Fungi are organisms that must be monitored and controlled in order to preserve valuable paper records. They reduce the quality of paper records by degradation and/or discoloration. As an effort to understand fungal contamination in the National Archives of Korea, the concentration of fungi in the indoor air of the unsterilized record rooms has been reported. However, what species are present in the facilities is not much known. In the present study, we examined the fungi isolated from the National Archives of Korea and found among them that there are fungal species which are newly documented in Korea. They were identified based on morphological properties and nucleotide sequences analysis of the polymerase chain reaction-amplified the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA, calmodulin gene, and beta-tubulin gene. We report Cladosporium parahalotolerans, Cladosporium subuliforme, Ochroconis mirabilis, Penicillium angulare, and Penicillium fundyense as new instances of fungal species in Korea. Among these five species, P. angulare is known to able to produce cellulase and O. mirabilis as an opportunistic pathogen of human and animals.

In order for records to be preserved for a long time without physical and chemical transformation, the preservation environment of the library is very important, and environmental problems must be improved through periodic investigation on the preservation environment. Against this background, this study derived fine dust (PM10) and ultrafine dust (PM2.5) concentration data for the libraries, hallways, and workrooms of the National Archives of Korea over two years. There was a difference in the concentration of fine dust and ultrafine dust among facilities, and there was a change in the concentration depending on the month. Both fine dust and ultrafine dust concentrations were present at less than 10 μg/m³ in the libraries. In the hallways, both fine and ultrafine dust concentrations were highest in July. In the workplaces, the monthly fluctuations in the concentration of fine dust and ultrafine dust were large. And the concentration of fine dust and ultrafine dust in the workplaces were higher than those in the library and hallways. Overall, the concentration of fine dust and ultra-fine dust was measured below the maintenance standards stipulated by the Indoor Air Quality Management Act of the Ministry of Environment of Korea in all the investigated facilities. The results of this study are expected to be used as fundamental information to manage the indoor air quality of the facilities of the National Archives.

Temperature, humidity, and fungal concentration were investigated during the period from May 2019 to August 2021 to obtain information on the indoor air quality in the facilities of the National Archive of Koea, located at Seongnam, Daejeon, and Busan, respectively. The temperature and humidity of the undisinfected libraries was properly maintained for the preservation of papepr records. The airborne fungal concentration differed among the libraries, changed according to the season, and increased especially between June and August. Similarily, the concentration of airborne fungi in the hallways adjacent to the libraries also fluctuated depending on the season and showed a tendency to rise in the months when the ourside temperature rose. In general, the concentration of airborne fungi in the hallways was somewhat higher than that of the libraries. Importantly, it was identified that the concentration of airborne fungi exceeded the recommended standard (500 CFU/m3) by the Ministry of Environment of Korea only in the workroom where the classification and condition inspection of undisinfected records imported from outside were performed. Investigation of airborne fungal concentration from May 2021 to August 2021 showed that the 24 undisinfected libraries in Seongnam, Daejeon, and Busan were all good at 100 CFU/m3 or less. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data to manage the indoor environment of facilities in the National Archives.