[Nhcoll-l] Temporary storage of herbaria sheets in sealed plastic bags

[Majken Them Tøttrup]

Dear all
We are in the process of moving our herbaria into temporary storage until our new museum is ready in 2020.
Some of the herbaria are in build-in cabinets, and therefore need new housing, but since we do not know exactly how the new collection facilities will end up, we are NOT interested in purchasing new cabinets at this moment.
The aim is to keep all the collections accessible at all times in the coming years (except when doing the actual move :))
The temporary storage is actually quite nice and our staff will be working there permanently. We will be able to control the relative humidity, but we do not have a chance of securing the facility in regard to pests.

Therefore we are considering the following set-up;

·         To pack and seal the material from the different shelves individually in plastic, maybe with a light vacuum in order to minimize the mechanical tear.

·         Pack all the plastic sealed units into separate stackable cardboard boxes, which will be meta-registered and stacked on pallets. The registration of placement of individual pallets together with the meta-registration of individual boxes, should enable us to find the desired material at any time.

The advantages - as we see them;

·         The material is secured in regard to pests

·         The potential mechanical damage is reduced as we will only have to handle the herbaria sheets 2 times instead of 4 times

·         Probably 80-90% of the material will not be touch in the coming 5 years, so it will be all packed and ready to go into the new museum in five years' time.

Does anybody have experience in regard to sealing herbaria sheets in plastic - and what about the vacuum?
Is there a risk of creating microclimates - or any other risks you can think of?
Any other/better ideas?

Thanks in advance
Regards, Majken

Majken Them Tøttrup
Collections Coordinator
Natural History Museum of Denmark
University of Copenhagen
Universitetsparken 15
DK-2100 Copenhagen
Denmark

DIR +45 40498935
MOB +45 40498935
mtottrup at snm.ku.dk<mailto:mtottrup at snm.ku.dk>


[KU (FA og tværgående)_bomaerke_UK]



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