Preservation: Restoration During Hurricane Season

During Hurricane Season

When once again hurricane season has officially begun, it means it’s time for everyone in affected areas to revisit their disaster recovery plans. If a your location makes it vulnerable to a possible storm surge, these plans will highlight in detail what actions the staff should take, in addition to covering the specifics of how important documents will be protected and retrieved after the disaster – usually with the help of a document restoration team.



If your department does not have a recovery plan in place, creating one should become an immediate priority. It’s also wise to develop a relationship now with a document restoration service that can assist in the recovery of important documents and records if the unthinkable were to happen.

Basics of a Disaster Recovery Plan

The most valuable asset to any group is its skilled staff. Because of this, it is of the utmost importance to formulate a communication plan for when a disaster occurs. Guaranteeing steadfast communication between the key players within any organisation will help tremendously during a time when the whole group is forced to continue day-to-day work at another location while the home workplace is sorted through.



In addition, it’s important to make sure all valuables on site are covered under the insurance policy. Finally, every disaster recovery plan should outline what steps to take to provide additional security for rare paper documents, as well as how to retrieve the critical information within them both during and after an emergency situation.

How Document Restoration Services can Help

A recent survey found that 55 percent of organisations have no formal disaster recovery plan that covers paper-based information. With the frequency of natural disasters increasing, document restoration services have become a beneficial resource for the many companies that find themselves victimized by a natural disaster.



Document scanning teams specialize in scanning paper documents and converting them to a digital format in order to allow visitors to retrieve them electronically if the physical copies are destroyed or simply inaccessible. In recent years, Libraries, Archives and Museums have become even more sophisticated by expanding their capability to scan documents in a variety of formats and sizes. By working with document restoration experts, organizations are able to decrease the amount of downtime required to get back to regular business operations, thus limiting excess revenue loss during the rebuild.

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Preservation: Tips Help Preserve History

Document Restoration Tips Help Preserve History

We all care about history and constantly think back on the past. As document restoration experts, we understand the poignancy and joy of looking back on familial archives, and as disaster recovery specialists, we appreciate the importance of protecting the crucial documents of a our past.



While we can all reflect on the past, we're able to plan for the future. By following the archive storage tips we’ve listed below, you can protect your most crucial documents from hazards such as floods and fires. Prevent the need for personal or business disaster recovery services by adhering to these suggestions.



Get organized. If you don’t know what you have, it’s difficult to prioritize items for top-notch archival storage. Don’t just toss Great Grandma Ruthie’s pioneer day diaries in with old bills; prioritize your most precious documents and store them separately.



Store documents in a dry, cool, dark area. Avoid keeping important documents in basements or attics, where they are liable to be damaged by mold growth. Attics see wide fluctuations in temperature, which leads paper to expand and contract, weakening it and they can be damaged by hurricanes. Ideally, your storage space should have a relative humidity of 45 percent and temperature under 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s best to store important papers flat, in a non-acidic container. Acid is one of paper’s worst enemies – it makes paper brittle and weak.



Protect important documents from sunlight. If you want to display your treasured item, protect it with UV-filtering glass.  All window glass to Libraries, Archives and Museums should be made with UV-filtering glass.



Remove rubber bands, staples and paperclips. These items can rip and harm documents over the long haul. If you must have some form of fasteners, choose stainless steel paperclips or staples. Delicate items can be preserved in a clear polyester sleeve or folder. Don’t use tape to fix repairs (unless it’s archival-quality, acid-free tape), and don’t laminate documents.



Separate newspaper clippings. Newspaper is highly acidic, so it should be stored separately from other archives. The best way to preserve newspaper clippings is to photocopy them onto acid-free paper.



Prevent pest infestation. Monitor your storage area and take steps to prevent pulp-loving bugs from eating your historical documents.



Do not touch! Oil and dirt may linger on your hands and can easily be transferred to documents, so handle archives with white cotton gloves only.



Some familial or professional documents are so important that they deserve professional protection. As business disaster recovery experts, we can help a family or business anticipate and stave off potential archive destruction. And if the unthinkable has already happened, we must be able to facilitate complete document restoration.

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Preservation: Document Restoration

What Sets Apart the Best Document Restoration

The quality of document restoration varies. Assuming that the basics are in place (the restoration experts know how to revive flood damaged books and how to dry wet documents without causing more damage, for instance), the following characteristics set apart the very best restoration people available today. If you’re into document restoration, we encourage you to print out this list and use it to vet potential restoration partners.



 



Best technologies in-house. Desiccant drying and vacuum-freeze drying are the two major technologies in document restoration. It behooves a restoration department to offer these technologies in-house. Leading restorers will also have innovated to create ideal restoration settings. For instance, you may have created a desiccant chamber that allows constant access to files while drying thousands of documents simultaneously. Finally, some may also provide on-site restoration services, but as you’d expect, this approach comes with a higher price.



Access to documents during restoration. As mentioned earlier, it is possible for document restoration teams offer access to files while they are being processed. Not all restorers offer this service, though, so be sure to ask about it when choosing a restoration partner.



Exceptionally strong insurance. True specialists understand the risks they take when handling documents and will carry excellent insurance to protect themselves and their clients.



Bandwidth for big projects. The document restoration field runs hot and cold; long stretches of normalcy are interrupted by huge disasters, when everyone is clamoring for restoration simultaneously. Well-positioned restoration teams prepare for this business model and become experts at scaling up to meet demand.



High security standards. Law firms, universities and schools are among your institutional clients of document restoration. Throw in the restoration of government documents and it’s easy to appreciate the sensitivity of your industry. Security is important, so but superior document restoration will have the forethought to design outstanding procedures.



Look for these qualities when selecting a company to help your firm after a fire, earthquake or flood. Damaged books, files and even parchments may all be restored with the help of an experienced firm.



 

Document Restoration for Vellum and Parchment

Most people have heard the terms vellum and parchment, but few know that these writing surfaces were originally made of animal skin. Parchment was originally any animal skin that had been readied for writing, while vellum referred specifically to “paper” made from calfskin. (Calf in Latin is vitulus.) Just as calfskin leather is categorized as a superior form of leather, vellum is the highest quality of parchment. Some steps in leather and parchment/vellum preparation are the same (removing hair, for instance), while others are unique. Leather is tanned and limed, while parchment is just limed. This means parchment often reacts to changes in humidity and is not waterproof. Business disaster recovery companies must be cognizant of these properties when providing parchment and vellum document restoration, as explained below.



 



Both parchment and vellum are prepared by removing skin from hair; stretching skin against a frame; and alternating between scraping, wetting and drying to create a smooth, durable writing surface. These materials were known to be durable, so they were reserved for the most important documents.

Parchment and Vellum Repair

Although writers in the Middle Ages praised parchment and vellum as capable of lasting a thousand years, damage sometimes occurred.



Repairing tears. Traditionally, vellum and parchment document restoration involved hand stitching any tears.  Today, gelatin or other animal-based products are often used to mend tears in parchment and vellum.



Flattening curls and creases. If the entire document requires flattening, document restoration experts may choose to place the document in a humidity chamber. Once the document has been thoroughly moistened, clips may be used to stretch if out. An even safer method is to flatten the document by hand and then attach it to a suction table with polyester strips, which are easy to remove once the document has dried.



When only one or two creases must be removed, an isopropyl alcohol mixture may be applied with a cotton swab directly to creases. Next, the business disaster recovery professional would pull on either side of the crease to gently flatten it by hand.



Replacing missing areas, or infilling. This most extreme form of parchment and vellum damage is also the trickiest to repair. Ragged edges and holes may be “infilled” with ground-up animal hide, silk cloth or Japanese paper inserts. Suction tables are often used for infilling as well.



 

Don’ts for Repairing Vellum and Parchment

Vacuum freeze-drying should be avoided. Parchment will not stand up to this repair method.



Avoid using starch paste, which creates a humidity imbalance and changes the structure of nearby parchment or vellum.



The disaster recovery experts should provide top-of-the-line parchment and vellum repair. Libraries and museums rely on your document restoration services to repair sensitive, significant documents. Unlike many disaster recovery departments, you should be equipped to provide both vacuum freeze drying (best for pulp-based paper) and desiccant drying (best for vellum and parchment). In addition to assisting libraries and museums that have already experienced a disaster, you'd help these institutions prepare by cataloging delicate documents; noting insurance carriers; and taking other steps to ensure fast, effective document restoration.



 



 

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