Hello,
We started producing hard copies of our collections database last year to fulfil the requirement for a hard copy accession register. We came across a few issues with this, one of which concerns the longevity of printing on archival paper.
There is a test that is carried out in Archives to test the copy quality, called the Peel test, which involves testing whether the ink adheres to the paper or transfers to some sticky tape (http://www.archives.gov/preservation/technical/peel-test.html?template=print ) We found that using Archival quality paper and standard Laserjet ink, the copies did not pass the archival quality test. However, despite the standard requiring 'records should be printed out on archival quality paper using a durable print medium', the MDA could not advise about paper and ink to produce these, although they did send us a copy of a report on 'Laser printing toner, comparative long-term stability' by T.M.A. Ogilvie, Conservator of Antiquities, Bristol Museums, June 2005.
We are taking the 'sign each page' approach for the print outs, as we will be binding them either at the end of the year for the current accessions, or when we've processed a couple of years for the backlog, so they won't be bound as soon as they're edited; not so bad for month by month print outs, but for the longer ones, a bit of a task for the person signing them!
Sian
Sian Woodward
IT Officer & Cataloguer (Collections)
The British Postal Museum & Archive
Freeling House
Phoenix Place
London WC1X 0DL
T 020 7239 2560
F 020 7239 2576
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Cooper
Sent: Friday 19 January 2007 11:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Printing a digital accession register
Hello chaps
Is there anyone out there with experience of printing an archival copy of a digital accession register? We have recently completed (what turned out to be) a six-year project to generate and reconcile a retrospective register of our natural history museum acquisitions 1867 to 2006. It's the biggest documentation project we've completed since our major collections inventory of 1991-1995 (the humanities reconciliation is still in train...)
My plan is to have it printed in sets ("signatures") of 16 or 32 pages up on 8 or 16 sheets of A3 archival paper (depends if we can find a networked printer to do this) and then have these sewn and hard bound. My difficulty arises in ways to guarantee its authority. I *could* sign every page (MDA suggest this), but at 750 pages I would get RSI. An alternative suggestion I have seen is to have the first and last pages signed off.
Any thoughts on this?
thanks
Mick
Michael P. Cooper
Nottingham Museums Registrar
tel.: +44 (0)115 915 3671
fax : +44 (0)115 915 3601
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