The Evaluation Methods for Indoor Air Quality in Libraries

The aim of the project is a development of evaluation methods for indoor air quality in libraries and archives, targeted at reduction of damages on archival collections caused by adverse effects of environment. The project includes indoor/ outdoor monitoring of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM) at 4 different archives: Zlatá Koruna, Třeboň, Osek, and Prague, representing different outdoor environments: rural, small town with seasonal tourism, industrial area, and large city with traffic. The adverse effects of deteriorated environment will be studied by comparison of identical copies of books from these locations. Parallel to field studies the deterioration of paper caused by deposited PM will be studied at laboratory conditions. The air exchange rate and transport of pollutants in the indoor environment will be also investigated at all locations leading to precautions reducing the adverse effects of outdoor air pollution