Indiana University South Bend

Instructions for In - House Recovery

1. Pack-Out Supervisors meet with the Director and are briefed on the situation.
2. Pack-Out Supervisors brief team leaders.
3. Teams assemble and begin the packing procedure according to preservation-approved techniques.
4. During packing, ranges and number of boxes are recorded.
5. When trucks arrive, the Pack-Out Supervisors brief the moving crews and oversee the loading of pallets.
6. Pack-Out Supervisors oversee the unloading at the recovery site.
7. Supervisors report progress to Dean of Library Services regularly.

• Work space (air-drying location, freezer, storage space).
• Transportation.
• Packing area, with room to sort and pack materials.
• Loading area for receipt of supplies and shipping of wet books.
• Route for the removal of full boxes.
• Rest area for workers.

• Salvage is taxing for workers; plan breaks for rest and refreshment every 75 minutes, or more frequently as needed.
• The Pack-Out Supervisor will select and brief leaders to direct the three or four person packing teams.

• Plastic crates or cardboard boxes.
• Waxed paper or freezer wrap.
• Waterproof marking pens.
• Color - coded tags or labels for boxes (color indicates the level of damage).
• Log books for recording materials leaving the library.
• Fans, dehumidifiers, electric generators.
• Book trucks, hand trucks, flat trucks.

The Pack-Out Supervisor organizes the workers into teams of three or four people and assigns tasks.

• Bring, prepare and assemble packing materials.
• Remove damaged materials. Wrap each wet book in freezer paper and place it in a plastic crate spine down.
• Sort materials during packing according to the level of damage and color code boxes appropriately.
• Record (in summary) what is being moved in the log books (spiral notebooks).
• Move crates and boxes to loading point and load trucks.

• Consult priority lists; pack/process in the indicated order.
• Start removing materials from areas closest to the point of access and work back.
• Clear aisles and passageways first; use a human chain to pass items out separately to a packing area; when the aisles are clear, bring the packing crates to the shelves.
• Remove the wettest books first; if water has come from above, start working with the top shelves, if from below, with the bottom shelves.
• If the packing and removal operation will take more than ten hours, loosen tightly packed shelves or boxes so the books and paper do not jam as they swell. Otherwise, leave material packed together on shelves or in record boxes where it will present less surface area for mold growth.
• Books that are actually submerged in water are likely to be in less danger than books that are wet but no longer submerged. After the initial wetting, submerged books will remain more stable and be less vulnerable to mold attack than wet materials exposed to air.

• Be extremely careful when handling wet materials because they are very fragile.
• Don't unpack structurally sound containers like phase boxes or slip cases (although they may be reinforced by packing inside plastic crates).
• Fill cartons and crates three quarters full.
• Keep identification labels (call numbers and tags) with objects. Don't mark wet paper (but picture frames and reels can be marked with a grease pencil).
• To prevent further damage, do not stack materials in piles on the floor.

• Don't open or close wet books or remove wet book covers.
• If the water is dirty, wash the books before freezing.
• Do not wash open books and those with water soluble media.
• Wash closed books in tubs of cold running water and dab away (do not rub) mud with a sponge. Note that time and facilities may limit this treatment.
• Lay a sheet of freezer paper around the cover and pack spine down in a milk crate or cardboard carton.
• Leather, parchment, and vellum bindings are an immediate priority because they distort and disintegrate in water.
• Books with coated papers (slick, glossy paper) should be kept wet by packing inside boxes lined with garbage bags, then frozen.

• Drain off excess water and take to a work area for immediate drying. Transport horizontally, if you can. If not, carry the painting facing toward you, holding the sides of the frame with the palms of your hands. Larger paintings should be carried by two people. The order of removal and treatment is: first, the most highly valued; second, the least damaged; third, slightly damaged; and fourth, the severely damaged.

• If the disks are wet, pack them upright in containers of cold, distilled water. Make arrangements to air dry.

• If storage boxes are badly damaged, transfer the discs, up to five at a time to milk crates. Pad the bottom of the crates with ethafoam and inter-leaf with ethafoam every 25 records to absorb shocks. Always transport the discs vertically and hold the discs by their edges. Avoid shocks and jolts during transport.
• For cassettes, pack vertically into egg crates or cardboard cartons. Do not put excessive weight on the sides of the reels or cassettes.

• Nitrates with softening emulsions: Freeze immediately and make arrangement to freeze dry. Emulsions are water soluble and could be lost. Other photographs should be kept in wet containers of fresh cold water until they are either air dried or frozen. If allowed to partially dry, they will stick together. Pack inside plastic garbage pails or garbage bags inside boxes. Keep to a minimum the immersion time prior to treatment or freezing.
• Prints, negatives, transparencies: Salvage color photographs first, then prints, then black and white negatives and transparencies. If facilities and personnel are available, air dry. Pack and freeze if not.

• Roll Microfilm: It may be cheaper to replace service copies than to salvage them, but master negatives may be irreplaceable and salvage the only option. Put rolls of microfilm in water-tight containers and fill with clean, cold water.
• Send to microfilm processor within 72 hours for washing and drying. (See appendix of supplies and suppliers).