FSU’s Library Features Environmentally Controlled Archival Room

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Florida State University’s Seminole Indian artifact and rare book collections are now accessible to students in one environmentally controlled room as the result of an $827,000 renovation and a consulting engineer’s state-of-the-art HVAC design.

While accessibility was the motivation behind the creation of the Robert Manning Strozier Library’s new archival room, maintaining strict temperature and humidity control while filtering out air pollutants is essential in preserving the 8,000-square-foot area’s collections.

The challenge for project engineer, Robin Winton, Winton Engineering, Tallahassee, Fla., was specifying equipment to exclusively handle air conditioning, heating, dehumidifying, humidifying and air filtration, and then fitting all of the components into a small space to allow for maximum collection archiving. Winton’s specification of a one-package unit saved the university an estimated 300 square feet in mechanical room space.

While Dectron provides nearly all environmental conditioning, Winton specified a Dri-Steem 12 lbs/hr humidifier for Florida’s dry season of December, January and February. Humidification is introduced into the supply ductwork and is controlled by Dectron’s on-board microprocessor/controller.

Books, artifacts and other collectibles can deteriorate from a myriad of gasses. Taking recommendations from FSU’s special collections archivists, the air handler’s filtration module utilizes a gas-phase filtration process to maintain sulfur dioxide under 0.4 parts per billion; nitrogen oxide under 2.5 ppb; and ozone under 1.0 ppb. Dectron’s Circul-Aire filtration division custom-blended gas-phase chemical filter media for the project to remove the aforementioned air contaminants, as well as volatile organic compounds commonly off-gassed by book papers and binding glues.

Filtering is critical, but the testing of the media’s effectiveness and endurance is equally important. In the first four quarters of operation, samples of the chemical media are sent to the gas-phase filtration laboratories at Dectron headquarters for testing. According to library officials, this attention to detail will help assure that the facility’s rare collections will endure the test of time.