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Hi Tony Without knowing the actual humidity and your area I will give you general stuff. If you are able to limit or control the amount of outside air coming into your area (e.g.: patrons opening and closing the door ever 10 seconds of door left open, etc) then I would say use a dehumidifier in summer and maybe a humidifier in winter even a domestic one may do, depending on the area to cover and load. The biggest concern after not wanting high or very low humidity is humidity that goes up and down a lot. So, I would invest in a Hygrometer of some sort and keep a daily record (maybe every hour to start with). This will tell you what is really going on and will help you in setting up your humidifier/dehumidifier controls (setting) if you really need them. I would think too high humidity would be your biggest problem...remember even in winter when the humidity is low outside...people coming into you area will give off heat and moisture just from breathing. Once again I don't know your circumstances, so.... To start with... if you haven't measured the humidity in your area I would do that first to see how bad it really is. Regards Paul Tombleson Director of Preservation Bhaktivedanta Archives ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Greiner/Mary Grant" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 1:55 PM Subject: [ARSCLIST] ?Humidifiers for small institution holdings. > Hello folks. I am a librarian at a public library, with > responsibility for our local history collection, which includes > magnetic tapes, standard cassettes and VHS. (Mostly video and oral > histories of local residents.) > > I have been studying on what should be done to preserve these > materials, and the question of humidity comes up. I am in Western > Oregon, which is humid but cool from roughly October to May, and arid > from June to September. We cannot afford a high-quality humidity > control system- but the questions come up. > > Is it better to have a household room dehumidifier running in > climates with high humidity than to do nothing, and > > In arid climates, is running a room humidifier better than doing nothing? > > Thanks for any help you are willing to provide. This is a great list to lurk! > > Tony Greiner > > -- > Tony Greiner/Mary Grant [log in to unmask] >