minimize flood damage
Thanks to quick action on the part of staff members and others, Sterling Memorial Library weathered a recent flood emergency with minimal damage and virtually no disruption in service.
Late on the afternoon of Jan. 7, a burst steam valve in adjacent Trumbull College forced steam into the Sterling Library building, where the excessive heat set off sprinklers in some basement areas. This, in turn, caused problems with humidity and condensation in nearby spaces.
Staff members from Sterling's Security, Preservation, Workstation Support, Manuscripts and Archives, Arts of the Book and other departments abandoned their weekend plans and came in to help. Yale and New Haven police and fire personnel, and Yale's facilities, custodial and security staff also provided support.
The remediation company Munters, with which the University has a contract, worked around the clock to remove damaged materials for treatment. The items that were most heavily affected were sent to the Munters facility for freeze-drying -- over 250 cubic feet of books, newspapers and pamphlets in all. The majority of these materials came from the library's Southeast Asian collection. They included approximately 58 newspaper titles from Cambodia collected during the United Nations Transitional Period in Cambodia, many exclusively held by Yale, and approximately 3,000 volumes of Southeast Asian monographs and serials in the cataloguing backlog.
The flood also caused problems with the library's computer network, soaking four servers. Just 15 minutes after they were notified of the problem, however, the library's Web, Workstation & Digital Consulting Services group transferred these services to an off-site, downtime backup system, which meant that there was no disruption for library patrons.
While the renovation and cleanup continued, some staff have been relocated to Cross Campus Library, and those who process the many thousands of books that are shelved every day are working in the library's lecture hall. Machine City -- so named for its many vending machines and the only area within the library where eating is allowed -- was closed for the week immediately after the flood, due to damaged ceiling tiles, but it has since reopened.
"Thanks to good emergency plans and thanks to the dedication of a large number of staff including some family members, the damage was far less than it might have been," says University Librarian Alice Prochaska. "It was a wonderful sight to see so many colleagues wading through several inches of warm water and working in extremely high temperatures to rush vulnerable and damaged materials to safety. They were absolutely focused on the work of rescue and did not leave the building until the collections and vital equipment were secured."
She adds, "The continuing efforts and support of Yale staff in many parts of the University, to put the library to rights, are deeply appreciated."
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