Brent Mai, Wichita State’s Dean of University Libraries, said that when Ablah Library flooded the Sunday before spring break, the water rose to four inches across the 50,000 square foot lower floor. Most of the shelves are 5 inches, meaning that the water was just an inch away from damaging the library’s collections.

Ablah’s special collections are among the materials housed on the lower level. Mai said the special collections are “irreplaceable.” 

“Everything from rare books … historical documents, university archives as well, collections from, let’s say, important people, places, businesses and that sort of thing for the Wichita area —  Kansas in general — but really focused on the Wichita area,” Mai said. “We have a huge collection of aviation history, as you might imagine, for being the aviation capital of the world … blueprints of airplanes from generations ago and things like that.”

Mai said that losing any of the special collections’ content would have been “the worst.”

“We’re lucky that the building, evidently, has a slight pitch down there to the east (away from the special collections section),” Mai said. 

What happened

Ginger Williams, a professor and senior coordinator of collection strategies and development, came in to work on March 16 to find water coming out of a bathroom on the main level and pouring down the elevator shaft to the lower floor. 

“She came in that door on the back side (of the library),” Mai said. “If I had come in, I would have gone straight into my office and never would have even noticed. I mean, it’s just lucky that’s who it was because her office is around the corner, so she walked by.”

Williams called Mai and campus police. 

Mai said he was there in minutes. 

“So when I came in, the first thing I did was (I) saw the water was mostly in the women’s restroom here. Then I ran upstairs to the second and third floors to see whether this (the water) was something that was coming down,” Mai said. “But no, it was starting here. And then … was the first time I went downstairs.”

Mai said library staff used bound journals — which the library was going to “throw away anyway” as their contents had already been digitized — to block water from entering the special collections section, as facilities maintenance staff turned the building’s water off. When the water continued to rise, they decided to open the doors on the lower floor 

They stopped the rising water without the special collections section flooding or damage to the other materials housed on the floor. Most of the materials previously housed on the lower floor have been moved to storage off-campus. According to the university’s student newsletter, call numbers R-Z, which cover topics including medicine, engineering and technology are part of this. Students who need to access these materials can use the library’s interlibrary loan service. 

According to Brent Adams, the special collections are still in their previous location, which did not flood. Adams said in an email that any materials from special collections and the university archives are available upon request.

Restoration

Most of the carpeting has been removed from the lower level as of Monday, March 24, and Mai said some of the shelving may need to be replaced as well. Meanwhile, dehumidifiers are being used to remove any remaining moisture. 

The goal is to avoid mold growth, which Mai said would be “the library’s worst nightmare.” 

“It’s not fun. Not one of the things that I wanted to happen in my career,” Mai, who began working at WSU in 2023, said.

The lower floor remains closed to the public and the timeline for restoration is still unknown, Mai said. 

Baker did not respond to call or email attempts. Executive Director of Facilities Services Eason Bryer referred The Sunflower to call the physical plant, which directed The Sunflower to email Executive Director of Facilities Planning Emily Patterson, who did not respond.

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story misnamed the library employee who first discovered the flooding.