This one-day course was hosted by David Pinniger, a consultant entymologist who has advised on and developed Integrated Pest Management programmes for many museums and historic houses throughout the UK. It consisted of eight hours of lectures, demonstrations, and practical work. The workshop offered useful information on pests and their environments, guidance on how to monitor and detect pests, prevention methods and a helpful review of the latest techniques in eliminating damaging pests from collections. The control of insect pests, which are damaging to historic material is a subject relevant to all who work in the heritage industry, however, for me (an intern in the conservation of archives at Public Record Office, Belfast) it was particularly useful to attend a course which was specifically designed for those working with library and archival material.

From the very start the course was down to earth and enjoyable. An overview of the course was followed by an introduction of the participants. The particular needs and experiences of each participant were heard and a number of interesting questions were submitted which were answered during the course of the workshop.

The course then went on to discuss insects and the damage they cause. The lecture, which was very informative, detailed the life cycle of insects, what conditions are suitable for them and what kind of materials they like to eat, breed in and live in. A useful wallchart was handed out to each participant with illustrations and photographs, which provided information about the insects and how to identify them from the type of damage which they leave behind. This really helped us to get to know some of the most common pests and helped to distinguish between insects that can damage archives and also those that are less harmful. Even more useful than this was a practical exercise, which involved the participants forming into pairs, and examining material that had been damaged, what the damage look liked and then identifying what pest had caused the damage. This exercise provided an opportunity for the participants to try to identify pests under the guidance of a pest expert and this worked extremely well.

The course then covered other issues such as prevention methods, the importance of good house keeping, assessing and monitoring the building as well as the collection, a review of different insect traps and where they should be placed, and being able to assess your pest problem. It also emphasised the importance of working closely with designers so that building stores and exhibition areas can be easily cleaned and maintained in the future. Prevention methods are in expensive and environment friendly.  The information supplied in this section of the workshop was made all the more meaningful through case histories of problems encountered and solutions found in historic houses and museum collections in which David had helped to implement Integrated Pest Management.

In the past pesticides were commonly used for eliminating pests in collections. This course helps to clarify how these pesticides work, when is the best time to spray, what situations do certain insecticides suit, what are there relevant health laws and also gives details of the practical procedures and potential risks involved. More useful perhaps, it provided us with the knowledge and vocabulary to communicate with pest control workers who may have no experience of preserving archival and library material during a pesticide treatment. Over the years however due to concerns over the affect that these pesticides have on staff, our historical collections and the environment, the hunt for alternatives has became more imperative and this course helped identify some of these such as freezing (low temperatures), high temperatures, carbon dioxide bubbles, and anoxic treatments. It looked at the practicalities, strengths, and weaknesses of each treatment and gave clear reviews of each.

 The course concluded with a useful talk from Jane Pimlott, the conservation co-ordinator from the British Library, about their Integrated Pest Management practices, policies and procedures and the type of equipment they have in place there, which includes a quarantine area, large capacity freezers and freeze driers, and an electromechanical nitrogen generator (the VELOXY [VEry Low OXYgen] system) which can control pests by reducing the oxygen concentration of the environment. Barry Knight – Head of conservation research then gave a practical demonstration of the VELOXY. His demonstration served to outline some of the technical advances, which are of interest to those working in this area.

Overall the workshop was enjoyable, informative and for me it highlighted a number of the key benefits of Integrated Pest Management:

• Prevention of pest damage
• More effective use of resources
• Safer treatment for objects, staff and environment
• Low energy budget

I would like to thank the Heritage Council of Ireland and Public Record Office Northern Ireland for funding my travel and course expenses.

Tríona White