News Release

2002-13

Once Again, More Water Damage at The National Library of Canada

Ottawa, June 23, 2002  --  In the early hours of Sunday morning, June 23, 2002, the National Library of Canada’s Response Action Team responded to an emergency call in the third basement level of the Jean Edmonds Tower in downtown Ottawa where, once again, water damaged hundreds of Canadian books. The National Library of Canada has over 20 million items in various buildings in the National Capital Region  -  close to 1 million of them are found in this basement facility.

A leak from a heating pipe on the first basement resulted in water seeping through to the 2^nd and 3rd basement levels. The area affected contains materials on the health care system and the history of medicine in Canada. The materials were immediately removed from the shelves, placed in over 20 moving boxes by the Response Action Team and transported to the refrigeration units in the main building of the National Library of Canada, at 395 Wellington Street.

"We have had our fill of incidents for this year. We only hope that we will be able to find a miracle cure for these damaged materials  -  some of which may be irreplaceable", lamented Roch Carrier, National Librarian. "It is imperative that we accelerate our efforts to protect this precious collection that belongs to all Canadians."

This incident marks the 14th accident since January of this year. Two more incidents occurred at the National Library’s main building during the excessive rainfall of the past two weeks.

Further details on the extent of the damage will be available once the incident and evaluation reports are compiled.

- 30 -

For more information:

Pauline M. Portelance
Media Relations Officer
613-996-6128 or 613-293-4298