From the Director: Flood!
It wasn't biblical in proportions, and it didn't do nearly as much damage as it might have, but it did serve, in more ways than one, as a wake-up call. About 4:30 in the morning of Monday, March 5, a sprinkler head in the fire suppression system burst on tier 9, in Bancroft's "attic," space used to store supplies as well as to stage incoming archival collections while they await processing. This released a steady stream of water which dripped down over cartons with an unprocessed collection, then puddled underneath the shelving, and eventually found its way through the floor and into ventilation ducts.
At the same time, it set off a flow alarm that brought the Berkeley Fire Department to the scene along with campus emergency personnel. Unfortunately, since the flow alarm is indistinguishable from a fire alarm, and they found no evidence of fire, they assumed that Bancroft had had a false fire alarm. It was not until just over two hours later, when Bancroft staff member Wayne Silka came in at 6:45 a.m. to begin his normal routine of checking the building that the water was discovered. By that time it was standing two inches deep in the offices of the Mark Twain Project and in the Library Systems Office directly beneath and had begun to seep through the ceiling of the Heller Reading Room.
Gillian Boal, Conservation Unit, offers invaluable assistance to help rescue Bancroft materials. |
Wayne immediately set standard Bancroft security procedures in motion, calling me and other Bancroft staff, the Library Security Office, Barclay Ogden, Head of the Library Conservation Department, and campus facilities management staff. After the sprinkler system was shut down, it took about twenty-five Bancroft, Library, and campus staff just over three hours to vacuum up the standing water and bring in dehumidifiers and powerful fans to dry the building out, a process that continued for several days. About fifty cartons of archival materials waiting for processing were damaged, although in most cases the waxed surface of the cartons preventing water from reaching more than the outside edges of the documents they contained. Thanks to contingency arrangements with local frozen food storage facilities, these damaged cartons were freeze-dried the same day. This is a crucial step in recovering from water damage. If water soaked materials are not frozen within 48 hours, fungus and mold create irreparable damage to the paper. Over the past several months, as time and staffing in the Library Conservation permit, we have systematically removed these materials from cold storage in order to treat them as necessary. In most cases no conservation work has been needed at all.
About three weeks after the first sprinkler head burst, a second one failed, on tier 7. Fortunately, the leak was discovered almost immediately, and little damage was done. At this point we appealed to Ron Coley, Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services, for help. It was clear that if sprinkler heads continued to burst at this rate, Bancroft's collections would be seriously at risk. A little research revealed that the sprinkler heads in the Doe Annex, the building that houses Bancroft, were almost thirty years old and at the end of their useful life. Vice Chancellor Coley needed little convincing that it was time to replace all of the sprinkler heads, which would cost approximately $50,000. Fortunately the campus was able to fund the replacement with deferred maintenance funds.
New sprinkler head will help Bancroft protect its rare and unique materials. |
There is an object lesson here. One of the University of California's most precious possessions, the collections of The Bancroft Library, are housed in an aging and outdated facility that, even worse, is considered seismically unsound. The Doe Annex, designed by the distinguished San Francisco architect Arthur Brown, was opened in 1950. It is now over fifty years old. Its mechanical infrastructure (electrical wiring, plumbing, heating, and ventilation) is of the same vintage and now impossibly antiquated. Moreover, it was designed as generic library space, a smaller replica of the Doe Library, with a core of 9 tiers of book stacks surrounded by four floors of offices. Tiers 3, 5, and 7 are not tied in to the structure of the building; they simply rest on the stanchions holding up the book shelves on the floor below. In the event of a major earthquake they will come tumbling down. |
Bill Brown empties one of many buckets of water down the front steps of Bancroft. |
We have known for some time that the Doe Annex must be seismically upgraded; but a 1996 review of the entire campus revealed that there were other buildings in even worse shape (e.g., Wurster and Hildebrand Halls), and they have taken priority. Renovation of Bancroft is now scheduled to begin around 2007 or 2008. The State of California will provide funding for the seismic upgrade, some thirteen million dollars; and for this we are grateful (at least the building won't fall down); but the State will not provide funding to bring Bancroft's facilities up to current standards. For that we must seek private support. We currently have under way an architectural needs study, funded by two anonymous donors and carried out by Mark Cavagnero Associates, that will attempt to project the kind of physical facility that Bancroft will need as it starts its second century. With that study in hand, we shall be able to estimate how much it will cost to do it right, not only to upgrade the Doe Annex seismically, but also to turn it into a building worthy of the treasures it contains — and then we'll have to organize a capital campaign to raise the money required. In the mean time, at least we won't have to worry about more burst sprinkler heads! |
Volume 119
Fall 2001
Table of Contents
History 7B: Undergrads Explore Bancroft Collections
The Annual Meeting of the Friends
