Head Librarian: “Over the past few months, patrons and staff have been complaining about the smells in section A of the library, some even complaining about headaches and colds.”
Head of Facilities Maintenance: “I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary.”
Librarian: “I don’t either, but it’s getting worse. Even my most dedicated staff member is starting to complain. Can’t you do anything about it?”
Head of Facilities Maintenance: “I’ll go look again, but I won’t find anything,” and off he goes.
Several weeks go by. One day a patron complains to the reference librarian that a book is stuck to the shelf. Could the librarian help him? When the librarian gets to the shelf, the books are indeed stuck, in fact there is lots of mold growing and it really smells. Now the head librarian has something to show the head of facilities maintenance.
At the same time, staff has been complaining about the staff lounge in the base- ment. It is starting to smell down there, and clothes in the lockers are damp.
So the head librarian and the head of facilities maintenance go on a building in- spection to see what is going on. Here’s what they found.
The books on the shelf in section A are heavily contaminated with mold, the grey and yellow fuzzy kind. The mold has attached itself to the shelves. The books are damp inside and starting to swell from the excess moisture. That was where there had been a roof leak six months earlier. Everyone thought that the area was dry and the relative humidity was under control. Were they wrong!
In the basement, they discover that the mechanical room is in disarray. The HVAC, chiller, and drain pans are full of water, and the floor drain is clogged, with water in small puddles on the floor. To make matters worse, someone has been storing boxes of cleaning supplies (paper towels and the like) in the mechanical room and everything is damp with a black mold growing on the walls and equipment. Oh boy, what a mess!
What to tackle first? The head librarian activates the disaster response team to deal with the moldy books. The disaster response team contacts a disaster response company to take the books away for drying and cleaning. The disaster response com- pany reminds the disaster response team that the books may come back a little dis- torted due to the swelling of the bindings. The books have to dry first, and then they will attempt to remove the visible mold. The disaster response team is cautioned that the books may be stained, but as long as the temperature and relative humidity stay dry and stable, the mold should not return. The staff was then directed to clean the shelves with a disinfectant and dry them well.
The mechanical room is a bigger headache. The first action was to remove all the boxes that were stored there. Not only is it a fire hazard, but the boxes were also re- taining moisture, which mold just loves. The increased moisture is an invitation for insects such as cockroaches and silver fish. Next, the facilities maintenance depart- ment drained and cleaned the chiller and drain pans and the floor drain. An HVAC specialist was called in to look at the equipment and fix it. While the HVAC spe- cialist was recalibrating the system, the head of facilities maintenance sent the person responsible for the library’s maintenance to a workshop to learn how to maintain the equipment more efficiently.
Then the mold was dealt with. The head of facilities maintenance and the disas- ter response team got together to discuss this action. Because staff were complaining about feeling ill, they decided to have an industrial hygienist examine and test the mold in the mechanical room and in the library, especially in section A. The head of the library decided that it was time to call the insurance company and see what they could contribute. The insurance adjuster explained that it was possible that mold wasn’t covered. (Some insurance companies are no longer covering remediation of mold, no matter what the cause.) After careful consideration, the insurance adjuster agreed that some of the damage was covered by the policy.
The industrial hygienist sampled the air, the black mold, and the duct work to see what was growing there. The mold was the dreaded Stachybotrys chartarum (atra),the black mold that is highly toxic. The industrial hygienist designed a remediation plan, and a company was hired to clean and remove the active mold from the mechanical room and any duct work that was affected. The HVAC system was shut down, the ducts covered, and the mechanical room was cleaned. Then the ducts were cleaned and the HVAC filters were changed. Lastly, the HVAC was recalibrated to maintain the proper stable temperature and relative humidity.
While all this was going on, the staff asked the librarian for some education and training. They wanted to understand about the mold, the health implications, and whether the building was safe to work in. The librarian and the disaster response team head decided to bring in some consultants to talk about mold and the remediation of mold. The consultants focused on what causes mold growth and how it is controlled inside. They discussed the importance of steady temperatures and relative humidity as well as adequate air movement. The health issues discussed included discomfort from the mold and exacerbation of allergies and asthma. Any staff member who had com- plained was sent for a checkup. As the building and air-handling system were cleaned, there were fewer complaints.
Once the mechanical room and section A were decontaminated, the industrial hygienist was again called in to sample the air, walls, and ducts to see what the mold content was. All was back to normal after six long months of work. The now dry and clean books were brought back in and shelved. The mechanical room was outfitted with water sensors on the floor and next to the chiller and drain pans.
So What Do We Learn from This Story?
The first lesson is to follow up on complaints of moldy smells and physical discomfort.
If left unchecked, mold can infect a building completely, requiring it be closed during remediation. Ignoring health complaints can exacerbate asthma and allergies, result- ing in long illnesses and even requiring a leave of absence from the library.
The second lesson is to perform an internal building survey regularly. Check the mechanical room, the storage closets, and other lesser used rooms to make certain the environment is stable and there aren’t any water leaks. Invite the maintenance staff along on these building surveys so that all are looking for the same problems and is- sues of maintenance and environmental control.
The third is to act on the problems. Hire the specialists to do specialized jobs.
Don’t expect your staff to remove large areas of mold growth. They are not prepared or trained to do so.
In the midst of it all, don’t forget to communicate with staff. Let them know what is happening and how the problem is being fixed. Active, two-way communication goes a long way toward solving issues before they become a problem or a major source of complaint.
This case study is a compilation of several mold outbreaks in different institutions, not at any particular library.
Endnotes
1. It is common to have moisture trapped in plaster or concrete walls.
2. James M. Reilly, Douglas W. Nishimura, and Edward Zinn, New Tools for Preservation: Assessing Long-
Endnotes
Term Environmental Effects on Library and Archives Collections (Washington, D.C.: Commission on Preservation and Access, 1995). See, especially, p. 10–14.
s stated in the introduction, prevention can stand alone, but it also works in tandem with the planning phase of disaster response.
Prevention includes looking for potential hazards in the building and either noting or correcting them. This phase is important because correcting chronic problems before they become serious can prevent them from becoming a disaster and costing the institution large sums of money and loss of time and efficient service. In the case of a small library, archives, historical society, or corporate library, prevention and planning for disasters can mean the difference between existing and being defunct.
So where do you start? Because prevention and planning go together, a disaster response team should be selected ahead of time (see section 4, “Plan- ning”); otherwise, select a small group of key per- sonnel to perform these tasks.
Two types of surveys should take place during the prevention phase of disaster response planning:
a building survey and a survey to identify vulnera- ble collections. For now let us focus upon a build- ing survey.