Preventive conservation tools

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) offers various tools to assist with preventive conservation activities. These tools are designed for the use of heritage professionals who care for collections in storage, transit or on exhibition.

• Airtightness Calculation Tool

  Excel Workbook (112.6 KB)

  This calculator is meant to be used with Technical Bulletin 38 Airtightness Measurement of Display Cases and Other Enclosures. It was developed as a tool to determine the airtightness of enclosures, such as display cases, based on the decay rate of a tracer gas, such as CO₂.

• Channel Crate Design Tool

  Excel Workbook Channel Crate Design Tool (3.3 MB)

  This design tool is meant to be used with CCI Note 20/1 The CCI Channel Crate: Making a Lightweight, Reusable Crating System. The tool calculates the dimensions of each plywood and triwall part, using the same equations shown in the sections on channel parts and skids, and cover panels and fasteners in the Note. It also calculates external crate dimensions, the crate weight, the spacing between cover fasteners, the vertical and horizontal rib count as well as the total quantity and cost of materials and hardware.

• Light Damage Calculator

  This calculator is used to estimate the fading of colours when they are exposed to light.

• Moisture Sorbent Calculator

  Excel Workbook Moisture Sorbent Calculator(422.5 KB)

  This calculator is meant to be used with Technical Bulletin 33 Silica Gel: Passive Control of Relative Humidity. It was designed as a tool to help estimate the amount of moisture sorbent required to maintain a desired relative humidity level within a protective enclosure, such as a display case.

• PadCAD

  PadCAD was developed as a general purpose package design program for museum artifacts. It can be used to design protective cushions for the shipment of fragile objects. In addition, it allows the user to apply commercial design methods without graphs or repetitive calculations.

• Paper Decay Simulator

  Excel Workbook Paper Decay Simulator (1.1 MB)

  This simulator serves as a tool to simulate the rate of decay for three types of paper (acid newsprint, acid fine paper and alkaline fine paper) in different climate conditions.

• Paper Permanence Calculator

  Excel Workbook Paper Permanence Calculator (121 KB)

  This calculator serves as a tool for predicting the lifespan of printing papers through the application of the isopermanence concept.