Reports: Fire Shuts Down K-State’s Hale Library Until Further Notice

UPDATE June 4 K-State’s Hale Library Facing Slow Recovery From Fire, Water Damage (via Topeka Capital-Journal)
UPDATE June 2 University of Kansas Opens Libraries to Kansas State University Students After Fire (via KSNT)
UPDATE May 26 Pictures Show Damage Inside K-State’s Hale Library After Fire (via KSN.com)  &  After Fire Closes K-State’s Hale Library, Damages ‘Great Room,’ KU Steps In To Help (via Wichita Eagle)
UPDATE May 25 Letter from K-State University President
UPDATE 2: Accidental Fire From Roof Work Shuts Down K-State’s Hale Library Until Further Notice (via The Wichita Eagle)
UPDATE: K-State is providing updates about the Hale Library Fire on this Page
From The Wichita Eagle:

Hale Library at Kansas State University will be closed after a fire broke out on the roof Tuesday afternoon.
The blaze was reported at 4:10 p.m. after smoke began to fill the library’s fourth floor. At 5:30 p.m., seven trucks from the Manhattan Fire Department had responded, and smoke was still billowing from the building, according to the university.
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No injuries were reported.
The library was built in the 1920s and opened in 1927. It was remodeled in the 1990s. Hale Library has more than 400,000 square feet of space and has more than 2 million books in its collection.

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From The Manhattan Mercury

Prior to the reports of smoke, construction crews were working on a first-floor renovation of the building and another crew was working on roof in different parts of the building.
“We don’t know the cause or of any relationship,” [Jeff] Morris [vice president for communications and marketing, K-State] said at the scene. “It’s still just speculation at this point.

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Filed under: Libraries, News, Reports