Library contains huge collection of books that can undergo biodeterioration process after period of time. Due to this  biological reaction, the existence of airborne particulate matters and microbes in the air of the library can be disturbed and elevated, thus can cause health implications to occupants. Therefore, it is an urge to assess and understand the correlation between physical indoor air quality (IAQ) characteristics, airborne pollutants and microbial contaminants in different library settings and locations. This study was carried out at three different libraries, which are Library A (Gambang as suburban area), Library B (Kuantan as urban area) and Library C (Pekan as rural area). The physical IAQ characteristics and particulate matter (PM) monitoring were assessed by using IAQ Meter and DustMate respectively. Surface Air System IAQ (SAS IAQ) was used to collect the airborne microbes. The microbial contamination was further assessed and identified in the laboratory by using API 20E and API 20 Strep while SPSS was used to analyze the relationship of physical IAQ characteristics, airborne pollutants and airborne microbes contaminants. The scientific method protocol and standard reference limits were compared based on Industrial Code of Practise on Indoor Air Quality, 2010 (ICOP, 2010) regulated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). Respirable PM in Library A and CFU counts in Library A and C exceeded the standard limit with the value of 0.30 mg/m3, 2744 CFU/m3 and 1833 CFU/m3 respectively. Significant differences (p <0.05) between the selected libraries were observed among relative humidity (p=0.001), inhalable PM (p=0.001), thoracic PM (p=0.001), respirable PM (p=0.01), CO2 reading (p=0.001) and CFU counts (p=0.01). This study demonstrated Library C has poor air quality as the reading for CO2 and CFU counts are very high compared with the other two libraries. The bacterial identification findings indicated that Gram positive bacteria were abundant compared to Gram negative bacteria. Aerococcus viridans is the most dominant type of bacteria isolated in all the libraries.

Particulate matter (PM) is one of the primary pollutants found in the indoor environment. It can cause deterioration of the indoor air quality (IAQ) and is often linked with adverse health effects especially towards susceptible subgroup of the population like children. School children are exposed to PM inside the classroom, as this indoor PM may originate from both indoor and outdoor sources. Furthermore, ambient surrounding could be one of the major factors that contribute to its high concentration, specifically for school environment like government-subsidized schools in Malaysia whereby the schools are using natural ventilation systems to control the thermal comfort inside the classrooms. Hence the infiltration of outdoor PM into the indoor is probably high and significant. The high concentration of PM may affect the children's health and learning performances. Due to this reason, it is important to study the effects of PM towards children. Thus, this study aims to assess the concentrations of PM and selected IAQ parameters in the school indoor environment with distinct background characteristics including residential, industrial, and rural areas. PM and IAQ parameters (temperature, relative humidity (RH), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2)) were assessed for 8-hours duration via DustMate Environmental Dust Detector (Turnkey Instruments, USA) and VelociCalc ® Multi-Function Ventilation Meter 9565 (TSI ® , USA) respectively, during occupied and non-occupied time in the classrooms. Second, considering the children's prolonged and repetitive exposure towards PM in school indoor environment and their body sensitivity, this study also screened for the prevalence of non-specific respiratory disease (NSRD) and persistent cough and phlegm (PCP) among children via structured questionnaire developed by American Thoracic Society's Division of Lung Diseases (ATS-DLD-78-C). Higher concentrations of PM and prevalence of respiratory symptoms in the school from the industrial area were expected, due to the high concentration of PM originated from nearby industrial activities and anthropogenic sources. Hopefully, better understanding and insights on the issue were obtained through this study.