16/06/2026
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We've thanked our amazing Volunteers, now we will answer some questions or pātai our volunteers and other passers by have asked:
Another question is why we keep our windows and doors shut. The reason for this is twofold -
Air pollutants and dust particles can cause irreversible physical, chemical, and biological degradation to archival materials. Dust in the air can scratch surfaces, and make materials it adheres to dirty and it's difficult to clean paper! Dust also provides a food source for mold and insects. Airborne acidic gases and pollutants also accelerate chemical reactions that cause fading, yellowing, and brittleness in paper and textiles.The specific damages vary as below:
1. Physical Damage & Disfigurement: Airborne dust, soot, and smoke particles settle on books and manuscripts, forming a greasy, permanent layer of grime that obscures text and images. 2. Abrasion: When dirty archives are handled or improperly dusted, larger, hard particles act as abrasives, which scratch delicate surfaces (such as photographs or leather and fabrics) and wear down paper fibers in archives.
3. Chemical Damage, Embrittlement & Fading: Acidic gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone, interact with paper and pigments, this destroys their mechanical strength and causes bad yellowing and fading.
4. Corrosion & Tarnishing: Airborne pollutants, which include sulfur compounds from fossil fuels and salt crystals in coastal environments like ours, accelerates this corrosion and the tarnishing of metal fasteners & bindings etc.
5. Alkaline Damage: Alkaline particles, such as those emitted by new concrete and plaster, can darken oil paints, ruin certain dyes, and weaken protein-based materials like wool or silk fabric. 6. Biological Damage, Moisture Trapping/Mold: Dust particles, which can often contain our skin cells, pollen, and fibers, act like sponges that absorb ambient moisture. This damp microenvironment accelerates mold growth, which produces acidic secretions, and these rot paper and cause permanent brown staining.
7. Pest Infestations: The organic matter found in general outside and environmental dust creates an attractive nutrient source for many insects and rodents, leading to severe physical feeding damage on at risk archival collections.
To help prevent or mitigate all these risks, our windows & doors remain firmly closed, except on entry for a few moments, and our archival storage facility implements very strict pest environmental monitoring, isolation for new materials being donated and high-quality climate control. We also treat our building annually, with heritage standard bug treatment that won't chemically damage items held. We are required under specific Heritage Sector standards, to meet certain levels of care in the preservation of collections we hold at the CWA. People who donate priceless records & photos or film of history to us, would not be happy if we allowed them to get all faded and ruined.
The second reason is once again, heat control and to lower power bills. As we are a non-profit that relies purely on donations, grants and fundraising, so we need to ensure all our costs remain at a minimum. Open windows or doors don't just let all the above baddies in, they are one of the main sources of heat loss in winter and heat entry in summer. By keeping them shut, we can keep both the nasties out and our power bills much lower, as this means we need less heating in winter and less cooling in summer. It helps our room temp stay static, and humidity under control, which also helps to prevent damage from condensation & mould. We encourage our volunteers to make use of the covered deck outside to get their sunshine and fresh (polluted!) air on their breaks, as this helps keep the archives in our storage safe. 🥰
VOLUNTEERING WITH US:
If you've ever thought about volunteering, now is the perfect time. Some volunteer jobs here require computer skills and others don't. Some require dealing with visitors and others can have no people contact. We have a skills training programme if you'd like to learn any new technology or how to properly preserve history. We'd also love to find someone who is able to do precision scanning already, and someone with IT skills. If you are worried about travel costs, we have a fund for that if you meet the requirements. We have a fully functioning Community Kitchen for volunteers, so you can bring and cook your lunch. We provide drinks and snacks. You can also choose to help us from a distance if you can use Google and have a good computer and unlimited Wi-fi. Any other questions, please ask, we'll try to answer!
OUR SERVICES:
We provide the Community help with unlimited FREE Wi-Fi, Public Use computers & charging. We provide Office Services for Koha/Donation. And we provide Heritage Displays & Research Facilities for everyone from local Kura/School to visiting Research Professors of Universities.
We are OPEN in winter from 1-4 Tues to Fri and on-call on Saturdays, at 48 Main Rd Tūātapere. Call/Txt: 027-2114675, message this account, Email: [email protected]
Or, call in and introduce yourself and say hi! 🤩
Photos are from prior donors & item donations:
