GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

with, internally, an absence of no-go areas barred by steps or narrow doors
(including cloakrooms and toilets). These conditions are needed by staff in
transporting large specimens on trucks etc. Where standard-width doors are in
normal use, extra width can usefully be made available by providing a second
door or removable panel alongside to allow for the passage of extra-large
materials. Where fire-regulations dictate the presence of double doors in
sequence, enough space must be left between them for trollies, wheelchairs etc.
To provide safe and secure housing for geological materials, which tend to be
heavy, buildings must be soundly constructed with floors built to withstand heavy
loads - especially important if movable compacting units are used. Flammable
materials should be minimised.
When adapting an existing building, or designing a new one, due consideration
must be given to long-term needs of storage accommodation, since subsequent
structural alterations are prohibitively expensive. In general terms, the most
flexible arrangement is to acquire space on an open-plan basis, with maximum
floor area interrupted by the minimum of barriers such as walls, partitions or
steps. Ideally the building's ventilation, heating and humidity are controlled
centrally by an air-conditioning plant. A filtered air supply is recommended for all
museum storage as a means of eliminating dust, a potentially destructive agent for
geological materials (see C2.4.2). Larger collections sometimes have to be split,
with some materials being housed away from the museum. Out-station storage
should fulfil all the needs of safety, access, environment control, and, if research
materials are stored, an area in which it is possible to study specimens with good
lighting and heating.
ROOMS
Attention must be given to the health and safety aspects of storage; ceiling
heights, ventilation, temperature, relative humidity. adequate lighting (including
emergency and security lighting) and the widths of passages (including aspects of
fire regulations).
Rooms containing specimens, books or archive materials should not be subject
to temperature or humidity fluctuations, as these cause damage even leading to
loss (see C2.4.1). Commonly old buildings with thick walls provide better
insulation and are subject to less fluctuation then some modern buildings lacking
specific environmental control. Avoid the use of through-routes as storage areas,
since these are difficult to control for security or environmental conditions.
STORAGE UNITS
3.3.1. Principles
The availability of security and environmental control in the building, its rooms
and in storage areas will influence the type of storage units used. A secure,
air-conditioned building need have less well insulated units, but a breakdown in
the air conditioning may have dire results upon the materials in store if they are
in poor quality units.