As campus police made their rounds early one Saturday morning in 2007 they spotted water flowing out of the Lower Level receiving doors of the Library. The campus police were able to get the water shut off to the library but neglected to inform anyone from the library what had happened. Several hours passed before the damage was discovered by Library staff when they came into work. After some investigation it was discovered that an overhead heating pipe had burst sending water and pieces of ceiling tiles cascading down on several ranges of books on the fourth floor. The water found its way down to the third floor shelves then on down to the lower level of the library’s receiving.
Initial action called for plastic sheeting to be placed over the book ranges that were directly under the water pipe and to either side to help prevent more water damage to the books, along with the ranges on the third floor. Phone calls were made to the Head of Circulation along with the Senior Associate (Acting) Dean to get further instructions on what could be done before they were able to get to the library to inspect the damage. The Library staff was told not to do anything more until the acting Dean arrived; even though there was a staff member present who had gone through the disaster class taught by Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) and knew what needed to be done. A few hours later, the Acting Dean arrived on scene to assess the situation. Several commercial recovery services were contacted for advice and price quotes before the Acting Dean chose to send the wet books for vacuum thermal drying. All the wet books were then quickly boxed up and trucked to the vendor for drying. Fans and blowers were brought in to help dry out the carpet and to keep any mold from growing on the remaining books.
The Library thought all was fine; but, they were under the false impression that they had survived the worse part of this...