About eClimateNotebook
eClimateNotebook.com incorporates ease of use, powerful data analysis, and extensive data management features into one web-based product. This site combines the best features and functionality of IPI's former data management websites, PEMdata.com and MyClimateData.com, as well as our original desktop software, Climate Notebook. The development of each of these tools was made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Background
The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) formulated a new definition of the preservation environment and developed tools and procedures that allow cultural institutions to understand and improve long-term preservation of collections. IPI's view is based on decades of research into accelerated-aging, equilibration rates, image stability, the effects of pollution, and material decay in general. IPI has put its research into practice at hundreds of institutions in the US and abroad, most significantly at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the New York Public Library, and the National Museum of Denmark. IPI has developed the best research-based tools available to cultural institutions for monitoring, documenting, and analyzing the storage environment.
To help preservation staff in cultural institutions understand the impact of the environment on their collections and evaluate the potential risk of deterioration, IPI developed Preservation Metrics®. These metrics have become the cornerstone of IPI's approach to sustainable preservation practices. Visit the Fundamentals section to learn more about IPI's approach to managing the storage environment, sustainable preservation practices, IPI's Preservation Metrics® and more.
IPI's first environmental data management and analysis software program was Climate Notebook® which was tested during two NEH-funded field trials in over 200 institutions between 1997 and 2004. Climate Notebook was an extremely effective tool for risk analysis but lacked the ability to easily organize and search data by location or to document the wide range of information associated with storage locations. To meet these needs, IPI developed a web-based data management system called MyClimateData in partnership with the National Museum of Denmark and the Library of Congress. MyClimateData was a robust tool, particularly for large institutions, because it centralized data within a searchable database and made it easier for staff throughout an institution to access up-to-date and complete environmental data. This site was tested by a group of 15 museum and library research partners during an IMLS-funded research and development project in 2008-2009. At the same time, IPI developed a second web-based program called PEMdata to accompany the 2007 release of the PEM2® datalogger. This free website streamlined the environmental management, giving users a simple way to store and graph data and to understand the effect of the environment on their collections.
Based on user response to these three data management products, IPI focused on developing eClimateNotebook, a web application that would assimilate the strengths of each into a single, unified platform. Using a web platform allows us to provide all system upgrades automatically to users and allows them to transition seamlessly from one level of data management and analysis to another.
Designed to help archives, libraries, and museums store, organize, analyze, and share temperature and humidity data, eClimateNotebook of available in a range of levels that meet the needs of small, medium, and large institutions. Click on the Pricing and Sign Up page to review the features included in each level of eClimateNotebook.