Skip to content | Change text size
 

Did you know?

14 May 2008

Archive boxes

Monash University's Records and Archives Services department knows the importance of revising disaster plans, identifying risks and making sure quick-response salvage materials are on hand in case disaster strikes.

Important university records were put at risk when severe storms hit the Clayton campus in December last year. Fortunately the University Archives, the organisation's "corporate memory", was unaffected but part of the university's current business records suffered water damage.

Storm water made its way through several floors and the ceiling of the basement where student files are kept. Although water came through in six places, only two were severe enough for water to start pouring over the edge of shelving wetting some student files.

The files were immediately sent off-site to a specialist firm that freeze-dried the paper to stabilise the damage and then extracted the water using a vacuum drying process. After several weeks the files were back on site and ready to be used.

In the future the response to this sort of situation may be very different. Records and Archives Services is planning the move to an e-student file which can be more easily backed-up, stored off-site, and quickly recovered.

Archive of Did you know?