It is a blessing and a privilege to work in such a beautiful and historic building such as the Carpenter Memorial Library. Sometimes this blessing also comes with headaches and heartaches. Early Tuesday morning library staff discovered a slow but steady seepage of water from the library’s ceiling due to a broken pipe. This leak sent water raining over and into the mezzanine and then down into the nonfiction stacks below it. Quick action from the city’s Facilities division stopped the leak, but not before the water threatened those special collections on the library’s mezzanine as well as the nonfiction collections behind the Circulation Desk.
As we all know, water and books do not mix. Library staff gathered together in the rotunda, created a plan of action and worked to move the collections of materials from the mezzanine and the nonfiction books to safer areas in the library. It was a very large, heavy and intense job.
Now remediation is underway. While we will remain open, parts of the library and library collections will be temporarily unavailable. Repair and construction will be ongoing. We thank you for your concern, patience and understanding as we work through this trying, but temporary challenge.
Can I volunteer to help? Who can I contact to volunteer?
Hi Mary,
Thank you so very much for contacting us and for being here willing to help out. As of now we have things well in hand for the remediation process. We’re working on removing the moisture that saturated the walls and the ceiling, basically the areas affected by the flood, using big dehumidifiers. We were very lucky to have had enough staff on hand Tuesday to move the books. So, as we are still in the “drying out” phase we’re not needing volunteers at this point, BUT if we do in the future, we will be sending out requests for volunteers and help. Thank you again for reaching out to us, it means quite a lot to us all.
Best,
Yvonne Loomis
Reference Librarian
Manchester City Library