ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

INDIANA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SUFFERS FIRE LOSS

A fire of undetermined origins in the main library building at Indiana University on February 17 caused an estimated $500,000 damage to library collections. A complete count of book losses has not yet been made. It is known, however, that 3811 volumes of domestic and foreign newspapers and several hundred reference works were totally destroyed. Library authorities estimate that more than 30,000 volumes damaged by heat, smoke or water must be either rebound or replaced. Building damage has not been estimated. The building and its contents were insured.

Three floors in the sixty-two year old main library building were damaged. The fire originated in a sub-basement area used for newspaper storage and spread through ventilating ducts to the basement above and the main reference room on the first floor. Bloomington firemen brought the blaze under control within four hours after arriving on the scene.

The destroyed newspapers consisted of fortyfour different titles, including The Times (London), Manchester Guardian, Illustrated London News, San Francisco Examiner, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Chicago Journal of Commerce, the Wall Street Journal and other domestic and foreign dailies and weeklies. Reference works destroyed included dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes and abstracts. Monographs destroyed or damaged related to Near Eastern Studies, German and French literature, geography, political science, and international law and organization. Immediate steps have been taken to replace the newspapers with microfilm copies where available. All in-print titles destroyed will be replaced. Emergency binding shipments are being sent weekly to a commercial binder to replace the damaged bindings. The fire occurred approximately two months before all books in the old building were scheduled to be moved into a new $14,000,000 library building nearing completion.