Bittersweet

Major power-outage in Oakland today. Woo! I arrive at Hillman Library only to discover that the doors are locked and all the lights are off . . . ALL of the lights are off! Yes, I know I just said this, but it's significant, and it bears repeating. You see, Special Collections has no mechanism for shutting down the lights at the end of the workday and a full 200 footcandles of hopefully UV filtered light pours down on the rare books 24 hours/day. Recommended lighting for displays of non-light-sensitive materials (light-sensitive being such things as photographs and watercolors) is something like 15 footcandles. So the thought that, finally, they are having a little respite from the glaring light, was very exciting . . . for a few minutes.

Then it hit me . . . If there is no electricity there is no light, but there is also no HVAC system which translates to no temperature or humidity control. That is not so cool, and certainly not so on a super-humid, sometimes rainy, 85 degree day. The electricity is out, so the library is closed which means there is no one around to know where the ceiling is leaking, which it inevitably is, and no way for the preservation department to go in and cover shelving with protective sheeting. Sounds like a recipe for mold to me. So, umm, yeah. . . all of the lights are out. *sigh*