The top four floors of San Jose, California’s, eight-story Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which serves as the public library system’s main branch and the San Jose State University library, were temporarily closed to reshelve books after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit the city October 30.
The library building swayed during the earthquake. Lorraine Oback, city library marketing and communications director, said in the October 31 Fremont Argus that the movement is “intentional, to absorb the shock.” The only damage to the building itself were a minor water leak and a fallen light structure, both of which have been repaired. In the building’s motion, however, about 300,000 books fell. The library is considering crossbracing on shelves to stabilize them in the event of future quakes, Oback said.
Floors five through seven were reopened by November 2, according to the library’s website, with the reopening of the uppermost floor anticipated by November 3.
Posted November 2, 2007.