By Matt Thacker
A leaky faucet in the University of Louisville Ekstrom Library caused damage to more than 100 volumes of journals over Thanksgiving weekend.
The leak, which reportedly began Nov. 26, originated from a faulty sink faucet in a janitorial wet closet on the north side of the fourth floor. The water poured all the way down to the second floor.
Circulation Supervisor Katrina Butcher arrived at the library at noon on Sunday, Nov. 27 and found water dripping from the ceiling down to the book stacks on the second floor. She said the water on the floor was 2-3 inches deep and spread 15 feet in all directions from the stacks.
Butcher notified the Physical Plant and Library Facilities Manager Dave Loeffler. They arrived within minutes, found the sink and turned off the water.
“The faulty faucet normally wouldn’t have been a problem, but the sink was stopped up,” Loeffler said.
He said the combination of the clogged sink and the leak caused the sink to overflow as the water continued to run all night. He said they don’t believe that anyone intentionally clogged the sink.
Loeffler said that 165 bound volumes of journals, most relating to the U.S. railway system, had at least some damage. He said the journals were from the 1950s and ’60s and were not commonly viewed volumes. He estimated that 45 journals were severely damaged and might need to be replaced but expects insurance will cover any loss.
“We got lucky,” he said. “The damage could have been much, much worse.”
He said the library staff had already been in contact with other libraries to inquire about duplicates of the damaged volumes.
After discovering the leak, Butcher and several other library workers covered the stacks with plastic garbage bags and moved the others to the third floor to dry.
Still, Butcher said the damage was not nearly as severe as she first thought. She originally believed several books had been ruined, but she said the books have dried well and most likely won’t need to be replaced.
“We had a plan in place for this kind of situation,” Butcher said, but she admitted luck had a role in the recovery effort. “Everyone was in the right place at the right time. – I don’t think it would happen again.”
However, the situation possibly could have been avoided entirely. Loeffler said a library staff member had reported a leak on Saturday night before closing, but no one found it during inspection and dismissed the complaint as not being a serious problem.
“We get a lot of leaks from the ceiling, and it’s usually not a big deal,” Butcher said.
Loeffler said the problem was internal miscommunication, not the fault of the Physical Plant. He thanked plant workers for arriving so quickly.
“They did an outstanding job, coming in on a holiday weekend,” he said.
