Tornado Decimates Minnesota Libraries

Staff -- Library Journal, 4/13/1998

Tornadoes sweeping through Minnesota decimated public and school libraries in Comfrey and St. Peter on March 29. In an Internet posting, John Christenson of the Traverse des Sioux Library System, Mankato, described reentering the St. Peter facility. "We crawled into the library through a shattered front window and over the librarian's desk, astonished to see the damage," he said. "Most of the roof had vanished, but a few roof beams remained with wet insulation, broken lights, electrical and telephone lines dangling from them in the breeze."

The St. Peter Library, which is the largest branch of the Minnesota Valley Regional Library, was 11 years old and had been furnished very elaborately. "Books, videos, CDs, furniture, framed prints, magazines, shredded newspapers, computer terminals and monitors, broken glass, and wires had been churned around and dropped in piles on the wet carpet." Christenson further reports that the conference room roof was also blown off "with a stack of high-grade lumber from the lumber yard next door perched on the roof beams. The cable-TV public access channel control room next to the conference room was an electronic jumble." Both the high school library and the independent public library in Comfrey (pop. 433) were destroyed by the winds.

At press time, Christenson told LJ the estimated damage to the St. Peter Library was $500,000. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was assisting residents by setting up temporary facilities for the post office, drug store, city hall, and the library, whose diligent staff was "making arrangements to reconnect them to our online catalog and Internet," he said. The Minnesota Library Association Foundation has begun a fund-raising drive to help the libraries rebuild. Pledges (cash only) can be sent to the foundation's Disaster Relief Fund, 2324 University Avenue West, Suite 103, St. Paul, MN 55114.