Earthquake report

More on the earthquake, this time lifted without permission from an
inhouse list at Stanford, who lifted it from the sources cited.


    [... The following was forwarded electronically to CARL - California
    Academic and Research Librarians - members by Lee Jaffe, CARL's
    Membership Director. Material edited.]

    A couple of reports on conditions at southern California libraries
    have come through our library and I thought it would be useful to
    share excerpts ...

    CSU Northridge

    The CSUN library has received serious damage that is still being
    evaluated.  Experts have been in the building, but , as of this
    report, not on upper floors due to dangers from aftershocks.  The
    building has been most heavily damaged in the older center section.
    The two newer wings are in better shape.  The random access
    computerized book retrieval system appears physically to be
    undamaged; i.e., it is NOT 'a pile of rubble' as rumored on the
    nets.  However, it is unknown how much of the building or collection
    can be salvaged at this time.  Presumably most of the books have no
    worse damage than from falling.  It is unknown whether the center
    part of the building can be rebuilt, repaired, etc.

    All buildings on the Northridge campus have significant structural
    damage.  The spring semester is scheduled to begin on 1/31.  At this
    moment they hope to begin the semester one week later, but that is
    VERY tentative at this time.

    Northridge staff appear to have come through the quake without
    significant physical harm to their persons.  Of course many of them
    have homes that have suffered various degrees of damage.  Sue
    Curzon, the director, has telephone service at her home, but no
    other utilities.

                     *          *           *

    Other bits and pieces from various sources, all considered highly
    reliable, but not guaranteed.

        CSU LA has about 6000 books down.
        CSU San Bernardino has about 6000 books down.
        CSU Fullerton has 150,000 to 200,000 books down.
        UC Riverside had substantial damage to books in Special
            Collections.
        UC Riverside had about 1500 books down.
        Pepperdine's Plaza Library had one broken window and about a
            quarter of the books down.
        CSUN and UCLA are now non-suppliers on OCLC until further
            notice.
        UCLA Research Library had 'lots of books fall'.
        Southern Regional Library Facility had minor superficial damage
            and a few dozen books down.
        UC San Diego had no problems.
        UC Irvine had several thousand books down.
        8 branches of LA Public had major damage according to news
            media.
        Thousand Oaks Public had some things fall and sprinkler damage
            to a new minicomputer.
        Cal Poly Pomona had a few hundred books down.
        UCLA Research Library had some damage to lights and ceiling.
        Towell Library at UCLA had about 1/3 of their books down.
        UCLA Law Library had some buckled stacks and many books down,
            about two feet deep in aisles.
        Occidental College had all A-B, J-L, and half of government
            documents dumped on floor.
        Santa Monica City College appealed for volunteers to help to
            reshelve 130,000 books.
        Simi Valley Library damaged.
        Thousand Oaks Library damaged.

                                  ***

    Here is the text of an InfoUCLA message about UCLA Library hours of
    service on Thursday, Jan. 21.  Classes will resume on campus
    tomorrow except for a few where buildings are still closed.

    We've made remarkable progress on reshelving books. Note, however,
    that we've not been able to enter the Engineering and Math Sciences
    or the Physics libraries yet. EMS looks to be the hardest hit with
    roughly 70 percent of all volumes on the floor, falling ceilings,
    etc. --Submitted by Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz

                                  ***

    EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE AFFECTING LA COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE

    [...  The following came through the PACS-L discussion list with the
    explicit request to disseminate it.  We received it from Lee Jaffe,
    UC Santa Cruz, who distributed it to members of California Academic
    and Research Librarians.]

    This is to provide information for those who may be interested in
    knowing how the earthquake affected our library service.

    A total of 39 of the County of Los Angeles Public Library's 87
    libraries sustained some level of damage as a result of Monday's 6.6
    earthquake.  Most of the facilities that will be closed suffered
    only minor damage such as books spilled on the floor and fallen
    ceiling tiles and plaster, and we expect to be able to reopen them
    in a day or two after we clean up the mess.

    Under the current schedule of service hours, approximately 50 of the
    County Library's outlets would normally have been opened to the
    public on Tuesday and Wednesday.  However, the damage caused by the
    earthquake temporarily interrupted normal service for part of this
    week.  In addition to the minor damage sustained in most of the
    closed facilities, four libraries in the region most directly
    affected by the earthquake suffered more serious damage and will
    remain closed until further notice.  The most severely damaged
    facilities include the San Fernando Library, the Newhall and
    Valencia Libraries in Santa Clarita, and the La Crescenta Library.
    All of these libraries sustained potential structural damage and
    will remain closed until they can be inspected for safety.

    [material edited]
                               --David Flint, LA County Public Libraries

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:54
                 Distributed: Tuesday, January 25, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-7-54-008
                                  ***