Library of Congress
Washington, DC
Problem:
Humidity-Controlled Space for The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) James Madison Memorial Building, Secured Storage Facilities is required to provide a temperature and humidity-controlled storage space for its priceless collections of rare artifacts. The space also needs to provide adequate protection from intrusion, moisture, and foreign contaminants.
All equipment had to be capable of fitting into the existing building freight elevator.
Solution:
Custom Dehumidification Unit
Mainstream engineered and manufactured a custom desiccant dehumidification unit in an all-aluminum cabinet with touchscreen controls. This was designed to maintain the temperature and humidity levels in the space within a strict window of variation to prevent any degradation to the priceless documents & artifacts. The controls had to meet strict government regulations to protect against unauthorized persons gaining access to the system.


“The Library of Congress houses a collection of millions of irreplaceable books and manuscripts so getting this right was really important to me. With the successful installation of Mainstream's custom-designed and manufactured dehumidifier system we played an important part in protecting our Nation's treasures. This job was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our comprehensive and thorough approach to air handling.”
Ron MacPhersonMid-Atlantic Account Manager