It's really humid right now and I'm concerned about moisture and some of my collection, does anyone have any information and advice in regards to preserving your collection in humid environments? Or is it perhaps not something to be concerned about?
If your collection is in a place with air conditioning, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. The a/c system will keep humidity low. If your collection is stored somewhere that isn't air conditioned, the best advice I can give you would be to use a product like DampRid. It's a container full of humidity absorbing pellets. I used it when my house experienced a burst pipe and it did quite a good job of drying out the room. http://www.homedepot.com/p/DampRid-64-oz-Hi-Capacity-Moisture-Absorber-FG50T/100391308#.UeYdI42G2HM
Humidity is generally something to avoid- it accelerates the deterioration of paper, labels, adhesives and can corrode connectors over time. Of course this is over many years, but it is something to be aware of especially if you plan to have this collection for more than a year. Those drying pellets often do the trick if you keep one or two at each area that may experience airflow with a place of higher humidity- so, a window, door to the house, vents, etc. AC does work as well, and is pretty useful if you have one installed already. Of course, there are fantastic machines called "Dehumidifiers" that do this drying and cooling process at the same time, and you won't have to keep buying new packs of pellets. Just plug 'eh in and keep it running- you can get them in varying capacities and powers depending on room size. One normally works, just don't forget to dump out the water!
I use the packs with the pellets as pictued above. I have 3 in each small room. They fill up in about 2 weeks so I just replace them with new ones. They're very cheap over here. 3 for less than a can of coke.
