Mold leads to elimination of 300,000 MU Libraries’ volumes

COLUMBIA About 300,000 volumes belonging to MU Libraries will have to be eliminated because of mold contamination, according to a letter emailed to MU faculty and staff on Friday afternoon by Director of Libraries Jim Cogswell.

In October, MU Libraries staff discovered mold growth on about 600,000 volumesin an off-campus library storage facility north of Interstate 70, Cogswell wrote. The volumesmust be treated or be destroyed to ensure that contamination cannot spread to other collections.

Cogswell said in an interview that there is only enough money and time to save up to half of the contaminated volumes.

"This affects deeply those of us in libraries who spend our work lives taking care ofsourcesofstudy and scholarship," Cogswell said. "It goes to the center of everything we try to do. We try to build and expand, not destroy."

The storage facilities are part ofSubtera underground warehousing, said Shannon Cary, communications officer for MU Libraries. MU started moving volumes into the location in 2007, she said.

No one at Subtera, a part of Con-Agg of MO, LLC Cos., was available for comment mid-afternoon Friday.

Cogswell said in the letter that treating all affected items could cost up to $1.8 million but that the self-insurance fund created by MU Libraries for such disasters is about $700,000.

"We will not get rid of any materials that we are not able to replicate through other means," Cogswell said in the interview. "Some materials are available online, and others we are relying on partner libraries to help us with, as we have done for them in the past."

MU Libraries expects to remediate and keep up to 300,000 volumes from the contaminated materials, according to the letter. The materials must be dealt with quickly and removed to safer storage before warm weather and humidity return.

Cogswell said they are seeking new storage options and intend to move all treated materials before the end of June. To meet the deadline, at least 15,000 volumes will have to be treated and relocated every week.

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Mold leads to elimination of 300,000 MU Libraries' volumes