Burst water pipe closes library

BURBANK — The Central Library will be closed until next week as crews repair damage caused by a water pipe that broke on Saturday, officials said.

The pipe burst early Saturday morning, officials said, sending a stream of water into the library. The breakage triggered the fire alarm. Firefighters who responded shut off water to the building.

Library officials are still determining the cost of the damage, but said that up to 2,000 books — mainly non-fiction titles from the library’s travel, biography and history collections — were damaged.

“It could have been so much worse,” Library Services Director Sharon Cohen said. “We were really lucky that the fire alarm went off and the fire department got in there and stopped the damage from continuing.”

Replacement plans for the damaged books were not yet available.

“Those are still conversations I need to have,” Cohen said.

A portion of the carpet that was also damaged by the water will be replaced this week, she added.

The library, located at 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd., is slated to reopen Monday. All scheduled programming at the branch is cancelled in the meantime.

The Buena Vista and Northwest library branches will maintain normal hours and programming.