THOUSAND OAKS : Library Reopens, Tallies Book Losses
The Thousand Oaks Library reopened Monday after closing down for nearly a week due to water damage from last week’s rainstorm.
About 1,000 books were damaged during the two-day storm as rain poured into the library, which was in the middle of a re-roofing project.
Volunteers and librarians sorted through the library’s 325,000 books Saturday, trying to determine which ones were waterlogged. Although damage totals have not been completed, library officials estimate that $5,000 to $10,000 worth of books were destroyed.
“We are discarding them,” deputy library director Steve Brogden said of the wet, moldy books, which were found throughout the library. “I do know that one section that got hit hard were the bird books and auto repair manuals in the reference section.”
The construction company handling the roofing project has agreed to pay the replacement cost of the damaged books, and roofers hope to seal the leaky roof this week, Brogden said.
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