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FW: FW: ARMA & environmental recommendations for paper



FYI, A response from the Iron Mountain rep.  I spoke with, the one who
claims "heat is ok for paper."

--Sammie Morris

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Colette_Bliobenes@ironmountain.com
> [SMTP:Colette_Bliobenes@ironmountain.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 11:12 AM
> To:   Sammie Morris
> Subject:      Re: FW: ARMA & environmental recommendations for paper
>
>
> Hello Sammie -
>
> I assure you, that Iron Mountain, and Pierce Leahy before it, would NOT
> offer non-air conditioned storage for paper unless we had guidelines
> within
> the industry that said we were in compliance.  We make it a point to not
> take liberties with written rules - it must be black and white so that we
> may offer a standard menu of services to our customers and do what they
> expect.
>
> Currently  we have over 1,000,000 cf of records
> in non-a/c storage in the Metroplex alone - much of it being stored by
> records managers who have been in the business for many years and are
> members of ARMA.  Even some of our employees are Certified Records
> Managers.  You are correct in that humidity, mold, insects, etc. all can
> affect paper to an extent - which is why the way the records are prepared
> and stored is vitally important and most companies don't invest in a
> professional Records Manager and their expertise to insure that is
> addressed.
>
> There are many competitors of Iron Mountain that also use non-air
> conditioned storage as an offering to customers.  One is Recall, whose
> previous GM was a past president of ARMA.  As I mentioned in our meeting,
> in my initial training with the company, we were told that "heat, to a
> certain extent, isn't detrimental to paper over an extended period of
> time," but as I told you, I have asked for where this ruling comes from,
> and the "extents" of proper storage, from IM Management.
>
> I was with Kestrel Records Management - all 3 of our buildings were a/c
> and
> humid. controlled.  When Pierce bought us, they immediately reduced our
> a/c, didn't cut it off, but reduced it to their "standard", which from
> what
> I remember was only about 5-7 degrees above what we had it at Kestrel - we
> did inform customers ahead of time in case, again, something was inside
> these boxes that they felt would be affected.  There were no comments of
> concern from customers in those buildings.  We do try to make regular
> communications with our customers too - unfortunately, with the constant
> change in staff at many of these locations, sometimes our attempts don't
> get to the right person(s).
>
> I am just as concerned as you are and want to make sure you get all of the
> information we have to offer as to how we do our business.  What I will do
> is pass your information on to the General Manager of the Iron Mountain
> buildings here and also ask him exactly what written standards we go by
> for
> our regulations and report it back to you.
>
> I apologize for the lengthy email -  just wanted to make sure I get a
> response to you.  I appreciate your candor here and rest assured I will
> find out more for you.  Thank you so much and have a great weekend!
>
> Best Regards,
> Colette.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Sammie Morris <SMorris@dm-art.org> on 11/08/2001 01:52 PM EST
>
> To:   Colette Bliobenes/IMRM/IronMtn@IronMtn
> cc:
> Subject:  FW: ARMA & environmental recommendations for paper
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:   Scott, Paul (FPM) [SMTP:paul_scott@fpm.co.harris.tx.us]
> > Sent:   Thursday, November 08, 2001 1:01 PM
> > To:     'Sammie Morris'
> > Subject:     RE: ARMA & environmental recommendations for paper
> >
> > Sammie,
> >
> > I'm been both an archivist and a records manager for 28 years and I've
> > never
> > heard any records manager or vendor claim that paper records were
> > impervious
> > to heat over the long run.
> >
> > Vendors sometimes take liberties with recognized standards although I've
> > never heard any of them make the claim you reported from the IM
> > representative.  The closest I've come was a few years ago when "a
> > leading"
> > records management company bought out a facility where we had our camera
> > negative microfilm and proceeded to cut off the air conditioning.  They
> > brought out a set of State Library standards to show that they were in
> > compliance.  At which point I pointed out that the standards she was
> > showing
> > us were the ones for microfilm with a retention of less than 10 years
> and
> > referred her to part of the document that was applicable to "permanent"
> > records.  She shut up real quick and then we found a solution.
> >
> > Let me point out besides fire and water there are other things that
> > are highly detrimental to paper other than heat-vermin, to include
> > rodents, insects, and mold.
> >
> > Paul Scott
> > Records Management Officer
> > Harris County, Texas
> >
> >  -----Original Message-----
> > From:   Sammie Morris [mailto:SMorris@DM-ART.ORG]
> > Sent:   Thursday, November 08, 2001 12:15 PM
> > To:     ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> > Subject:     ARMA & environmental recommendations for paper
> >
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I just had a rather disturbing meeting with a representative of Iron
> > Mountain, the self-proclaimed "leader in records and information
> > management"
> > about storing some of our archival records offsite with them.  When I
> > asked
> > what their environmental storage conditions were, the representative
> said
> > that they had both air conditioned and non-air conditioned spaces
> > available
> > for storage.  When I expressed my desire to have strict temperature and
> > humidity controls in place for any storage I might use, the
> representative
> > told me "Oh, heat doesn't really have any effect on paper."  When I
> argued
> > with her about this, she said that she was a member of ARMA and that
> other
> > reputable records managers affiliated with ARMA had told her this about
> > heat
> > and its effects on paper.
> >
> > For any of you who are members of ARMA, I'd love to hear from you as to
> > whether this is really something you're telling people, and, if so, what
> > you're basing your findings on.  It is widely known by anyone with any
> > sort
> > of training in the preservation of paper materials that heat and
> humidity,
> > aside from water or fire, are the two worst things for paper in terms of
> > deterioration.  I'd be interested to hear any arguments from ARMA on why
> > they would encourage people in the records management business to claim
> > otherwise.  I realize that records managers often deal with temporary
> > records that will eventually be scheduled for destruction, and, in that
> > case, non-environmentally controlled storage might be ok.  But I beg to
> > differ with anyone who would claim that "heat is ok for archival
> records."
> >
> > I welcome your thoughts.
> >
> > Sammie Morris, CA
> > Archivist
> > Dallas Museum of Art
> > 1717 North Harwood
> > Dallas, Texas 75201
> > (214) 922-1375
> >
> > A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
> >
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> >
> > Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
>
>
>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>