Over Labor Day weekend, the Academic Commons experienced a leak in the tiered section of the library’s collection of book stacks. Librarian and Director of the Academic Commons Sarah Pickle said that none of the staff were aware that the leak had broken through.
“One of our patrons was in the stacks and saw the leak,” Pickle said. “And thank goodness, [they] came and told a staff member that that had happened because it was on the fifth floor of the stacks.”
Pickle said she believes that the leak began the evening of Sept. 1, as the library had been accidentally unlocked to students that morning during the holiday and no signs of leakage or damage were reported by staff or students at that time. According to Pickle, the leak was first discovered by the patron on the morning of Sept. 2.
“That’s something we really rely on people to do when you have a building this size,” Pickle said.
Pickle said the leak was caused by a dysfunctional HVAC system above the tiers. Significant condensation collected from humidity was unable to drain, and the built-up water was forced to leak from the ceiling downward into the tiers, according to Pickle.
More than half of the library’s staff grouped together, removing books from the shelves, grabbing fans and paper towels from bathrooms and organizing books on carts, Pickle said.
Prior to the Labor Day incident, Pickle said staff members had been discussing the idea of reconstituting a group and protocol list to prepare for emergency events like this, as previous emergency plans had been lost with staff turnover.
As people from all different departments came together to manage the initial leak, Pickle said a second leak broke through the ceiling.
“[Facilities] [were] pouring water out of where it had been gathering,” Pickle said. “The drain they were using […] was sending water back in.”
According to College Archivist of Special Collections Alanna Quan ’16, after two sprays from the ceiling, staff were able to quickly alert Facilities. Quan said they were all prepared from the initial leak with plastic sheets to cover the books.
The Library’s Senior Director of Administration Brian Chambers said he received an email around 8 a.m. stating that a leak was active and Facilities had been contacted. Shortly after, Chambers said he jumped in to help.
“By the time I got in, I had just found my coworkers,” Chambers said. “We were putting paper towels in between the pages of wet books.”
According to Chambers, gaps in the infrastructure of the tiers allowed water from the fifth tier to travel down to the third tier of the stacks.
“One of us would constantly be going into the tiers and seeing if the water moved,” Chambers said.
Chambers, who works closely with Facilities, said he maintained direct communication with the team for updates on the source of the leak and its underway repairs. Pickle said the library staff is grateful for their patrons’ patience and the clean-up response by Facilities and cleaning staff following the leaks.
Quan and Special Collections Librarian Helena de Lemos said that while Special Collections was not impacted by the Labor Day leak, they have a history with water leaks in their section of the library.
“We have had leaks here before […] before they renovated the HVAC system,” de Lemos said. “Leaks would come through the vents.”
De Lemos said that members of Special Collections advocated for the pipes to be rerouted so they would not be running directly above valuable materials such as documents, photographs and tapes. Since construction in 2022, that area has not experienced any leaks, according to de Lemos.
However, Quan said most pipes of the library cannot be rerouted because of the building’s cement foundation and its overall age.
According to de Lemos, Occidental College’s 15th president Jonathan Veitch tried to launch a campaign to remodel the entire library, but was not successful in raising funds. Since then, Chambers said only small renovations have happened to the library with hopes that there would be a larger renovation to the 70-year-old space.
“Over the summer [on the] ground floor, they removed all of the stacks […] that housed a good chunk of our bound periodicals collection,” Chambers said. “Our librarians went through that entire collection and did a very thorough evaluation. Most of [the books] are being recycled.”
According to Quan, there has been a change in the general trajectory of libraries following the introduction of the Center for Digital Liberal Arts (CDLA) in 2010.
“I think there was this general concept that we were sort of moving away from books and libraries in general,” Quan said. “Around then is also when it was renamed as the Academic Commons, so they moved away from a librarian model into the CDLA.”
Quan and de Lemos said that the pendulum has swung back and that they see people are interested in libraries for what their physical spaces can do — holding books and materials and bringing people together.
Contact Ellie von Brachel at vonbrachel@oxy.edu
