David West wrote: > > I posted the following email on the AIC -- ASG (American Institute for > Conservation -- Architecture Specialty Group) email forum the other > day, and thought it would be useful to get some feedback from the much > wider cross-section of the preservation community represented on BP. > Initial feedback from ASG has been limited, but what I have received > suggests that these documents are not widely utilised at this time. I > wonder whether this is due to a lack of awareness, disagreement with > content, or the cost of acquisition. > David, I cannot answer for ASG. From the contractor's end of the spectrum in 30 years I can say that I may be able to count on one hand the number of times that an architect, conservator or consultant has brought up any discussion of any ASTM standard as related to a project we were working on together. The last time being when a consultant specified a southern exposure brick in a northern climate and that went no further than agreeably switching one letter for another. Until you posted this list of standards I was not even aware that they exist. So, as I see it though I know that someone is reading the ASTM standards, it is not happening very much in the course of the project with the 'team.' Yes, specifications do refer to ASTM standards, but I see that their primary use is that when everything goes wrong they become an enforcement tool, and that hopefully someone knew what it was all about beforehand. I do think it has something to do with the cost of acquisition but more as to the hurdles to acquisition... what does get used and communicated a great deal is the NPS Preservation Briefs and are available for free, and thanks to John Leeke's initial diplomacy and foresight, they can now be downloaded by anyone for free... which means that their information value moves from the designer's office to the contractor to the property owner -- and most folks along that thread may understand what they are reading. Which gets to one of my favorite subjects, which is how does knowledge get transmitted across a field? I have never thought that the ASTM standards are meant to be popular reading matter. I think it is important that there be standards. I also think it is important that we have MSDS sheets though nobody that I know actually reads, or understands them, be that the architects or the field mechanic. So another side to your question is information overload. ][< -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html> *Please vote for ICORS every 24 hours* <http://www.lsoft.com/news/choicevote.asp>