Hurricane Isaac: Library Condition Report

The library buildings lost power Tuesday evening, August 28. Power and HVAC were restored to the Howard-Tilton building and Jones Hall on Thursday, August 30.

The storm’s winds did not significantly harm the temporary HVAC towers on the back of the Howard-Tilton building.

Inside the Howard-Tilton building, however, water had seeped into the basement in several locations largely around the elevator lobby, around some floor drainage outlets, and along the seam between the concrete wall and floor mostly on the southwest corner of the building. Crews from Facilities Services vacuumed up the standing water Thursday and moved on. On Friday morning, it was apparent that the water had pooled again in several locations.

Also discovered was an area on the 3rd floor in the study commons where water had leaked from ceiling tiles near some window carrels. Meanwhile, after restoring the temporary HVAC system in the Howard-Tilton building, Facilities Services was able to control the system to reduce average relative humidity levels from very high down to a normal 50%.

Experts from BMS CAT, a general disaster management firm, and Munters, a disaster recovery and restoration service, were both brought in Friday to walk through our facilities and develop an assessment and treatment strategy.

The first order of business will be to bring in equipment to remove any water or moisture from leaks. Dehumidifiers will be set up in the H-TML basement.

At the library's off site facility at 900 South Jeff Davis, regular power was still not back on Friday but Tulane Capital Projects and Real Estate Group arranged for a large temporary generator that was set up on Friday afternoon to run the Leibert HVAC units there.

Some rain water had pooled on the floor in front of the two loading docks, a door way, and in a few other areas where rainwater leaks have been seen in the past. Nine temporary dehumidifier units were also delivered there, just in case. However, the actual needs at the off site facility appeared minimal.

The H-TML stacks were reviewed very carefully on each floor and no damaged materials related to Hurricane Isaac were found. Materials were also reviewed at the off site facility and no obvious sign of trouble that could be seen with flashlights. The LAL rare materials area in the Howard-Tilton and Special Collections in Jones Hall have each been surveyed. In the weeks ahead, Munters will be available to us should we find mold as a result of the storm.

All things considered, the library weathered the hurricane relatively well, considering its vulnerabilities. Conditions in the H-TML appeared stable enough Friday for the library to decide open with a skeleton crew on Saturday and Sunday from 9 am until 11 pm, and Monday from 9 am to 5 pm. Normal hours and staffing were to resume at the library on Tuesday, Sept. 4.