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| Librarian Daniel Hanne replaces books onto shelves Wednesday. |
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| Alfredo Lafarga beings the long process of reshelving books. |
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| Hundreds of books are scattered throughout the aisles of the University Library. |
The University Library reopened Wednesday, one day after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the campus.
On the first and second floors, it was business as usual with students working at computer stations, studying and researching. The third through sixth floors remain closed while library staff members reorganized and re-shelved the tens of thousands of books that fell.
With the hard-working efforts of the library staff, the upper floors may reopen as early as Thursday, according to University Library Dean Harold Schleifer.
“I can't speak highly enough about the library faculty and staff pitching in. The work went much more quickly than anyone had anticipated. Everyone worked very hard and skillfully,” Schleifer said. “I also want to thank Facilities Management for their responsiveness in this situation.”
Andrew Naranjo, library addition project manager, said the earthquake did not cause any structural damage to the building and that most of the repairs will be cosmetic. Damages include scattered books, cracked paint and loose light fixtures.
In some aisles, hundreds of fallen books created impassable piles nearly two feet high.
“We're getting through the re-shelving process pretty quickly. We have the whole library staff helping out,” said Paul Hottinger, library assistant.
For more information about the earthquake, visit https://polycentric.cpp.edu/news.asp?id=2103.