Flooding at University of Iowa library

Iowa is under a lot of water right now and unfortunately libraries like the one at the University of Iowa are in the path

At the Library, which closes indefinitely at 5 p.m. today, staff and volunteers were moving special collection materials — books, manuscripts, papers, rare photo negatives — out of the basement to upper floors. Workers can't move everything from the basement in the limited time, but they want to move the rarest materials to higher ground, Nan Seamans, associate UI librarian, said.

"It's pretty fragile and valuable — it's just such valuable stuff," she said. "Anything that is irreplaceable we are trying to get out."

(From the Gazette Online)

More from Library Journal

[Updates 6-14-08]
Moving books from library basement.
UI flood blog
Medical libraries affected.
It's not just water from below, water from above can be a problem as well.
ALA update.
Press-Citizen.
Personal tale of saving books.

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Image of Cedar Rapids Public Library