About: This advice refers to physical records. The storage of digital records on network servers, in data centres, or in the cloud is NOT covered by the scope of this guidance. The protection and recovery of digital records needs be addressed within your Public Office’s business continuity plan.
9.1 Water damaged records
Wet records must be deal with within the first 48 hours. If the disaster was a flood, it is likely that the records could have been affected by dirty water.
Wet records should only be handled by trained personnel wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Requirements for recovery will vary depending on the formats of the damaged records.
Methods for dealing with wet records include:
Airdrying - can be attempted if it is within 48 hours of the disaster and if material is not soaked. Otherwise, mould will start to grow, and items that are suitable should be frozen where possible. Airdrying may result in some distortion of items and should not be used for items with soluble inks.
Freezing - is the best method for stabilising and restoring large quantities of paper records, or for records that are already starting to grow mould.
NOTE: Freezing can damage some formats – expert advice should be sought. Identifying records that cannot be frozen ahead of time will ensure better decision making on the day
DO NOT freeze: vellum, photographs, glass plate negatives, electronic media such as diskettes, videos, cassettes or vinyl records.
See Appendix 1. Wet Records: Stabilising and drying methods and Appendix 2. Packing records in a recovery operation
9.2 Fire damaged records [heat affected or charred records]
Burnt records should only be handled by trained personnel wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
The recovery of burnt records presents a range of problems. The effects of fire include:
- heat
- soot
- burnt edges
- melted coverings such as plastics, and
- possible water damage.
Fire affected records are especially fragile and need to be handled carefully. If charring damage is only present around page edges (containing no information) it might be possible to trim the damage edges and rebind the document.
Usually where there is fire damage there is also water damage from the extinguishment of the fire. Burnt and wet materials can be frozen, to enable more time for planned recovering.
Any restoration other than basic cleaning and rehousing should be left to an experienced Conservator.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia website (www.nfsa.gov.au) gives first aid advice for fire damaged film audio-visual materials.
9.3 Soiled and contaminated records
Seek Work Health and Safety advice before proceeding. Specialised biohazard teams may need to be called in
Records contaminated by chemicals, sewerage, or flood waters should only be handled by trained personnel wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
NSW State Archives and Records can provide advice specific to your situation.
9.4 Torn or fragmented records
Torn or fragmented records should only be repaired by Conservators. You will need to collect the fragments (e.g. in archives envelopes, polypropylene sleeves, re-sealable bags, or boxes) and label the containers for identification.
In some cases, it might also be possible to place the pieces together to create a digitised copy.
9.5 Need Advice?
If you need further on how to deal with affected records contact NSW State Archives and Records. Our Recordkeeping and Conservation staff can help.
To contact NSW State Archives and Records, telephone (02) 8257 2900 or email govrec@records.nsw.gov.au or (02) 9673 1788 or email transfer@records.nsw.gov.au.
9.6 Useful Links and Resources
The Australian institute for the conservation of cultural material (AICCM) recovery advice includes simple to follow tips and DYI videos (https://aiccm.org.au/disaster)
Blue Shield Australia provides a list of useful resources (http://blueshieldaustralia.org.au/resources/)
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia provides first aid advice for fire damaged film audio-visual materials (www.nfsa.gov.au).
State Library NSW provides advice for ‘Drying a wet book’ (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research-and-collections/building-our-collecti...)
The National Archives UK’s ‘How to deal with wet documents’ provides advice for air drying wet records. (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/wet-...)
NSW State Archives and Records, Conservation Tip No. 5 Removing mould from records and archives (https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-...)
The Powerhouse Museum publication ‘All is not lost: the collection recovery book’ provides a comprehensive and practical guide to item recovery by material type. (Available for purchase from https://maas.museum/product/all-is-not-lost-the-collection-recovery-book/)