Any student who has been in MSE within the past two weeks has probably noticed cones and police tape around M-level, along with a distinct smell and some unusual dampness.
Because of the heavy rain in the past two weeks, M-level has seen some instances of leaking and flooding to the surprise of many students. However, Sheridan Libraries is hard at work fixing the problem.
“The flooding on M level was due to the high winds and rain from the tropical storm; rain came in around the garden area,” Brian Shields, the Sheridan Libraries’ Communications and Marketing Manager, wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “We have had smaller leaks off and on but the winds and heavy rain of the past month resulted in a bit more water than we’d typically expect.”
However, it seems the flooding did not cause many problems.
“The flooding did not really cause any damage, but it did create some wet carpet, which was cleaned up by Custodial Services with a wet vac,” Shields wrote.
Many students were surprised by the fact that the library had flooding.
“I wouldn’t have expected it,” sophomore Jordan Hoffmann said.
“I saw a section roped off a few days ago,” Taylor Reese, a 5th year of a 5 year masters-bachelors candidate said. Reese was “surprised [by the flooding] . . . with such sensitive books here and all that . . . I’ve been here for years, and never noticed flooding in here before.”
However, many students didn’t find that it affected their work in the library significantly while some didn’t even really notice it.
“I noticed a faint smell . . . I avoided the immediate area [of the flooding]” said Reese.
“I haven’t really noticed . . . ” sophomore Merrie Zhang said. As for how to fix the flooding, “I’m not really sure what they can do . . . they can’t change the structure of the building.”
Shields described the process of repairing leaks on campus. “For leaks in any building on campus (not just MSEL), JHU Facilities is the department responsible. We immediately contact them and they take it from there, assigning the relevant workmen to the job at hand. For example, the roofers have caulked around the garden area, which will help prevent leaks and flooding in the future.”
The library plans to address future occurrences of this problem through installing some new roofing on MSE. “We are in the process of meeting with roofers to have a new roof put on the MSEL (above Q-level), and I can let you know when the schedule is set. The job should be complete before the end of the calendar year,” Shields wrote.
Therefore, students in the future can look forward to flood-free days and nights of library studying.
