Unexpected problems dampen library experience

By Katie Nichols (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal

Published Friday, June 26, 2009

The Selma-Dallas County Public Library often has creative decorations to go along with its changing themes. However, water dripping from the ceiling Friday had nothing to do with the library’s summer program, “Read and Recycle.”

“The problem is the air conditioning drain is clogged,” Library Director Becky Nichols said. “The condensation for six major units has no where to go, so now it is leaking from the roof and it is mainly in the children’s department area.”

The leaking resulted in an air conditioner trying to cool the 15,000 square feet of the addition while the temperatures reached nearly 100 degrees. When Nichols saw the drops coming from the ceiling, she contacted Plumbing Contractors, Selma.

“People don’t realize how much condensation an air conditioner puts out when it is this hot,” Michael Sims, Plumbing Contractors, said. “It is like putting an ice cube in a steam bath.”

Sims realized that the water needed to go somewhere once he literally pulled the plug to release the condensation, and that place needed to be anywhere but the library.

Servpro, which operates out of Selma, Centerville and Marion, was called in to deal with the water removal. Nichols advised staff members parked in the employee parking lot to move their cars because potentially more than 70 gallons of water would come rushing down a tube. Granted, the water would go into a tank, but no one was taking any chances.

“The plan is to pull the plug and Servpro will pull the water out of the building,” said Rusty Flanary, a Servpro marketing representative. “We are going to also dry the carpet with equipment and keep the water from making any more damage.”

Throughout the day’s work, the library staff continued business as usual. They even held an acrylic painting class for kids nine and up this morning. That is exactly what Nichols said the public library is all about.

“We are a community house,” Nichols said. “Our job is to keep the house cool in the summer, warm in the winter, have clean carpet and keep the shelves full of books. Sometimes it is hard because we have limited resources, especially now that the city and county have cut our budgets, but we will recover from this. Hopefully everything will be back to normal this Monday morning.”

When the time came to actually remove the water, everyone was on pins and needles because no one could really tell where the water would find its escape route.

The only unforeseen problem occurred in the first floor’s Vaughan Room, where Congressman Artur Davis will speak Tuesday 2 p.m.

Some of the water made its way down to the meeting room, but luckily the leak was found before the damage had really begun.

“People have air conditioning leaks in their house, but think of the library as a house,” Nichols said. “Instead of maybe a couple thousand square feet, we have 25,000 square feet. I don’t know how this is going to affect our budget yet, because I don’t know the extent of the cost. I have no doubt that the city and county will support us, too.”

In the end, the library lost 10-15 books from water damage, areas of carpet and numerous ceiling tiles. However, Nichols said the situation could have been much worse. She was eternally grateful to the workers from Servpro and Plumbing Contractors who came out on such short notice.

“It is times like this you realize what a great town we live in,” Nichols said. “We have wonderful friends who came out to help because they were concerned about the library. I think it is attributed to the small town living where people know each other and care about things like the library.”

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