Norman Public Library Central to remain closed indefinitely

Norman Public Library Central will be closed indefinitely, the City of Norman announced Friday.

The library initially closed Nov. 16 after a mold test requested by the Norman Parks and Recreation Department came back positive. The library was originally slated to reopen the following week, but on Nov. 21, the City announced the building would remain closed for five months.

Five months have come and gone, and the City announced mold was rediscovered after recent rains.

“Damage is extensive and severe in nature,” according to a City of Norman press release. “The City Attorney’s Office will lead efforts in hopes of working cooperatively with involved parties to establish a full remediation plan and timeline to reopen.”

The press release said $900,000 has been spent on the library’s remediation efforts so far, and it is expected that city staff will seek more funding from the Norman City Council.

The City announced it will continue to work with Cavins Disaster Response Group, who provided initial mold remediation services on the library, in order to mitigate the proliferation of mold.

“The City Attorney’s Office will lead efforts in hopes of working cooperatively with involved parties to establish a full remediation plan and timeline to reopen,” the press release said.

“We obviously are sad, but our organization is resilient, and we navigate through challenges, like our name implies,” said Kelly Sitzman, the director of communications and employee development for Pioneer Library System, which operates Norman Public Library. “We look forward to inspiring innovation and engagement and learning in our communities in new and effective ways.”

Norman Public Library Central initially opened in 2019, and problems with the building’s envelope — including walls, windows and the roof — manifested almost immediately.

“From the very beginning, we did have some water leak problems,” said Parks and Recreation Director Jason Olsen in a press conference last November. “We’re nonstop chasing leaks.”

The library had its roof partially replaced in 2020, and annual roof and window repairs were made to try to curb water intrusion.

The building was designed by Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle, an architecture firm based in Minneapolis and engineered by MODUS Engineering, which is based in Waterloo, Iowa. Oklahoma City-based FlintCo constructed the building.

When the City ordered initial testing, the primary molds of concern were from the Stachybotrys and Fusarium genera. Stachybotrys is often colloquially known as black mold, and the types of Fusarium found produce mycotoxins, which are harmful to human health.

Files including Cavins’ mold testing and monitoring may be found online at www.normanok.gov/archive-mold-discovery-remediation-reports-norman-public-library-central.

In November, Lisa Wells, the executive director of the Pioneer Library System, said about 1,200 items had been contaminated and destroyed as a result of the mold.

That might sound like a lot, but Wells said that only comprised about 0.6% of the central branch’s total collection. On Friday, Sitzman said no additional materials were contaminated in the recent mold bloom.

While its building is closed, Norman Public Library Central has a temporary home at 121 S. Santa Fe Ave. in Suite 119. The temporary space, known as “Library Lab,” is about half a mile away from the Central building.

Library Lab provides materials to check out, children’s programming and “Maker” services such as 3D printers.

The east and west branches of the Norman Public Library also remain open. To see where other programming for the central branch has moved, visit pioneer.libnet.info/events.

“[We’re] just trying to see the positive of the situation where we’ve been able to open a pop-up Library Lab, we were able to refresh our Little Axe location with a new location, and then obviously it caused some disruption to regular services, but the library never left Norman,” Sitzman said.

Sitzman added that no library staff have lost their jobs or been furloughed as a result of the closure. Central staff had been temporarily reassigned to other locations through April, and now Pioneer Library System leadership is exploring longer-term assignments for those individuals.

“We haven’t lost any staff members or let anyone go as a result of this closure, and that is not part of the plan. We have no plans to reduce our workforce,” Sitzman said.