$1.5 Million Ok'd to Rescue Books
BATON ROUGE - A mold has infested the Earl K. Long Library at the University
of New Orleans, jeopardizing the $45 million collection of books and posing
a health hazard to faculty, students and library employees, UNO President
Greg O'Brien said Wednesday.
"Deterioration of the $45 million worth of books is very rapid", O'Brien
said. At his urging, the state Interim Emergency Board, a body set up by the
state Constitution to deal with emergency spending between legislative
sessions, approved $1.56 million to combat the mold and clean the library's
900,000 volumes.
"This is a true emergency," said Sen. John Hainkel, R-New Orleans. "In fact,
it's one of the few true emergencies I've seen before this board."
The proposed spending now goes before the full Legislature in a mail ballot.
In addition, O'Brien said, UNO will ask the Board of Regents to include
another $1.26 million in its capital outlay request at the 1999 legislative
session. The combination of the emergency board and construction money
should provide a permanent solution to the problem he said.
The problem arose, two state officials, told the board, in July when UNO
staffers had the library carpets steam cleaned. They then shut off the air
conditioning when the university closed down for the long July 4th weekend.
That's when the mold began to infest the books," said James Kennedy, an
official of the state's Risk Management Department. "There was too much
moisture." L.J. Schmidt of the state budget office agreed. "Excessive
moisture in the building, compounded by an extremely hot and humid summer,
overburdened the existing air handling system, disturbed the proper
balance of temperature and humidity and created an environment favorable to
mold growth. As a result, infestation quickly became widespread, causing
the closure of the third floor of the library."
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