Over the weekend, a sprinkler pipe froze, causing it to burst, resulting in damage to the books, shelves and floor in the library media center. Librarian Kristan Bowlin said the library is closed until further notice.

“We’re still assessing damage, but we’re pretty sure we lost most of our graphic novels, all of our action adventure, sports, all of our romance and most of our historical fiction,” Bowlin said. “We’re still not sure of the extent [of the damage] yet, but it’s not looking good.”

The shelves have been moved out of the flooded area and the librarians are currently waiting for the damage to be repaired.

“All of the fiction shelves are moved because the carpet was soaked, so we have dryers in [the library] helping dry out the carpet,” Bowlin said. “Most of the carpet tiles have been picked up to help it dry out.”

Bowlin said she is saddened about what happened, especially because this is not the first time.

“[I’m] a little frustrated because this happened several years ago, and it was the same area,” Bowlin said.

Despite the setback, the librarians are moving forward with getting the library ready to open again.

“We hope it can open next week for classes, but I’m not sure with the state of the library right now. It’s pretty much in disarray,” Bowlin said. “No more than two weeks it will be closed, but we probably won’t be able to check out books for a long time.”