Library’s second floor remains closed

By Michelle Allen

October 14, 2010 No Comments

Almost three months after the collapsing bookshelves incident in the library, the second floor still remains closed.

On July 21, a library employee was putting books on a fairly empty shelf when it became unstable and knocked over the other shelves in a domino effect. Police and paramedics were called and made sure no one was hurt. Almost 12,000 volumes were affected by the collapse.

However, many students don’t understand what is taking so long for the second floor of the library to open.
Junior Chiquita Keeble shared her frustration.

“I just don’t understand why it takes three months to put back on the shelf,” Keeble said. “They have a system where they have someone get the books you need, but sometimes it’s a bit frustrating to deal with.”

Library Director Julia Schneider talks about what took so long to get the second floor open.

“We were thinking around the 16 or 17 of September we could start putting books up on the shelves,” Schneider said. “When we found out the stabilizing piece did not come, we weren’t going to risk putting books on the shelves without that there after what we had been through.”

Schneider said that the cast of repairs for the replacement of the new shelves cost around $55,000, which included the new shelves and the labor. All damages were covered by insurance.

Because the second floor has been closed, the librarians had to find other ways to accommodate students.
Jim Mulder supervisor of public services talked about what changes were made to help accommodate students.

“We didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Mulder said. “If anyone needs a book from upstairs, we have one of the library employees get it for them to avoid the piles of books that are on the floor.”

Schneider explained other ways they helped to accommodate students, like bringing down tables and chairs to the main level for students to use.

“We’ve had some people who like to use the smaller study rooms and they haven’t been available,” Mulder said. “Some people like to browse the shelves and unfortunately they haven’t been able to do that.”

The library staff is continuing to work on reorganizing the second floor and hopes it will be open soon.