MANHATTAN — Officials say Kansas State University’s Hale Library suffered significant damage during a fire.
Hundreds of thousands of books, journals, maps and other items were exposed to soot in the Hale Library fire. They won’t be available for the foreseeable future.
And so … our friends at KU Libraries are extending borrowing privileges to the K-State Family-photo courtesy K-State Libraries
Library dean Lori Goetsch said the university has contracted with an international disaster recovery business to restore the library following the May 22 blaze.
Goetsch says the library has extensive water and smoke damage. The fire was contained to the building’s roof, but hundreds of thousands of gallons of water were used to control the blaze.
The library also contained the university’s data center, and work remains to get the system fully back online.
Goetsch says about 250 library staff and students will be moved to temporary offices until repair work is complete.
Insurance adjusters will need about a month to assess the damage. It’s unclear when the library will reopen.
In the interim, KU Libraries extended borrowing privileges to the K-State Family, according to the K-State Libraries Facebook page. Wildcats simply need to visit one of their Lawrence campus library locations and use a Wildcat ID to check out materials.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.