Ventilation strategies for the preventive conservation of manuscripts in the Necip Paşa Library, Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Libraries are specific spaces in which the indoor microclimate should meet rigorous requirements such as the thermal comfort of humans and the conservation of books, manuscripts, and cultural property. An inadequate indoor microclimate (mainly temperature, relative humidity, and their fluctuations) in libraries may cause chemical, biological, and mechanical degradations in paper-based collections. In this chapter, the indoor microclimate of the Necip Paşa Library, the historic library located in Tire-Izmir, Turkey, is discussed from the perspective of the preventive conservation of manuscripts. The library, which has no active heating, cooling, and ventilation system, was modeled with the help of a building energy simulation tool, DesignBuilder. The indoor temperature and relative humidity were monitored throughout 1 year and the model was calibrated with respect to these measurements. To reduce the risks of the manuscripts degrading, ventilation strategies were proposed including natural and mechanical control. The results showed that risks of chemical degradation can be diminished to some extent. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.