DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM UH's Hamilton Library will soon reopen completely for the first time since flash floods ran through the building in October. One phase is open already. Here, student assistant Long Trinh re-shelves a book in a closed-off section of the library.

It will never
be the same

Entire collections are ruined,
and much of the wiring is shot
but shelves are filling up again

Gwen Sinclair is a librarian without a collection.

Nearly all of the 2.8 million government documents and 160,000 maps she used to oversee at the University of Hawaii's main research library were destroyed in the Halloween eve flood that swept over Manoa and its UH campus.

Library opens The hours for the Hamilton Library sections set to open March 29 are: » Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. » Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. » Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. » Sunday, noon to 11 p.m. For more information, call the library at 956-7205.

What could be salvaged - about 30,000 and 90,000 aerial photographs - are going through a time-consuming restoration process which will likely continue for years.

So Sinclair will not have much to offer patrons on March 29, when two large sections of Hamilton Library reopen for the first time since the flood. But, she says, the reopening will mark an important milestone for her - a big step forward in the aftermath of a disaster that has left her emotionally and physically drained.

"People had spent years and years putting that collection together," said Sinclair, no relation to Gregg Sinclair, the late UH president, after whom Sinclair Library is named. "It'll take years just to clean all the maps that we saved ... and we know we won't be able to replace everything that was lost."

Hamilton lost about $30 million in books and other materials in the flood. The costs of flood repairs is still being tallied as work is ongoing, but is expected to be in the millions.

The library areas - called Phases I and II - that are set to open in a week hold about two-thirds of the library's inventory, along with several special collections, including rare and Hawaiian-Pacific books.

Hamilton's third phase, its newest wing, sustained no damage in the flood, but was not reopened until Jan. 10 because it was used as a staging area for displaced library workers and was also being dehumidified.

Phases I and II are still on generator power because of a wiring problem, which also means the sections' fire alarm and public announcement system do not work. To alert library-goers of a fire alarm, guards with two-way radios and hand-held alarms will be posted on each floor, said university librarian Diane Perushek.

The guards will also patrol floors to check for problems and usher people to the exits if an alarm is sounded.

It could be months more until the problem is fixed, which could involve replacing wiring damaged by floodwaters. Electricians only recently got the air conditioning and all but one of the elevators in Phases I and II up and running, said Sara McBride, Hamilton Library's development and community specialist.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM At Hamilton Library, student assistant Long Trinh and staff worker Richard Tominaga work by carts of books needing to be re-shelved before the library can reopen completely after last fall's flooding. During the next week, which is spring break, staff members will also move computers and furniture back into the sections that have been closed to the public.

Since mid-November, books and other materials in Phases I and II have been available only through a paging system, under which students are able to request a title at the library's front desk and have it in about two hours. That has been an inconvenience for some who prefer to browse the library's stacks and might not have a specific book to look up.

"We can't go up and down the stacks looking for things," said professor Herbert Ziegler, chairman of the UH History Department. "That's the beauty of the open-stack system. ... Things are accessible."

He said the library's closure forced him to modify a large research paper assignment for his history undergraduates. Instead of sending them to Hamilton, he has been suggesting they use the Internet to find appropriate texts before heading to the library, or search the Hawaii State Archives.

Shelley Denkinger, a graduate student in philosophy, said research for even small class papers has taken more time with the library closed.

"It's really difficult to obtain materials," she said. "It's probably decreased the quality of work people have been putting out." She also said she is

skeptical that the library will be ready to reopen next week. "But when it happens," she added with a laugh, "I'm sure we'll all rejoice."

During the next week, which is the university's spring break, library staff members will be busy moving computers and furniture back into Phases I and II. Also, 30 staff members still have to move back into offices in the sections.

"It's not going to be the same as it was before the flood," McBride said, adding that some computer stations will not be hooked up and several areas - including the ravaged basement that used to house the maps room - will be closed to the public. "Not everything is perfect, but the most important thing for us is to have the stacks open for people."

Things are also starting to look up for Sinclair, the librarian whose maps and government documents collection was almost entirely lost in the flood. She got word last week that Brigham Young University Hawaii in Laie will donate almost its entire government documents collection - about 80,000 texts - to Hamilton Library on April 1.

"That will be the basis," she said, "for a basic collection."