Mezzanine Box Packing Stations

After receiving several exciting deliveries from our packaging suppliers, we have set up two box packing/artifact processing stations in the repository's Mezzanine. Our stations will be used by SA staff when Sustainable Archaeology has been contracted to re-package collections as part of a transfer. 

 Each station includes trays for laying out artifacts, polyethylene bags, polypropylene vials, clay desiccant and polyethylene foam from Uline, as well as other archival supplies from Gaylord, such as acid test pens (for testing whether packing tissue is acid-free) Paraloid B-72 resin (used to affix the tiny DM code catalogue numbers to artifacts), and gloves.

For more on Sustainable Archaeology's standards for packing collections, please visit our website and browse through our Procedures and Practices.

Notes from the SA: Spring 2014 Newsletter

Our Spring 2014 newsletter features the upcoming Canadian Archaeological Association conference in London, ON, as well as updates on activities at both the Western and McMaster facilities. Scroll through the embedded PDF below, or download a copy from the Publications page of our website

Shelf Labeling

As part of our testing of the inventory management portion of the database, we've begun labeling our shelves here at SA: Western. With a capacity for over 54,000 boxes, and shelves that are 16 feet high, we needed a system that would allow us to quickly and easily identify, locate, retrieve, and re-shelve collections. Our labeling system must integrate with other inventory management aspects of the database, and had to be fool-proof - imagine trying to locate a single missing box that has been shelved in the wrong location out of the thousands around it!

To ensure that boxes are not easily misplaced, we developed a labeling system that incorporates barcode scanning rather than manual data entry. Our shelf labels include both a human readable version of the alphanumeric shelf address (for easy reference out in the shelves), as well as a 2 dimensional data matrix (DM) barcode. In order to remove or re-shelve boxes, the user scans the RFID tag that contains the unique name for that box (it's Box ID), opening the record for that box. The user then either selects to "remove" or disassociate that box from it's shelf, or, scans in the shelf DM code to associate the Box ID and shelf location.

To read more about Sustainable Archaeology's inventory management system, check out the last edition of our newsletter Notes from the SA.

Collections

 

We've been starting to move some collections into the facility. Here Kira carefully places our standard size green Enviropack boxes that hold collections from the Museum of Ontario Archaeology (next door) onto the shelves with the assistance of the Work Assist Vehicle (WAVE). You can see why we limit the weight of boxes to 45 lbs or less! Not only does the bottom start to sag when packed materials get too heavy, it can be difficult to maneuver a heavy box from the WAVE onto the shelf at such a height. Shelves in the Western facility reach 16 feet or just under 5 meters in height. At capacity, this facility will house over 54,000 of these boxes.