BY ROD HANSEN

In a year when budget struggles have already put a strain on library resources, the flooding of April 16 has spelled calamity for the children’s room.

“I don’t know how all the water got in; I just know that when I came to work on April 16, there was an inch of water on the children’s room floor,” Weare Public Library Director Christine Hague said.

Hague told other library employees to stay home that day due to the heavy rains of a spring nor’easter.

She had come to check on the drainage system in the downstairs Sawyer Room, and was surprised to find water coming into the children’s room when she arrived at 9 a.m.

“It didn’t stop coming in until the afternoon,” she recalled.

Upon seeing the water, Hague notified the Fire Department and Town Administrator Fred Ventresco.

Library power was shut off an hour after Hague discovered the water, and a floor pump kept water levels down using an emergency generator. Firefighters helped in putting books on higher shelves to prevent water damage, she said.

The following day, Hague and a group of about a dozen volunteers set about trying to rescue more than 6,000 books, magazines and audio/video material in the children’s collection, which constitutes one-third of the library’s collection.

“It really shows how committed people are to this library that we got the kind of help that we did,” Hague said.

A study of the air quality in the children’s room showed humidity levels in the children’s room to be 70 percent, she said. To guard against mold damage, the books are now being kept at Town Hall and in the Sawyer room.

Storage of the books is one of many questions now facing the library, Hague said.

The largest among these include determining how the damage occurred, how to prevent a recurrence and how to finance a drainage study and repairs in a community that rejected the town’s proposed operating budget in March. The library is now operating on a default budget of $169,980, Hague said.

The town will dig a test pit to study the drainage system at the library, said library trustee Terri Wahnowsky.

However, Hague said insurance would only restore the library to its previous condition and would not finance any improvements to the drainage system.

An engineer estimated that a new drainage system for the children’s room of the library could cost as much as $20,000, Hague said.

Repairs to the library would come out of the town’s building improvement capital reserve fund, Hague said. She noted that the library is one of many town organizations seeking those funds.

“There are so many building needs in town, and the building maintenance capital reserve fund isn’t going to cover all of them,” she said.

Estimates for drainage work and other improvements are still coming in, Hague said. Work completed thus far includes removal of sheet rock and carpeting damaged in the flooding.

While the building awaits repair, some children’s programs, including story hour, have been moved to the library’s upper level, Wahnowsky said. There are no plans to house the activities in a different building for the summer, and using space in one of the district schools is not a likely option, she said.

For now, Hague said the library is collecting a list of volunteers to help in fundraising efforts.

“If we have to raise money through grants or private donations, it will be done through the people who say they’re going to help us,” Hague said.