Sydney, Australia library disaster

[Richard Boyden <richard.boyden@sanbruno.nara.gov>]

This message received from Julie Page, UC San Diego.  She leads the
San Diego Imperial Libraries Disaster Response Network.  URL is
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/sildrn/

     I thought you all might be interested in this message which was 
     forwarded to me by the UCSD Art Librarian and distributed originally 
     via the ARLIS listserv.  The hail storm that hit Sydney caused an 
     estimated $650 million damage.  The hail was the size of cricket balls 
     (some 80 millimeters in diameter)!
     Julie

----------------------------Original message---------------------------- 
Thanks to Janis Ekdahl for passing on the message about hail damage to
the College of Fine Arts Library in Sydney, Australia.

It is now nearly 4 weeks since the hailstorm, and the library staff at the 
College of Fine Arts are now older and wiser! It is all very well to have a 
disaster plan, but how many of us think it will ever happen to us?

For those who may be interested I will now update the situation. The
weather in Sydney since the storm has been awful - very few days
without rain, which made roof repair very difficult. Since thousands of
houses and businesses lost their roofs in the storm it was very difficult
to obtain tarpaulins, and then we had gale force winds which blew them
off and caused more problems for the roofers. There is a short report on
the actual damage >accessible via the COFA library webpage
(http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/units/library/)

How did we handle it? Since the storm was localised the library staff
had  no idea what had happened until the next morning. Although
security staff were aware of the damage the night before (the storm hit
at 8.30pm after we had closed), they were not able to do much because
the state emergency services were  overwhelmed by appeals for help,
and the main university campus in Kensington about 5 miles away was
also badly hit.

When we arrived in the morning the campus war eerily silent. There
were branches and leaves all over the ground and the roofs of the 3
older buildings of the College, including the library, had broken and
missing tiles all over.

The ground floor of the library, housing the reference collection, bound 
serials, special reserve and visual resources was untouched except for
the windows which were all broken. Unfortunately all the computer
databases were under the windows and all were soaked, as were the
printers. There was broken glass everywhere.

Upstairs the scene was devastating. The rain had come straight through
the roof and the timber board ceiling, soaking the book stack (about
34,000 books were on the shelves), current periodical display and all
office areas. The carpets were sodden.

The first thing one registers is shock, followed by an adrenalin rush
which for me lasted for 3 weeks. The library staff were terrific. We held
a quick conference on how to proceed, and a frantic rescue mission
began with the aid of volunteers from all areas of the College. Our main
aim was to get the wet books off the shelf and start drying them, but
since the whole College as well as the university and surrounding
suburbs were affected it was difficult to find somewhere to put the
drying books. We quickly obtained 4 large dehumidifiers and  fans to try
to keep the humidity down, but it was hopeless since rain threatened
contantly and we were working under a cover of black plastic to get the
books off. We also had no lights until late that afternoon - they were  full
of water. I enquired about removing the books to a freezer facilty but the
quote I received was prohibitive. Communications were extremely
difficult between the College and the Risk Management Unit/insurance
experts on main campus, partly because of the size of the emergency
and partly because the noise of the fans made it impossible to hear the
telephones - I was later equipped with a mobile phone.

The university was not able to obtain tarpaulins the first day, and that 
night it poured again. By this time the book stack was covered from end
to end in plastic, but the rain continued to drench the carpets and walls.
On Friday we arranged to have the carpets on the first floor removed,
and this was completed with the help of family and friends by midday
Saturday. On Monday the State Library's Conservation Access Unit sent
one of its staff to assess the situation (I had been in contact with them
since Friday) and we were advised to remove the  whole collection from
the building to a dry humidity controlled space because   mildew was
starting to appear on books we had thought to be safe.

Over the next 3 days 30,000 books were sent to the disused Oatley
campus library which is equipped with dehumidifiers. They were
unpacked and are being checked regularly for mildew. 4,000  books
which had been wet remain in the COFA library. In spite of all the efforts
made to save them, it appears that only 600 can be saved. Advice
received from various sources, including the insurer, is that it is generally
cheaper and more practical to replace books rather than restore them
unless they are extremely valuable or irrecplaceable.

We had quite a few surprises during this process. One was the value of
the collection. The worst hit area was the painting books. The library
was started in 1975. Books purchased in the early eighties, many of
course being small print runs, are now out of print and quite valuable.
These are the ones which will be hardest to replace and are important to
us particularly if they were THE major monograph on an artist.

Another surprise was how the whole disaster continued to grow! Things
got  worse, not better, particularly since for more than 3 weeks we
were fighting everything from small leaks in the ceiling to torrents of
water running down the walls which we had to catch so that the water
did not damage the ground floor. Constantly emptying the dehumidifiers,
which when full are very heavy, and emptying buckets is exhausting.
Trying to work with the smell of damp and mildew, followed by dust and
noise when the roofers were above, all took their toll on staff.

We re-opened the library in a limited way 10 days after storm. We now
have most of the reference computers back which means we are able to
help students access the journal collection. We were most fortunate to
have the support of the local library community. The University of Sydney
has given free access to COFA students while we have no books, and
the Art Gallery of New South Wales Research Library has opened its
doors to our students which has really helped. The students also have
access to the main library at the University of New South Wales.

Now starts the process of replacement. Fortunately we are covered by
insurance, but finding o/p books will be a problem for some books. Many 
have already been found via sources on the Net.

In the next few days we hope to have a list of valuable/out of print books
up on our web page. If anyone out there has duplicates which they are 
willing to donate or sell, I would be most grateful if you could contact 
me. Please note that my email address in the original message was
incorrect. 

I would like to send my thanks to those of you who have sent emails of 
support and suggestions. I have not answered individually because I
have not had time until now and I was accessing my email from different 
machines. The support of the library community has been wonderful.

Jill More
****************************************************************************** 
Jill More                               Tel.+61 2 9385 0720
College Librarian                       Fax.+61 2 9385 0686 
College of Fine Arts                    Email  J.More@unsw.edu.au 
The University of New South Wales
P.O. Box 259, Paddington N.S.W. 2021 
Australia
****************************************************************************** 
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