by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
The fire in the basement of Zimmerman Library was not all bad, said Nancy Dennis, assistant dean of University Libraries.
"It does present some opportunities," she said. "The collection had to be moved out to replace the carpet, so we thought it would be a good time to remodel."
When the first-floor reference area reopens mid-November, it will be significantly different than before the fire, she said.
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A large wall will be gone, providing a bigger, more open area for computers and reference materials, she said. Most of the renovation, except for the demolition of the wall, will be paid for by insurance money from the fire damage, she said.
Insurance will also cover the cost of a new sprinkler system, she said.
Since the fire damaged the electrical system and some of the fire alarm system, a new method has been adopted, she said.
"We have instituted a kind of manual fire watch," she said. "Every hour the building is open, we have a security team there who patrols for fires."
If guards come across a fire, they will set off the alarm system and evacuate the building, she said. The guards patrol the entire library, including both closed sections - the basement and a section of the first floor, she said.
Most of the outages to the alarm system are due to repairs technicians are making to the electrical system during the day, she said.
"During the night, the system is mostly intact," she said. "The vast majority of the building is covered."
Insurance pays for the fire watch, she said.
Security was not always in charge of looking for fire, she said.
"Library employees provided the fire watch during the summer," she said. "When we wanted to expand our hours during the fall semester, that was no longer feasible."
Student Mike Faulkner said he doesn't mind the low-tech fire alarm.
"Whatever works, I guess," he said. "If there's enough people, it seems like it would be OK."
The watch was recommended and approved by the state fire marshal, Dennis said.
The basement is slated to open next summer, she said.
Lola Neudecker, accounting manager at UNM Physical Plant, said the cost estimate of damage caused by the fire is confidential, so contractors bidding for the renovation will not have a preconceived idea of how much they should bid.
