Storage

Temperature/Humidity

Storage areas should be kept at a constant 45 to 50° F or colder and 45 to 50% RH. Widely fluctuating temperature or RH severely shortens the life span of all recordings. Environmental conditions shall not fluctuate more that ±5° F or ±5% RH over a 24 hour period. Store in dark areas except when being accessed, being sure to keep recordings away from UV sources (unshielded fluorescent tubes and sunlight.)

Shelving

Edison Diamnd Discs must be shelved vertically. Ideally, disc shelving should have full-height and full-depth dividers, spaced 4 to 6 inches apart, and secured at top and bottom. Less than full-height dividers may contribute to warpage. Interfiling discs of different diameter may also cause warpage.

 

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Weight

Because of their shape and the design of their packaging, recordings will concentrate their weight in the centerline of a shelf, which can cause some shelving to collapse.

Make sure that the shelving you choose is solid and well constructed.

Packaging

Most record sleeves should be replaced with a high density polyethylene such as DiscWasher V.R.P., Mobile Fidelity Original Master Sleeve, or Nagaoka No. 102 Anti-Static Record Sleeve. If an original paper sleeve contains text or graphics, the Nagaoka sleeves are thin enough to fit inside the paper sleeve.


Some plastic or plastic-lined sleeves should not be used. As a rule of thumb, "bad" sleeves are clear and have a sticky or tacky feel whereas "good" sleeves are frosted in appearance and have a slippery feel.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.