Brittiska National archives (motsvarande svenska Riksarkivet) förespråkar dock hantering utan handskar (med vissa undantag) och deras rekommendationer följs säkerligen av andra arkivverksamheter i Storbritannien. Nedan är en lisa över för- och nackdelar med användandet av handskar, enligt National archives.
Svenska Riksarkivets hållning i frågan verkar dock vara "handskar på".
Handskar av eller på - vad tycker ni forummedlemmar?
https://riksarkivet.se/lasesalsregler
Hantering av handlingar
Bomullsvantar ska användas och finns att låna. Hantera handlingarna med stor varsamhet.
[...]
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/docu ... uments.pdf
What is the policy of The National Archives on
wearing gloves to handle documents?
At The National Archives, our policy is that staff and visitors are not required to wear
gloves unless easily damaged material, such as photographs, is being consulted.
Staff and readers are asked to ensure that their hands are clean and dry, and to refrain from
applying hand cream or licking fingers before handling documents.
We believe that the disadvantages of wearing gloves outweigh the advantages:
Advantages:
Perspiration is not stopped by washing and drying hands. People tend to perspire at
different rates and exude different amounts and types of chemicals depending upon
levels of stress, surroundings and their own body chemistry. Over time, microscopic
amounts of contamination could cause serious damage to most objects.
Wearing gloves is necessary whenever mounted prints, drawings, photographs and fine bindings
are handled, as these have extremely sensitive surfaces which
are irreversibly damaged by finger prints.
Disadvantages:
Wearing gloves makes it difficult to handle paper due to the loss of the sense of touch in
the finger tips. This is potentially hazardous for fragile materials, as well as being
difficult for the reader. Cotton gloves may catch on damaged edges of leather or
parchment as well as labels.
Illfitting gloves make it difficult to get a firm grip on large,
heavy items such as books, so there is an increased risk of an item being dropped.