ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries November 1 9 9 0 1 935 Earthquake recovery at the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges By Linda Gunter Assistant Head, Reference/Bibliography D epartm ent Claremont Colleges Disaster preparedness must be a constant concern. TP he C larem ont Colleges is a cluster o f five J L undergraduate colleges and th e C lare­ m ont G raduate School, located in C larem ont, California. On February 28, 1990, at 3:43 p.m., an earthquake o f 5.5 m agnitude shook th e C larem ont area, with th e epicenter later d eterm ined to have been precisely in north Clarem ont. H onnold/M udd Library is th e central library for the C larem ont Colleges, housing th e main collec­ tions o f social science and hum anities materials. As soon as th e earth finished its im m ediate shaking, the H onnold/M udd Library was evacuated, and th e building declared closed until th e dam age could be assessed. W hen it was deem ed safe to do so, a few key m em bers o f the Library staff re ­ en tered th e building and did a walk-through for a prelim inary damage assessment. It was discovered th at not only w ere about 200,000 books off the shelves and on th e floors, b u t also many areas of shelving had either com pletely collapsed or were leaning at precarious angles. A phone call was im m ediately placed to the com pany th at had al­ ready been in th e process o f making an inventory o f our shelving and preparing a proposal for im prov­ ing our bracing to bring it all up to California Code and make it as seismically sound as possible. This call took place at about 4:30 p.m.; it was agreed that one o f the com pany’s structural engineers would m eet a group o f Library staff at 7:30 p . m . for a walk­ through o f the central Library and th e th ree cam ­ pus libraries to assess th e damage and to determ ine what could be done to allow th e Libraries to res­ um e operation. T he walk-through took two and one-half hours th at evening. T he engineer was very knowledge­ able and able to determ ine w hat types o f structures in th e shelving had failed and w hat might be sal­ vaged. W e all took many photographs o f the af­ fected areas, both for insurance purposes and to show others w hat kind o f dam age the Libraries had sustained. W hen th e evening walk-through ended, th e staff m em bers and th e library director agreed to m eet in th e director’s office first thing the next m orning to plan our strategy for recovery. It was announced th at although th e central library would be closed to patrons, the staff would be expected to rep o rt to work to begin th e cleanup. T he th ree cam pus libraries had comparatively little damage and book displacem ent and w ere all able to rem ain open for the rem ainder o f th e week. T he central library was in fact closed Thursday, Friday, Satur­ day, and Sunday. W e reopened on Monday, M arch 5, with th ree areas still considered unsafe and th e materials inaccessible. T he m orning following the earthquake, a desig­ nated group o f about eight staff m em bers and the library director m et to plan the recovery. W e estab­ lished priority areas for cleanup, based on the 936 / C b R L News following factors: 1) am ount o f book displacem ent and visible dam age to shelving; 2) advice from th e structural engineers and th e com pany’s crews who w ere already on site dism antling broken shelving and shoring up some shelving th at w ould be sal­ vageable; and 3) areas th a t w ere declared safe by th e engineers b u t n eed ed to have fallen books reshelved. Staff w ere not allowed to e n te r any area th at had not b een checked and declared safe. In many cases, all th a t was n eed ed was tightening o f bolts, and in some cases, new cross (sway) bracing was installed im m ediately. Some shelving was dam aged beyond repair and had to b e replaced. Most staff m em bers worked, in different shifts and in team s, throughout th e w eekend, as did th e work crews from th e bracing company. W e w ere able to devise some m ethods for picking up th e books and reshelving them , so th e work would progress relatively efficiently and in as organized a way as possible. Some psychological problem s w ere encountered, as th e aftershocks continued and some people w ere m ore frightened th an others to be in th e building. A fter a couple o f particularly strong aftershocks, some staff m em bers left, and th at was accepted. W e m ade sure th a t people took freq u en t breaks, kept talking to each o th e r to help release anxiety, brought in lunch each day so we could “picnic” and share ou r experiences; and we continually rem in d ed all w orkers to use th e “buddy system” (never to go into a work area alone) and to notify a person at a central desk area w here they would be working. Particularly, during these first four days, th e aftershocks w ere freq u en t and very unnerving to m ost people; it was vital th a t we knew exactly who was in th e building and w here, in case th e re was a n eed to evacuate th e building again. In addition, as each team o f w orkers was taken to a work area, th e staff m e m b er in charge always pointed o u t th e closest exits from th a t area should evacuation be necessary. H onnold/M udd Library consists o f th re e joined buildings, w ith one central entrance and exit. T h ere are, however, several em ergency exits which can b e used if an evacuation is needed, and these doors and stairways w ere always shown to th e work crews. H ard hats w ere offered to th e workers as th e aftershocks contin­ ued, and many people appreciated this protection in case books again fell from th e u p p e r shelves. F o r th e first four days after th e earthquake, th e recovery work w en t fairly sm oothly an d m uch faster than expected. By Monday, we felt we could reopen th e library to th e public, with th e exception o f th ree areas th a t still could not be approached because o f collapsed shelving. These areas w ere roped off and barriers placed to p rev en t people from entering. Some people still tried to bypass th e barriers, som etim es to attem pt to retrieve books, and som etim es because they w ere ju st curious. T he m orning after th e quake, we began receiv­ ing telep h o n e calls from o th e r libraries in th e area, offering help in th e form o f volunteer staff or resources. T he Inland E m pire Libraries D isaster R esp o n se N etw o rk (IE L D R N ), in w hich th e C larem ont Colleges participate, h ad in fact com e to th e library on Friday, M arch 2, for a m eeting and to u r o f th e facility. This N etw ork is com posed o f representatives from several libraries in th e Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties areas. T he group was founded for th e purposes o f exploring m ethods o f disaster p reparedness and recovery for libraries and for providing m utual aid for each o th e r in th e event o f a disaster. Many o f th e N etw ork libraries provided volunteer workers to help w ith C larem ont’s recovery from this e a rth ­ quake, beginning on Monday, as did o th e r libraries th roughout th e Los Angeles area. T h e M utual Aid A greem ent o f IE L D R N w orked m agnificently th roughout this recovery period. N etw ork m em ­ bers provided advice, volunteer workers, and gen­ eral moral support. T he N etw ork has proven its function and its w orth in exactly th e kind o f situ­ ation it was designed to address. T he H onnold/M udd staff held daily m eetings for approxim ately th e first two weeks following th e earthquake to assess w here we w ere in th e recovery process, and to arrange on a daily basis for our needs for volunteers in addition to o u r own staff. W e found it very w orthw hile to accept th e offers o f volunteer workers for some aspects o f th e recovery; it not only gave o u r staff a break from th e constant and intense activity, b u t it let us know th a t our library and com m unity colleagues cared and w ere willing to participate in this process. It has been estim ated th a t th e com plete recovery process (with th e exception o f th e repair o f many books th a t w ere dam aged as they fell from th e shelves and will n eed m ending o r rebinding) took approxim ately 1,000 m an-hours o f work tim e, spread over four weeks. W e have, despite th e cause, learn ed a great deal from this experience about shelf bracing; about staff capabilities, needs, and concerns; and about our own vulnerabilities. Since this earthquake we have a h eig h ten ed awareness o f th e fact th a t it can happen to us, th a t disaster p reparedness m ust b e a constant concern and responsibility, and th a t we m ust d e p e n d on each o th e r b o th w ithin o u r own organization and w ithin th e N etw ork associations th a t we form. It is essential to stockpile supplies for dealing w ith disasters to library collections, and it is equally essential, if not m ore so, to com m unicate with o u r colleagues in th e local area for p re p a re d ­ ness and m utual assistance. ■ ■ CSŕRL NEWSworthy!