of the documents or
  specimens in accordance with the requirements for
  the time period of their retention and the nature
  of the documents or specimens. A testing facility
  may contract with commercial archives to provide
  a repository for all material to be retained. Raw
  data and specimens may be retained elsewhere
  provided that the archives have specific
  reference to those other locations.

4
Introduction

• From previous experiences, very limited amount of
  space is allowed for archive storage.
• Off-site archiving may represent a solution, but
  it is expensive and does not allow for quick
  access to paper documents and/or media.

5
Introduction

• Archive room operation should be covered by an
  official SOP.
• SOP should focus on the following aspects
• Restricted access
• Fire protection
• Environmental conditions
• Shelves organization
• Calibration and maintenance of equipment used in
  the archive room

6
Choice of location

• Assess floor resistance
• 1 standard archive box may contain up to 18kg of
  material.
• Also consider the weight of equipment (shelves,
  cabinets etc.).
• Canadian National Archives requirements for floor
  resistance is 1500kg/square meter in storage
  environment.

7
Choice of location

• Accessibility
• Close to users
• Electricity and plumbing in good working
  condition

8
Access control

• Key Card
•  Abloy  type key (impossible to reproduce)
• Intrusion alarm linked to security / central
  alarm
• Authorized personnel (Archivist, Backup,
  Supervisor, Security. An up to date list of
  authorized personnel is to be maintained.
• Other personnel entering the room must be
  escorted.

9
Fire Protection

• Alarm system tested periodically
• Fire suppressant systems
• Water Basically the same system used in office
  areas.
• Halon Illegal since 2003 as per Montreal
  Protocol banning ozone depleting chemicals.

10
Fire Protection

• Dry Sprinklers No water in pipes above location
  of the Archive Room. In case of accidental
  breakage of sprinkler head, only air is released.
  However, water is released if smoke or heat
  detectors are triggered.
• Carbon Dixoide (CO2) May also be considered as a
  replacement to Halon. However, since this is an
  oxygen removing agent, it is not life
  sustainable.
• FM200 Heptafluoropropane gas. May be considered
  as an alternative to Halon. This is an heat
  removing agent and is therefore life sustainable,
  opposite to CO2.

11
Fire Protection

• For all non-life sustainable systems, a
  pre- alarm must be installed allowing personnel
  to leave the room personnel are to be trained
  on the evacuation procedure
• Ensure that all installations are compliant
  with local building code and bylaws

12
Fire Protection

• If a water-based fire suppressant system is
  installed, ensure there is a disaster recovery
  plan in place for water damaged documents.
• Private records management contractors offer
  freeze drying services
• Freeze Drying is the commonly known
   sublimation  process by which liquids are
  being directly transferred to gaseous state

13
Temperature and Humidity Control

• Specifications for Paper (according to US
  National Archives and Records Administration)
• Temperature 16-21 C
• Relative humidity (rH) 40-50
• Specifications for CDs (according to National
  Library of Canada)
• Temperature 15-20 C
• rH 25-45

14
Temperature and Humidity Control

• Specifications for Microfilm / Microfiche
  (according to Alabama state archives)
• Temperature 15-21C
• rH 45-50
• Temperature and rH to be verified on a frequent
  basis (once or twice each working day)

15
Temperature and Humidity Control

• Monitoring Device
• Mechanical / paper chart (ex Partlow)
• Computerized (ex Rees)
• Certain standards may be slightly different
  from one organization to another, but most
  important drastic fluctuations in temperature
  and RH should be avoided.
• Traceability Monitoring device must ensure
  traceability of environmental conditions in the
  Archive room at all times
• Monitoring Device to be calibrated periodically

16
Pest Control

• Vermin like paper!!!
• There should be a preventive pest control
  program such as installing live traps
• Signs of vermin presence in the archive room
• Droppings
• Urine
• Boxes / document damaged
• In the case of vermin presence in the archive
  room quickly implement a more aggressive pest
  control program.

17
Maximization of available space

• Rolling Shelves, Static Shelves and Cabinets
• Rolling shelves ensure maximization of available
  space.
• Static shelves represent a possible solution,
  better than filing cabinets, but still causes
  loss of space.
• Filing cabinets is the least efficient solution
  in terms of space management. May be a solution
  within departments for active documents which are
  not yet ready to be archived.

18
Maximization of available space

• Comparison of different storage systems
• (Inches of storage per square feet)
• Standard 4 drawers lateral cabinet 16.7
• Standard 4 drawers vertical cabinet 20.7
• Static shelves 33.6
• Rolling shelves 54.6

19
Maximization of available space

• Example of maximized storage for a 400 sq/ft
  room
• Will fit 1332 standard 1.2 cubic foot archiving
  boxes.
• 46 inches of free space between shelves for
  convenience.
• Available space also maximized vertically. There
  are 9 levels of boxes in this example.

20
(No Transcript)
21
References

• Food and Drug Administration web site
  http//www.fda.gov/
• Environmental Protection Agency web site
  http//www.epa.gov/
• Alabama State Archives web site
• http//www.archives.state.al.us/ol_pubs/govrec21.
  html
• Unesco article on long term records and archives
  management program http//www.unesco.org/webworld
  /ramp/html/r8707e/r8707e01.htm
• US National Archives and Records Administration
  web site
• http//www.archives.gov/index.html

22
References (cntd)

• US National Institute of Science and Technology
  Special Publication 500-252 Care and Handling of
  CDs and DVDs - A Guide for Librarians and
  Archivists
• http//www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/CDandD
  VDCareandHandlingGuide.pdf
• Personal notes Archives Management Certificate,
  Université de Montréal

23
Thank you!!

• Questions