"It is estimated that it will take more than 30 days to dry out the building," Goetsch said. In the meantime about 250 library staff and students have been moved into temporary offices.
Restoring K-State's fire-damaged Hale Library will take a long time
Kansas State University's Hale Library is a long way from getting back to normal after a fire there last month extensively damaged the structure and its contents.
"Every square inch" of the library was affected, officials said in a letter to the university community. Much of the damage was due to smoke and the thousands of gallons of water used to douse the blaze, which was primarily contained to the roof.
In addition, the fire knocked out much of the university information technology system. Earlier this week, about half the network connections had been repaired, so the system was still not fully operational.
It will be at least a month before insurance adjusters complete an inventory and put a total dollar amount on the damage, university officials said.
Belfor, an international disaster recovery business, will restore the library, dean Lori Goetsch said in the letter to the university community. Hundreds of workers are on the Manhattan campus assisting in the cleanup: removing ceiling tiles and other debris, dehumidifying the building and recovering collections.
This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Restoring K-State's fire-damaged Hale Library will take a long time."