Mass Deacidification - Effects of Mass Deacidification

Effects of Mass Deacidification

All of the processes imparted an adequately high pH in studies conducted by the European Commission on Preservation and Access, the Library of Congress, and a team of scientists from the Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation des Documents Graphiques in the early and mid-nineties. BookKeeper produced a pH of 9-10. CSC Book Saver gives a pH of 8.78-10.5. Wei T'o gives 7.5 to 10.4, and Papersave gives a pH of 7.5-9.

The same studies also found that the processes had negative cosmetic side effects. BookKeeper left "a palpable residue", clamp marks on the covers, and caused some of the colored inks to rub off. CSC Book Saver left a "white powdery deposit" on books. Papersave caused "discoloration, white deposit, Newton rings, bleeding of inks and dyes, odor and different 'feel' of the paper." Wei T'o caused "odor, white residues, rings, cockling, (yellow) discolorations and adhesive bleeding."

However, these studies are now more than ten years old and several of the processes have changed their formulae since the mid-nineties. Conservators from the British Library acknowledge that the existing mass deacidification processes are still developing and further research needs to be conducted on their chemical and mechanical effects. The Library of Congress recommends libraries use mass deacidification to ensure that collections survive. Clearly, the conservators working for the Library of Congress believe that mass deacidification is vital to library collections, whatever the cosmetic effects may or may not be.