Library Herald Year : 2015, Volume : 53, Issue : 4 First page : ( 441) Last page : ( 452) Print ISSN : 0024-2292. Online ISSN : 0976-2469. Article DOI : 10.5958/0976-2469.2015.00040.8
Sinha Atanu Kumar
Palli Samgathana Vibhaga Library, Sriniketan, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal. E-mail: atanu_sinha77@yahoo.com
Abstract
Weather poses a serious threat to the library collection of all types. Knowing the environmental conditions in a library/archive is essential for planning the best strategy for the preservation of collections effectively. In order to control temperature and relative humidity at a fixed level, these should be measured and recorded systematically. The present study deals with the objectives of finding out the month-wise average temperature (both maximum and minimum) and relative humidity, all time record of temperature and relative humidity of the area under study, month-wise average sunlight hours of the area under study for the last ten years (2005–2014). Gives an outline about the reasons of deterioration of library collection, and proposes curative measures of the library collection anywhere in tropical areas, with special reference to Sriniketan, Birbhum district of West Bengal. Discusses some major guidelines for regulating environmental conditions in preserving library collection. The study is based on the ten years data collected from the Meteorological Department, Sriniketan, West Bengal. Annual Reports of Visva-Bharati have been used for collecting data like library collection, year of establishment, area of library. From the data analysis it was found that maximum temperature was 45.9ºC on April 04, 2010 and minimum was 4.9OC on January 01, 2013. Relative humidity remains 58 to 85 in Sriniketan. During the period of study average lowest humidity was 58.15% in March and average highest humidity was 85.54% in September. A maximum sunlight hour was 11.2 hours on August 09, 2007. Findings of the study may help the authority of libraries of Visva-Bharati Library Network as well as respective Bhavan Administration to adopt the appropriate measures towards controlling temperature, relative humidity, etc. to protect their valuable library collection.