As with so many things in our business, it depends. The quality of the paper is the driving factor, coupled with the climate in which the documents are stored.
 
As Glenn notes, much of the paper in ordinary use does contain lignin (which is the acidic part of the wood fiber). That said, the paper in use in most offices today is not highly acidic, so it will not quickly get brittle. There was a period of time in the early 20th century where paper tended to be highly acidic and that stuff, while generally readable, will crumble at a touch. I can contrast that with paper from the 19th century, in the same record series, that was primarily linen and is pristine. So you really want to look at the paper. Newsprint and the sort of paper used in paperback books tends to be that highly acidic stuff. Office papers aren't, and if your organization has been purchasing good bond paper, chances are it is very low acid content or even acid-free.
 
Be aware of that shiny fax / copy paper. I was just in a box loaded with that stuff and after ten years of offsite storage, it wasn't particularly readable. Temperature extremes and light really mess with that stuff.
 
Some recycled papers are particularly nasty in terms of how well the toner bonds with the paper to begin with, so that will be another factor. Some may also be higher in lignin content than others.
 
All that said, you really want to look at the retention period for the documents. I'd say that for ordinary retention periods of up to ten years, you shouldn't have issues with most paper. For ten to twenty years, the fax paper will go bad. For 20 to 50 years, most office papers will be ok, provided the storage location doesn't have huge extremes of temperature and humidity. Over 50 years, you probably want to look at microfilm or imaging.
 
So lastly, the storage location is also a factor. Humidity has a detrimental effect on paper, particularly in very humid environments where mold and mildew might be encouraged to grow. High temperatures will accelerate deterioration. Cold isn't a huge factor unless it is being exchanged with very high temps on a regular basis (thus stressing the paper from expansion and contraction).
 
Hope this helps...
 
Patrick Cunningham, CRM

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