The September 11 terrorist attacks have spawned an epidemic of fear that bioterrorism will be the next assault on Americans. After the House of Representatives shut down and more than 30 congressional workers tested positive for exposure to anthrax bacteria, the Library of Congress announced October 17 that its buildings would be closed to the public and staff beginning the next day and until the air-supply system is completely tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The library was expected to reopen October 23, but users were urged to check LC’s Web site for updates.
Elsewhere, libraries have experienced an outbreak of false alarms that have disrupted service across the country. Various media sources reported incidents from coast to coast. Spartanburg County (S.C.) Public Libraries’ main library closed for two hours October 14 over a powdery substance that turned out to be cockroach insecticide. A hazardous materials team checked out a white powder found at the Glendale (Calif.) Central Library that proved to be scraps from a brittle book. Similar scares were reported over the past week at the Camarillo branch of Ventura County (Calif.) Library; the Seneca branch of Oconee County Library and the main branch of Richland County Public Library in South Carolina; Bartlett Public Library and Schaumburg Township District Library in Illinois; Miami (Okla.) Public Library; Southdale-Hennepin Area Library in Edina, Minnesota; and the Machacek branch of St. Louis (Mo.) Public Library.
The Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas/Austin was closed and more than a dozen students quarantined October 15 over an unknown substance, while the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library and other buildings were evacuated October 13 after a 911 call from someone claiming to be “Ali Mohammed” and saying anthrax was about to be released. At Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, a fake bomb wrapped in aluminum foil emptied the main library and other buildings October 11. The Cravens Graduate Center and Library and the adjoining Helm Library at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green were locked down for two hours October 17 over a letter containing a powdery substance.
School libraries were not immune. In Taunton, Massachusetts, investigators evacuated the high school library to find that suspicious particles in a plastic book bin were really birdseed. Some 675 students at Alexandria Middle School and Lester D. Wilson Elementary School in central New Jersey were sent home after the school librarian reported a suspicious substance in a magazine.
None of the reported closings and evacuations has resulted in the discovery of anthrax contamination.
Posted October 22, 2001.