An eight-inch water main ruptured outside Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library in Provo, Utah, January 27, flooding the below-ground library up to four inches deep in spots. Thousands of students and staff who were in the library during the noon hour were evacuated from the building for several hours.
Cali O’Connell, an administrative assistant in the university librarian’s office, told American Libraries that an army of volunteers worked for three to four hours, moving books, covering the stacks, and relocating computers. Damages were restricted to ceiling tiles and carpet; no books were harmed. Personnel from the university’s risk management office cleaned up the water with wet vacs.
The water did not reach the newly opened library addition, according to O’Connell. Officials initially blamed the rupture on nearby construction but later decided it may have been due to both the age of the pipe and ground settlement.
Posted February 7, 2000.