Washington State Archives Rescues Damaged Docs after Flooding
From the “From Our Corner” Blog (Washington Secretary of State):
One of the Washington State Archives’ chief responsibilities is to preserve the millions of paper records under its care. Last week, that duty was put to the test when a freak flood at the State Records Center in Tumwater soaked dozens of cardboard boxes full of records.
Thanks to fast, dedicated action by Archives staffers and access to freeze-drying equipment, none of the 700-plus damaged docs will be lost.
The crisis began Thursday afternoon during the storm that struck the South Sound. Normally, a rainstorm wouldn’t impact the State Records Center, located near the Olympia Airport. Problem was, some of the pipes at the Records Center building had been pressure tested and a two-inch valve was blocking one of them, causing a trough and several pipes to quickly fill up with water when the rainstorm hit.
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Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Journal Articles, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.