Environmental Monitoring: Light

Environmental Monitoring: Light

We spot-check exhibit and collection storage spaces with a light monitor. Light is especially damaging to library materials, causing fading but also damage that may not always be visible, such as embrittlement of paper, cloth, and leather. As an example, the poster on the left was framed and hung on a wall for over ten years near lights emitting large amounts of ultraviolet radiation (UV). On the right is the same poster that was stored in the dark.