Sustained heavy downpours on July 4, 1995 caused failures in both the roof and drainage systems of the Edmonton Sun building. All 3 floors of the building were damaged, but the library was the only area to get it from both above (roof leak) and below (dra in backup). Management is tight lipped on damages, but Chief Librarian John Sinclair estimates them in the 6 figure range.
"Responding to the waves of water coming in from all directions was actually the easy part," John said. "It's the cleanup that broke our back." All filing cabinets and furniture had to be moved and raised on two by fours so that carpeting could be dried. "At one point we had 4 industrial strength fans going all at once. We had to scream in each other's ears to be heard. And the smell was sickening."
Although no one was forced to work, most editorial and production staffers threw personal safety and caution to the wind and elected to stay. In the best tradition of the business, a product rolled off the presses less than an hour behind deadline.
And the library? "We hardly missed a beat. Our digital photo archive was unavailable that night, but the filing cabinets still worked. All our electronic systems were operational the next day, and we never fell seriously behind. We received lots of accola des from the newsroom for the way we handled things. Our area was the worst hit; we had the most water, the most noise, the most moving and the most smell. I think they really respected the job we did under the circumstances."
(John and his staff can be reached corporately at edmonton.sun@ccinet.ab.ca; John's personal address is sinclair@worldgate.com.)
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