Preservation Services for Members
Preservation Equipment Loan Program
The CNSA owns a UV metre, two light metres, and several HOBO MX1101 data loggers for measuring temperature and relative humidity, any of which CNSA members can borrow for up to a year at a time. The HOBO data loggers are operated via Bluetooth from a smartphone or tablet. If you are interested in borrowing any of our environmental-monitoring equipment, please contact our Archives Advisor.
The followed documents provide more information on the data loggers:
Cold Vault Storage for Institutional Members
CNSA Institutional Members have access to free storage in the Nova Scotia Film Preservation Cold Vault, owned and operated by the Nova Scotia Archives.
- Procedures for the Deposit of Colour Film in the Nova Scotia Film Preservation Cold Vault
- Master Colour Film Deposit Agreement
Disaster Recovery Supply Depots
Disaster recovery supply depots are available to CNSA members in urgent need of supplies to respond to an emergency. There are three depots strategically located across the province (Yarmouth, Halifax, and Sydney). Members are responsible for contacting the custodian of the depots, picking up supplies, replenishing any used materials, and returning all supplies in a clean and orderly state. (Note the Yarmouth depot belongs to the Nova Scotia Museum, but CNSA members may use it so long as they replace all expended supplies.)
The supplies in each depot may vary somewhat, but should include:
- Wet document remediation supplies, such as blotting paper, parchment paper, freezer paper, clothesline, waterproof labels, resealable plastic bags, etc.
- Personal protection equipment, such as filter masks, nitrile gloves, work gloves, hand cleaner, aprons, disposable coveralls, hard hats, utility knives, etc.
- Tools and hardware, such as lamps, extension cords, dry cell flashlights, basic tool kit, electric fans, electric heaters, etc.
- Cleaning supplies, such as mops, scrub brushes, sponges, etc.
- Miscellaneous supplies, such as duct tape, masking tape, garbage bags, tarps, plastic sheeting, scissors, caution tape, pencils, shop towels, etc.
Depot locations
Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University 1250 Grand Lake Rd. Sydney, NS (902) 563-1690 Contact: Jane Arnold
Nova Scotia Archives 6016 University Avenue Halifax, NS (902) 424-6060 Contact: Rosemary Barbour
Yarmouth County Museum and Archives 22 Collins Street Yarmouth, NS (902) 742-5539 Contact: Lisette Gaudet, archivist; Nadine Gates, museum director
General Preservation Resources
- CNSA Generic Emergency Plan
- CNSA Preservation Policy guidelines
- Conservators for hire in Nova Scotia
- File Format Guidelines for Preservation and Long-term Access by Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
- Tips for Preserving CDs and DVDs
- Biological Infestations - Chapter 5 of US National Parks Service Museum Handbook
- Canadian Association for Conservation: Atlantic Regional Group - association of professional conservators for hire in Atlantic Canada
- Canadian Conservation Institute - reliable preservation information from the experts, includes CCI Notes and Technical Bulletins
- CCA Preservation Committee - preservation activities at the national level and source for preservation standards and publications Collection Care at the British Library, includes links to publications from the National Preservation Office (UK)
- Conservation OnLine - full text library of conservation information, covering a wide spectrum of topics concerning library, archives and museum materials
- Emergency Preparedness & Response from the California Preservation Clearinghouse
- Northeast Document Conservation Centre - provides an excellent on-line preservation course as well as technical information, advice and links to further resources
- The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs by Henry Wilhelm – classic reference book, available for free download by chapter.