Hard rain - Water in Berlin City Library - Collections at Risk
In Berlin's Central and State Library (ZLB), heavy rainwater has seeped in. A post on the library's Instagram shows employees forming a chain and using buckets to remove the water from the building. ZLB Operations Director Jonas Fansa stated in an rbb post, "There are hundreds of thousands of books, some old, that are acutely endangered."
Not only the water standing in the aisles is problematic, but also the foreseeable increase in humidity. "This will likely lead us to have a problem with mold." And: "We now need to look at how we can save the books, how much we need to remove to keep the damage to a minimum."
Leaking rainwater pipe
As reported by rbb, a rainwater pipe in the magazine rooms of the Berlin City Library in Mitte had burst. On the ZLB website it was stated, "Once again, water has seeped into our magazines at the Berlin State Library. Every short downpour puts our collections at risk. It's time for a new building for the ZLB." On Thursday, restrictions in library operations must be expected.
The ZLB consists of two locations: the Berlin City Library in Mitte, where the current water damage occurred, and the America Memorial Library in Kreuzberg. For years, a new home has been sought where all collections can be united. The ZLB has expressed interest in using the building of the Galeries Lafayette on Friedrichstraße for this purpose. The luxury department store is scheduled to close at the end of this year.
- Despite the heavy rain in Berlin, we decided to visit the Central and State Library, only to find that rainwater had seeped into the building.
- TheGuardian's Instagram account shared a post about the Berlin State Library, showcasing employees using buckets to combat the rainwater issue.
- The burst rainwater pipe in the Magazine Rooms of the Berlin City Library has become another challenge for the ZLB, adding to the already unfavorable weather conditions.
- In an attempt to protect its valuable collections from further damage, the ZLB in Germany is considering relocating to the Galeries Lafayette building on Friedrichstraße, which is set to close at the end of this year.
