The librarians in addition to the all computers work to keep our facility running smoothly, right? Well, these are just some of the tools and servants needed for this great system we have at the library here. Even with the incredible staff and awesome technology, we wouldn’t be such a wonderful library without the HVAC system working at peak capacity day in and day out. I work in a university library and learning commons, and housed in this library is the archiving department. Vintage books and pressing historical documents are kept, cataloged, and routinely checked to see that the item has been preserved as planned. While students can access the archive with permission from a professor (for a research project, of course), the archive is off limits to the rest of the school. This is because the archive needs to be kept to its own standards of heating in addition to cooling, due to the sensitive items in the area. The archive has its own separate wing, which allows the archive to have its own HVAC zone control thermostat to moderate the temperatures. The rest of the library is more keyed to the general population of the student body, but the archive has to be kept exactly at seventy degrees and very dry. If it weren’t for the central A/C system, the integrated humidistat and the air purification system, our archive would be in ruins from the heat, moisture and debris floating through the ductwork into our department!
