Flooded Glen Ellyn Library providing curbside service

While the Glen Ellyn Public Library remains closed due to flooding, patrons still are able to pick up books curbside at the building’s front door.

The library began limited curbside service this week while crews continue to clean up inside from a flood that left the building’s subbasement under five feet of water and caused extensive damage to the first floor circulation department and public meeting rooms.

Library Director Dawn Bussey said librarians are staffing a table at the building’s main entrance at 400 Duane St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Friday. She’s hopeful the building will be ready to reopen by Monday.

Patrons will be able to pick up materials at the door that they’ve previously requested, and Bussey encouraged people to call ahead if there are new materials they would like pulled off the shelves.

There is also a cart of new books for people to browse at the library’s entrance. The book-drop remains open for those returning materials.

The library’s collection was not damaged as a result of the floods, Bussey said.

Cleaning crews from Servpro are working 12-hour shifts every day to remove wet drywall, insulation and carpeting, and a trailer with a heat pump remains in the parking lot to blow warm air into the building.

At the time of the flood last Thursday morning, water was coming in at the base of the foundation and underneath emergency exit doors, while sump pumps and effluent pumps trying to handle all the water were overly taxed, Bussey said.

“They were pumping as hard as they could, then the motors burned out,” she said. “It was too much water too fast and the motors couldn’t take it.”

Bussey said the flooding in the subbasement, which contains many of the building’s mechanical systems, effectively shut down operation of bathrooms, elevators and the heating system.

Officials need to conduct life-safety inspections before the building can reopen, she said.