Thursday, November 08, 2007

UH Library Damaged (Again)

Three years after a major flood, the University of Hawaii's Hamilton Library is dealing with more water damage after heavy rains last weekend. The library's roof, which is scheduled to be replaced next summer, began leaking in several places, so librarians had to move many books off the third floor. "'Our main concern was to get the books out of the area with all the water. You have high humidity, any moisture, all the books are just going to suck it up,' conservation technician Kyle Hamada said."

"Buckets sit on shelves where books used to be in an area where librarians keep the expensive and rare books. ... While initially staffers thought the problem was limited to one area, more leaks developed as the days wore on. Workers could not keep up. Large plastic canopies cover much of the shelves and make shiftdrains are helping to collect the water."

For the moment, the evacuated books have been taken to a cold storage unit to combat mold growth.