While a rainy day is a good time to enjoy a relaxing book, staff members at the Walker Memorial Library have been spending their rainy days protecting many of the more than 53,000 books in their collection.

“People have wanted to donate money for furniture and stuff, but we can’t do anything with the roof falling down,” library Director Karen Valley said Monday as water poured from the ceiling in the reference section.

One full shelf has been emptied onto nearby tables to keep the books out of the rain. Another bookshelf has a tarp over it. In the children’s section on the bottom floor, library staff had to shut two computers down and put a tarp – kept handy for such an occasion – over them as rain began to seep in.

“For two or three months, or maybe even more, we’ve just been leaving (the trash cans) here,” Valley said of the reference section.

On Monday, members of Westbrook’s Streets and Facilities Committee will meet at the library to discuss the problems that have plagued the library’s 18-year-old addition for more than 16 years. And, with estimates ranging as high as $1 million, the city may consider a bond to pay for repairs.

The library has seen a number of repairs over the years that Valley estimated would add up to about $400,000. She said she has seen documents for repairs as early as 1991. The building was built in 1989. But the repairs, Valley said, have been quick fixes, and the problems have been getting worse. She said the leaking roof and windows have worsened significantly over the last year. Most recently, the library has resorted to bringing out trash cans around the second floor of the addition to catch rainwater pouring in from the leaking roof and windows.

Valley said the water damage is creating a number of problems, including carpenter ants that like damp wood, and molding. Several sets of lights cannot be turned on because of the leaking water, and books have been damaged.

The Westbrook City Council earlier this year approved an engineer’s study to look at the problems and put together a design to address it. Along with the results of the engineer’s study, which was limited to the external aspects of the repairs, Valley is currently developing estimates on how much a full repair would cost to include internal damage. At present, she is expecting full repairs to the addition to cost nearly $1 million, though she has not finalized any numbers.

Valley said that though “the critical repair is needed on the addition,” she has been asked by the library board to bring forward estimates of all the needed repairs and renovations beyond the water damage issue. Plan A, with the nearly $1 million price tag, includes the necessary fixes to the addition to prevent further roof and window leakage.

Plan B adds in new flooring on the bottom floor of the original building, which Valley said is needed because the library will soon be joining MINERVA – Mapping the Internet Electronic Resources Archive – a state-wide library consortium that links library collections and provides deliveries of inter-library materials. Valley said the floor will be seeing heavy loads of books being delivered in and out. Part of the floor in the original building is hardwood under a carpet, and the hardwood is wearing.

Plan C adds restoration of the original Walker building. Because the building is on the National Register of Historical Places, certain expensive restoration standards must be followed. Parts of the historic building are being damaged by leaking water, while other parts are simply succumbing to old age.

Valley also said that in the Walker will that details the standards of the city’s possession of the building, a clause allows the court to take the building away if the city isn’t properly maintaining it.

With the undetermined estimates of how much each plan would cost, the city isn’t yet sure what plan will be undertaken. Valley said the library as been working quickly on moving forward with the studies and estimates.

“We’ve been sinking money into the building nonstop, it seems like,” said Councilor Suzanne Joyce, member of the Streets and Facilities Committee. “But how many times do you put a Band-Aid on?”

While Valley is working on plans for fixes in a number of different parts of the building, Council President Brendan Rielly said the priority is the roof. “That’s going to have to be bonded,” Rielly said. “That’s going to be a big item.”

“We need to bite the bullet,” he said, though he doesn’t have “the slightest idea of what it’s going to cost.”

Rielly said he was aware of the long-standing problems at the addition. He wasn’t sure how much was done to go after the contractors when the problems first arose about a year after the addition was completed in 1989.

“Whatever was done didn’t fix the problem,” he said, adding that the city is stuck with it now.

Three trash cans collect rain water in the reference section of the Walker Memorial Library during Monday’s heavy rains. The city is discussing a bond to fix long-standing problems at the building.A trash can is propped in place by a damaged book to collect water leaking from the top window at Walker Memorial Library on Monday, while a second trash can collects water dripping from the bottom window. The library’s director, Karen Valley, isn’t sure how much fixing the leaking building will cost, but her unfinished estimate points towards $1 million.Water damage is evident in the historic section of the Walker Memorial Library. The library is looking for repairs on its 1989 addition, but a third-tier plan will also include restoration of the original 19th century building, which is on the National Register of Historical Places.A rainwater collection system at the Walker Memorial Library, with an empty bookshelf where books were being damaged. Karen Valley, the library’s director, said they have left the trash cans up for the past several months. The tarp is attempting to protect the wooden end of the shelving unit, but Valley said it has already been damaged.

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