Long Beach : Broken Water Line Soaks Books at Main Library
Long Beach public library employees were scrambling Wednesday to sop up the mess left when a fire main burst, sending water cascading through the main downtown building at Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue.
An unknown number of books, including three rare books, were being freeze-dried, and several large dehumidifiers were brought in to keep mold spores from harboring among book pages, said library services director Cordelia Howard.
“It’s wet, it’s messy and it stinks,” Howard said.
She said that the damage left by the broken water main is still unknown. The main ruptured Monday afternoon while the library was closed for President’s Day. Howard said that the eastern half of the library, which was not soaked, may be opened to the public on Friday.
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