Date:         Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:13:43 -0700
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Jerome Hartke <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: environment controls
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Do as you wish. Interlayer sticking is well documented, and can actually
rip out pieces of the magnetic coating if tapes have been stored for a
long time. In addition, any debris trapped between layers can become
bonded over time.

Layers of a pancake are under significant pressure. Some tapes have
severe problems while others do not. You are fortunate if you use high
quality tape, or have never experienced problems. Others who had better
things to do with their time have been confronted with unrecoverable
disasters.

Jerry
Media Sciences, Inc.

Hannah Frost wrote:
>
> At 08:21 AM 10/24/2003 -0400, Joe Iraci wrote:
> >Retensioning on a regular basis in many cases will have no value
> >and in fact may damage tape if the rewinding is performed on cheap
> >rewinders or equipment that is dirty or not properly aligned.
>
> Not to mention that the process of retensioning a tape archive takes a
> great deal of precious staff time. When you factor in the risk involved in
> unnecessary handling, it becomes clear that there are more productive
> things that can be accomplished to care for the collection in the time it
> takes to retension: surveying for materials at risk, grant writing,
> reformatting, and so forth.
>
> Hannah Frost
> Media Preservation Librarian
> Stanford University Libraries
>
> > if storage conditions are good and there has not been wide
> > fluctuations in storage conditions, then I don't think it is
> > necessary to retention tapes every three months.