Volume 18 No.2 2013 Archival Products NEWS Superstorm Sandy: Response and Recovery at NYU Ehrman Medical Library By Angela M. Andres, Lou Di Gennaro, and Laura McCann UPERSTORM SANDY MADE Ehrman Medical Library was devastated by landfall on October 29, 2012 just the storm. The library is a vital part of the The lowest level Ssouth of New York City. Amplified NYU Health Sciences Libraries, providing of the library by a full moon and high tide, Sandy’s record- academic and research support for students was completely breaking storm surge caused 14 feet of seawater and staff of the Langone Medical Center and submerged by to pour into lower Manhattan inundating NYU School of Medicine. The collections the surge. streets, tunnels, and subway lines and cutting include monographs and serials (both electrical power in and around the city. print and electronic), reports, audiovisual The New York University (NYU) Langone materials, digital resources, graphic materials, Medical Center, situated on Manhattan’s rare books and pamphlets, and a historically east side, was hit heavily by the storm surge, important archival collection. The lowest which flooded the center’s lower levels and level of the library was completely submerged caused power outages throughout the facility. by the surge. The ground floor level took on NYU Langone Medical Center is a premier a minimum of one foot of floodwater. The institution for clinical care, biomedical flooding resulted in electrical outages which research and medical education. Throughout compromised servers, disrupting access to the evening of October 29 and into the vital digital resources including email access. morning of October 30, Langone patients Once all patients were evacuated work were evacuated. Immediate assessments began immediately to restore power to the indicated major damage to electrical and medical center and resume clinical care mechanical infrastructure, as well as damage functions. At this time senior staff of NYU to clinical and research facilities including Health Sciences Libraries were able to access the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library. the facility and set to work salvaging servers Located on three floors at the heart of and computer processing units necessary the NYU Langone Medical Center, the to restore basic library functions. Paula S u p e r S t o r m S a n d y : r e S p o n S e a n d r e c o V e r y a t n y u e h r m a n m e d i c a l l i b r a r y – c o n t i n u e d DeStefano, head of the Barbara Goldsmith The first priority Preservation and Conservation Department of was to formalize New York University Libraries, was contacted a contract with to provide expertise on the recovery of the Belfor, the flooded print and archival collections. disaster response company that Assessing the Damage (Left) Inside a stairwell between the ground floor and basement, with On the morning of November 1, with standing water and tideline on the wall. (Right) A wet box containing rare was already on pamphlets damaged by the flood. continuing power disruptions causing the scene at the major public transport delays, conservators NYU Langone Laura McCann (Conservation Librarian) After a quick assessment of books shelved Medical Center. and Lou DiGennaro (Conservation Technician in open cabinets surrounding the mezzanine for Special Collections) from the Barbara and rare books and archives housed on the same Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation floor, the conservators were led by library staff Department set out on foot from Brooklyn to down to the ground floor, which consisted the Medical Center to begin damage assessment. of public service space, a reading room, Equipped with headlamps, personal circulation and reference service desk areas, protective equipment, a digital camera and cataloging, interlibrary loan and acquisition assessment forms, the conservators conducted offices, and the server room. Here the carpet a survey of the library spaces. Upon entering was still damp, ceiling tiles had fallen, and the library at the mezzanine level, which books, audiovisual materials and computers had had no power or environmental control below the tideline were completely wet. In the for three days, a damp musty odor and high cataloger’s office off the main reading room, humidity were immediately evident. The water the conservators discovered two record carton had subsided and a dirty tideline, about a foot boxes of rare and valuable pamphlets on the and a half high, was visible along the walls floor that had been submerged and thrown of the ground floor. Library staff informed about by the force of the water. A number of the conservators that standing water was still early printed books, some in original leather present in the formerly submerged basement and vellum bindings, safely escaped the rush level, which contained printed monographs of water. Access to the basement level was and serials on compact shelving and Medical prevented by standing water in the stairwell. Center archival materials in flat files. With the possibility of biohazards from adjacent research facilities, the conservators and library staff quickly determined the risk to personal safety was too high to pursue the assessment of this level. The initial reconnaissance completed, the group planned immediate response actions. The first priority was to formalize a contract with Belfor, the disaster response company that was already on the scene at the NYU Langone Medical Center. The intensity of the damage required the expertise, equipment, facilities, and manpower of a disaster recovery The interlibrary loan office on the ground floor of Ehrman Library. Water in the plastic tote shows the approximate level firm. Senior library staff quickly coordinated of the floodwaters. the contracting of Belfor to oversee the 2 S u p e r S t o r m S a n d y : r e S p o n S e a n d r e c o V e r y a t n y u e h r m a n m e d i c a l l i b r a r y – c o n t i n u e d salvage of library materials and remediation of the physical spaces. The next action The next action for library staff was to for library staff define salvage priorities. Aided by a recent was to define collection management project and the salvage priorities. library’s disaster plan, they determined the first priority to be archival material, rare books, rare pamphlets, interlibrary loan items, and computer processing units (the servers had already been salvaged and relocated). The second priority was dry Belfor employees at work inventorying and packing dry collections on the ground floor. library material on the ground floor. All wet materials that were not archival materials, windows provided necessary illumination rare books, rare pamphlets, interlibrary loan and air circulation. Working quickly the items, or computer processing units were conservators, using supplies found in the determined to be replaceable and therefore library’s disaster response kit, covered the were not selected for salvage. conference table with polyethylene sheeting Due to the high relative humidity in the and began removing wet housing material, facility the conservators were concerned about being careful to retain all bibliographic a potential mold outbreak on the mezzanine information. The pamphlets were spread out level. Library staff monitored environmental on the table and allowed to briefly air dry conditions with battery-operated equipment. before being individually wrapped in Tek- Elevated relative humidity was successfully Wipe. (Tek-Wipe is a very strong non-woven reduced by opening adjacent windows and reusable fabric made from polyester and doors to take advantage of the cold and dry absorbent cellulose.) The wrapped pamphlets conditions outside. were then transferred into plastic crates and Once salvage priorities were defined brought via taxi to NYU Libraries’ Bobst the group met with Belfor staff to plan the Library for freezing. Bobst Library was one of recovery of library materials. Access to the the few downtown institutions to maintain basement space was still restricted while power after the storm because it is connected industrial hygienists and engineers assessed to NYU’s co-generation electrical plant. the space, limiting recovery activities to The conservators worked into the evening the ground floor. Belfor teams set to work placing small groups of wet pamphlets, moving dry high-priority items from the separated by waxed paper, into self-sealing ground floor to the mezzanine and then polyethylene bags, labeling the bags, and inventorying and discarding low-priority placing them in the freezer. wet material. Discarding wet materials was In the weeks following Sandy, Belfor important to reduce the moisture content on teams inventoried and packed the dry the ground floor and prevent mold growth. books and office papers from the ground The conservators began immediate work floor and mezzanine shelving. The Wet pamphlets were spread salvaging the wet pamphlet collection while packed books were trucked to a climate- out to dry on a polyethylene- covered conference room table. library staff salvaged the CPUs. controlled secure offsite facility. Testing of the environmental conditions in the Recovery of Collections basement was completed in December and Work on the wet pamphlets commenced in the archival materials were transferred from a conference room where large south-facing the basement directly to Belfor’s freezer truck. 3 S u p e r S t o r m S a n d y : r e S p o n S e a n d r e c o V e r y a t n y u e h r m a n m e d i c a l l i b r a r y – c o n t i n u e d The archival materials were then shipped to The Ehrman Library flood situation Important keys Belfor’s facility for vacuum freeze-drying, demonstrated the importance of having a and emergency cleaning and mold remediation.