Development and application of affordable microclimate and indoor air quality monitoring platforms for historic libraries in cultural heritage preservation

Abstract

The present study deals with the development and application of innovative, low-cost devices designed to monitor indoor air quality in historical libraries which is fundamental for the preservation of historical items. Due to the complexity of managing multiple instruments, it is the thermo-hygrometric parameters that are usually monitored in historical libraries rather than the gaseous contaminants. Furthermore, these indoor environments often include users and staff who could potentially be disturbed by these monitoring activities. In this context, two compact and low-cost air quality platforms are presented. The first device was engineered to monitor multi-point temperature and relative humidity and the second was designed to monitor thermo-hygrometric parameters along with concentrations of key air quality pollutants (CO₂, NO_x, O₃, VOCs, and PM10). These devices were first tested and then trialed in two distinct conservation institutes in Rome, Italy: the Bibliotheca Angelica, and the Archive of the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento. Each institute presented unique characteristics and challenges, offering a diverse range of environments for evaluating the effectiveness of the adopted technical solutions. The obtained data were also used to investigate the relationship between indoor and outdoor environments, which is crucial as it can indirectly affect the preservation of cultural heritage items inside historical libraries or archives. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the adopted low-cost technical solutions in providing valuable and reliable data for the preservation of cultural heritage, offering insights into the current state of the studied indoor environments.