So I (Arlene) was staying far too late on a Friday night just finishing up some small details. I was almost down the stairs and out the door when I heard my name called behind me. It was Sharyl Kitchin, of the library’s Access Services department. Turns out there was a glycol leak on the second floor and a bunch of books were affected.
The Access Services students were already moving the affected books off of the wet shelves, covering the shelves in the area with plastic sheeting, and had garbage cans down to catch the stuff that was actively dripping. So everybody pitches in during a situation like this. 2 hours later, we had most of the books individually wrapped in absorbent materials (i.e. lots and lots of paper toweling), and got the books triaged into a) not affected and b) affected. There’s going to be a lot of reshelving and possibly some weeding decisions to be made when this is all over. And I’m glad that part of it isn’t mine!
So that’s my Friday night. One of these days, you’ll think I’ll learn to get out of here on time! That way it would be somebody else’s problem.
Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Eventually my phone would have rung. Best to deal with it as soon as possible when things can still be rescued. Even if it means spending my Friday night at work.
Here’s hoping you all have a great glycol-free weekend.