The summer of 2013 marked one of the most significant events in the University of Lethbridge Library's history. As anyone that works in the Library Information Network Centre (LINC), University Centre for the Arts (UCA), and University Hall knows,Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 was the beginning of a trying time for the departments that reside in those structures.
During excavation work on the south plaza outside the Student Union Building (SUB) a waterline was broken. Fast work staved off the deluge, but the temporary dam broke-sending thousands of litres of water down the tunnel that connects the SUB to the LINC. The force of the built up water pushed a wave through the LINC tunnel, into the UCA, and beyond.
The Library's collections were largely spared due to the raised floor that supports power and communication cables on level 9. Though collections did not receive direct water damage, humidity levels in the building rose rapidly and collections began to absorb the excess moisture in the air. Cockling, the warping and wrinkling of materials such as paper, was the result.
Not only were physical collections endangered, but digital assets were also threatened. Assets such as the Blackfoot Digital Library, the Encore search engine, and the Library's website were temporarily offline.
What followed over the days and weeks was a coordinated effort by university Facilities, Information Technology Services, and the Library to preserve all assets and return the facility to some level of service as soon as possible.
From June 12th to 19th, Library staff coordinated restoration crews in the moving of more than 180,000 items of material from level 9 to level 10 of the facility-enabling the remediation process to begin.
For its part, the Library tried to normalize operations as soon as possible-providing computing and study space for patrons. Ongoing and steady restoration efforts throughout the summer months saw the return of the collections to level 9 and access returned to patrons.
Wendy Merkley, Associate University Librarian, stated that, "while flooding and libraries really don't mix, there were some positive outcomes to this event - the library has been able to reconfigure floor space on Level 9 adding additional book stacks, reconfiguring the layout of electrical and data cabling, and adjusting the positioning of student study spaces."
And, from Dr. Chris Nicol, former Dean of Arts and Science, Acting University Librarian at the time of the flood, and now University Librarian, effective July 1, 2013, "as Wendy has mentioned, this was not an overall positive event; however, it did give me an opportunity to learn a lot more about our operations at a faster pace, and to work with many dedicated Library staff, as well as highly committed staff from several other areas of the University, including Facilities and Information Technology, who played a huge role in returning us to operational conditions."
Posted on:
October 15, 2013