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Mold Invades UNO Library After Carpet Cleaning
by Jack Wardlaw

$1.5 Million Ok'd to Rescue Books
BATON ROUGE - A mold has infested the Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans, jeopardizing the $45 million collection of books and posing a health hazard to faculty, students and library employees, UNO President Greg O'Brien said Wednesday.

"Deterioration of the $45 million worth of books is very rapid", O'Brien said. At his urging, the state Interim Emergency Board, a body set up by the state Constitution to deal with emergency spending between legislative sessions, approved $1.56 million to combat the mold and clean the library's 900,000 volumes.

"This is a true emergency," said Sen. John Hainkel, R-New Orleans. "In fact, it's one of the few true emergencies I've seen before this board."

The proposed spending now goes before the full Legislature in a mail ballot. In addition, O'Brien said, UNO will ask the Board of Regents to include another $1.26 million in its capital outlay request at the 1999 legislative session. The combination of the emergency board and construction money should provide a permanent solution to the problem he said.

The problem arose, two state officials, told the board, in July when UNO staffers had the library carpets steam cleaned. They then shut off the air conditioning when the university closed down for the long July 4th weekend.

That's when the mold began to infest the books," said James Kennedy, an official of the state's Risk Management Department. "There was too much moisture." L.J. Schmidt of the state budget office agreed. "Excessive moisture in the building, compounded by an extremely hot and humid summer, overburdened the existing air handling system, disturbed the proper balance of temperature and humidity and created an environment favorable to mold growth. As a result, infestation quickly became widespread, causing the closure of the third floor of the library."