Water damage at the White River branch of the Johnson County Public Library.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Multiple pipe breaks caused extensive water damage at the White River branch of the Johnson County Public Library during the last several days.
Water damaged part of the ceiling, soaked new books and hold items and saturated the carpet in the adult and teen sections. The water also flooded electrical floor boxes, damaged the library storage areas and affected other small areas of flooring, library director Lisa Lintner said in an email.
Staff members discovered the first water pipe break last Sunday. The rupture occurred in a pipe connected to the fire line and caused most of the damage. Library staff members found another pipe break Monday on a water line connected to an outdoor spigot. They also found some small leaks in the branch’s HVAC unit, she said.
Staff members closed the branch Monday but reopened it Tuesday morning, according to posts on the library’s Facebook page.
Patrons will be able to access unaffected areas of the White River branch while staff members work on cleanup and repairs, although Lintner said she was unsure how long that would take and how much the repairs would cost, but said they are covered by insurance.
The adult, media and teen collections will be inaccessible to the public during clean-up and repairs, but staff members can assist patrons by gathering items from those collections, she said.
The damage comes just a few weeks after the library branch reopened to the public. In late November and early December, library officials closed the branch temporarily to replace flooring that was more than 20 years old and move books and shelving, furniture and technology.
Library officials are looking over additional, long-term improvements at both the White River and Franklin branches, although they haven’t finalized any plans yet.
