| Summary: | SUMMARIES. The article discusses the possibility of applying ionising radiation to disinfecting of library and archive collections. Authors of this article see ionising radiation as an alternative method to the current process of using ethylene oxide. The most promising method is one that uses gamma radiation emitted by different isotopes, of which the greatest application scope has cobalt C60 isotope. Earlier, researches and practitioners focused their attention also on X-ray radiation and on the stream of free electrons. The mechanism of ionising radiation was presented as well as its effect on microorganisms, considering that the sensitivity of micro-organisms to this type of influence is very varied and even within the scope of individual strains of the same species. A review of the literature on the subject of the impact of ionising radiation on cellulose - the main component of paper and on collagen - the main component of animal skins was carried out. It leads to a conclusion that, irrespective of the structure and size of the molecule of the compound exposed to radiation, radiolysis occurs in it which leads to significant and irrevocable chemical and physical changes in it. These changes are often accompanied by decreased resistance features. The research situation and the application of radiation methods to sterilisation of paper and ancient leather and parchment papers was discussed. A review of literature indicates that views about such possibility of applying the radiation method are very varied which justifies the need to conduct further studies on this subject.
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