After a huge fire at Russia’s Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences in Moscow was finally extinguished on Saturday, a long process began: salvaging books and collections damaged by flames, smoke and the water used by firefighters.
Though experts in the U.S. said they were not yet familiar with the specifics of the blaze at the Soviet-era building, they spoke with Newsweek about the precautions that such libraries and archives can take in case of disaster and what happens afterward when conservators are trying to rescue damaged materials.
The current standard procedure for salvaging books and collections damaged by water calls for the materials to be frozen as soon as possible. That’s right: Stick them in a freezer.
02/06/15