LÆFANEnvironmental monitoring
LÆFAN / Guidance / Environmental relationships

Context changes the meaning of a reading

Case, room, store and outside climate can all describe the same event from a different layer.

LÆFAN records relationships between environments so collections teams can compare like with like and investigate whether a change is local to a case, shared by a room, or driven by the wider building and outside climate.

LÆFAN supports the monitoring record. It does not replace a conservator, collections policy, loan agreement or the text of a published standard.
LÆFAN environmental relationships screen

Why relationships matter

One spike can have several possible explanations.

A rise in RH inside a display case may reflect the gallery around it, a local moisture source, a change in passive buffering, or a wider outside climate event. A room reading on its own cannot tell that story. Relationships make the comparison explicit.

MICROCLIMATECase ↔ room

See whether an enclosure is following, damping or diverging from the surrounding gallery.

BUILDINGRoom ↔ store

Compare spaces that share the same building but have different use, fabric or conditioning.

REFERENCEInside ↔ outside

Use weather observations as context for seasonal and short term environmental change.

How LÆFAN handles it

Relationships are explicit records, not assumptions hidden in a graph.

The Environments area can link internal spaces, cases and external references for a defined period. This lets later reports and investigations show which comparison was intended, rather than inferring it from sensor names.

01Choose environmentSelect the case, room, store or other monitoring context.
02Choose relationshipRecord whether it is linked to or compared with another environment.
03Choose referenceAnother internal space or an external weather reference can be selected.
04Set periodKeep the relationship historically meaningful when layouts or uses change.
05Compare evidenceUse related readings during investigations, reports and environmental review.

Display cases

A showcase can be an environment in its own right.

The current BS EN 15999-1:2025 and BS EN 15999-2:2025 standards cover preventive conservation requirements and technical aspects for passive showcases. LÆFAN does not assess whether a showcase meets those standards, but it can retain the environmental evidence from sensors inside the case and relate that microclimate to the surrounding room.

Relevant showcase guidance:BS EN 15999-1:2025 ↗BS EN 15999-2:2025 ↗

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Build the environmental picture around the collection.

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