Climate Notes is a free e-newsletter published by the Image Permanence Institute and designed for collection care staff in cultural institutions. Climate Notes covers a wide range of topics related to managing the environment for preservation.

When IPI reached out for research partners to work with us on the IMLS-funded WebERA (Web-based Environmental Risk Analysis) project, the response was overwhelming. Over 180 institutions were interested in participating, but only fifteen could be included. In order to keep the other 165 interested partners informed about WebERA and other preservation research taking place at IPI, we developed Climate Notes, an e-newsletter focused on the storage environment in cultural institutions, which is currently sent to 1,060 individuals on a quarterly basis.

IPI's WebERA project was introduced in the first issue of Climate Notes, sent in June 2008. Responding to the key finding of the Heritage Health Index that environmental control is the highest need for collections preservation, the project was designed to investigate a novel web-based system for environmental risk analysis. A primary goal of the project was to work closely with research partners in ten museums and five libraries to create an online system for managing environmental data. The project built upon IPI’s extensive laboratory and field experience with environmental and energy issues, and incorporated new datalogger technology designed by IPI.

The site would provide automated data analysis using IPI's preservation metrics and environmental risk ratings, allowing users to truly understand the preservation quality of their storage areas and the risk of specific forms of decay. Access to the site via the web would make the information much more widely accessible within the institution and ensure that every user had access to the most up-to-date analysis tools.

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Major activities of the WebERA grant included web programming, site design and development, and ongoing interaction with our research partners to determine what functions and features of a web-based environmental risk management system would be most valuable to users. They were also rating the newly available PEM2 datalogger and its companion PEMdata.com website. At the close of the project the majority of the project partners completed a survey form. These are the summary results:

PEM2 datalogger

• 93% said they would continue to use PEM2s for environmental monitoring. The vast majority found the PEM2 easy to use, accurate and reliable.

PEMdata.com site

• 70% found it easy to use to organize and manage data.
• 50% found it easy to use for data analysis.
• 100% were positive about the ease of data upload and import.
• 92% were positive about the presentation of data.

MyClimateData.com – the online system used and developed during the WebERA Project

• 90% found it easy to use to organize and manage data.
• 93% found the system easy to use for data analysis.
• 100% were positive about the ease of data upload and import.
• 86% were positive about the presentation of data.
• 69% were positive about the hierarchical organization of locations.
• 85% expect to continue use of the online system; the other 15% said long term use was dependent on the costs involved.

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Part of the WebERA project design was to refine the content and design of a self-sustaining, web-based system that IPI would offer in the future. Based on input from the research partners, we are developing a site that combines the best features of Climate Notebook, PEMdata.com and MyClimateData.com into a platform with several levels for different types of institutions. Called eClimateNotebook, the site will be designed so that users can easily move from one level to the next. There will be a common URL and a shared front page to promote the transition to higher levels of use.

We expect to offer the following product line to be available over the next few months:

• eClimateNotebook—Free – includes free data upload, local weather data, the dew point calculator, interactive graphs, environmental risk and preservation metrics and a static material list for analysis. The number of saved data sets is limited at this level, and the site is only available for use with the original PEM and the PEM2.

• eClimateNotebook—Basic – includes everything in the free site plus the ability to save data, set temperature and RH scales and limits, automated statistics, and printed or emailed graphs and static reports. The basic level also allows universal import of a wide range of dataloggers. With a limit of 25 locations, this level will meet the needs...

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