Weeks after deluge, central library scrambles to serve
System makes adjustments to provide various programs
Coping with the indefinite closure of Burton Barr Central Library weeks after it flooded during a storm goes well beyond securing the site’s half-million books.
The 280,000-square-foot building on the edge of downtown in Phoenix employs hundreds of people. Kids gather there for free meals provided by a local food bank. A cafe on the bottom floor helps train people with autism in workplace skills.
All are affected after a July 15 monsoon storm caused extensive damage to the library. An investigation continues into the events of that day.
There’s still no timeline to reopen the library, though officials say they are eager to release an update after organizing the scope of repairs. For now, the city is trying to restore key community services.
Library staff found makeshift spaces for some programs and sent employees to work at other branches. Other functions, though, aren’t available or are inaccessible to people who can’t travel outside the central city.
Phoenix is working with nearby organizations to bring back basic library
services to the area, said Lee Franklin, communityrelations manager for Phoenix Public Library. She said the unprecedented incident raises awareness of how integral libraries are to the community — and how people expect them to always be there.
“It kind of rattles everyone a little bit,” Franklin said.
Stopping additional damage was the first priority when a fire-sprinkler pipe burst during the storm and flooded the library’s five floors, Franklin said. Now, some of the library’s resources are going to the system’s 16 other locations.
That includes packing up and sending off some of Burton Barr’s most popular books for customers to check out at the other branches. Culture passes, an amenity that provides free admission to museums and other institutions, will be redistributed to other locations, according to library staff.
Kids and coding programs continue at other locations. An entrepreneurship workshop series hosted at Burton Barr is operating about 17 miles away at Juniper Library on Union Hills Drive.
And College Depot moved into a community center in south Phoenix. The program serves students and families pursuing higher education. About 100 teens and adults visited last week, Lee said.
The timing of the damage so close to college-application deadline season was a particular concern for College Depot staff, said Abigail Martinez, college-access assistant.
Martinez said she initially wondered if students would find their appointment location, but that the new home is working well. The team isn’t fixating on when they can move back to Burton Barr, she said.
“We try not to worry about that,” Martinez said. “We get really busy this time of year.”