Project facts

Duration: 2005-08-01 - 2008-07-31
Project coordinator: Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana at UL Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
Project consortium: Drzavni Arhiv U Dubrovniku; Narodna in Univerzitetna Knjiznica; Nationaal Archief; Nationalmuseet Er Danmarks; Riksarkivet; The British Library; Victoria and Albert Museum; Zfb Zentrum Fuer Bucherhaltung Gmbh
Funding bodies: 6th Framework Programme
Subject areas: Archives, Conservation, Digitization, Technologies - Scientific processes
Budget: € 1 200 000
Website: http://www.science4heritage.org/survenir/

Presentation

Most of humanity’s memory is stored on paper. In order to successfully manage the information and make it continuously available, we need to monitor and understand the quality and stability of historical paper. The principal aim of the SurveNIR project was to develop a non-destructive instrument providing all the necessary data to conservators, conservation scientists and collection managers in a matter of seconds. Prior to SurveNIR, days were needed to do the job and large samples were consumed, which was entirely unacceptable.

Impacts & Results

We achieved the aim using near-infrared-spectroscopic technology and developed an instrument and software incorporating multivariate chemometric analysis of the spectra. To do so, we first had to collect and analyse more than 1000 historical paper samples and use the data to develop the software. As the new approach is entirely non-destructive, it can be used for analysis of even the most valuable paper objects. In addition, surveys of whole collections can be performed effectively.