Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Flood at Scotland's National Library

The Scotsman reports that five floors of the National Library of Scotland were flooded last night after a contractor broke a sprinkler pipe. "Firefighters and library staff worked through the night to salvage the threatened parts of the collection. Some modern books and manuscripts suffered 'surface' water damage, but all of the 'important, iconic' books were saved," the paper notes.

A spokeswoman for the Lothian and Border Fire Services said they responded to a call around 11:30 p.m. last night, arriving to find "heavy flooding. We isolated the sprinkler system before assisting staff who were wrapping up books."

National Library officials said the major collections were already being protected in case of construction damage, and that those materials which did sustain damage are currently being evaluated to determine the best treatment options.