Murphy Art & Architecture Library open, but limited following water damage

Access to certain areas and materials at Murphy Art & Architecture Library are limited and request responses may be delayed, due to water damage that occurred over the weekend. 

Water from an upper level of the Spencer Art Museum flooded the folio section of the library in the building’s basement on Sunday, resulting in water damage to approximately 500 books. Thousands more books from nearby areas are also currently displaced as part of the mitigation effort. 

A team of libraries staff including Andi Back, Rebecca Schroeder, Jeromy Horkman, Whitney Baker, Angela Andres, Kaitlin McGrath, and Mary Roach, along with art library student workers Miguel Castro and Maura Dayton, and colleagues at the Spencer Museum were part of the critical response. 

“The immediate disaster recovery response by our Operations and Conservation teams, as well as vendor support, has been nothing short of incredible,” said KU Libraries Dean Carol Smith. “These folks are the reason the damage was contained.” 

Murphy Art & Architecture Library remains open to the public during regular hours, with limited access to some spaces and study areas. As recovery efforts continue over the next several weeks, circulation requests will likely take longer to accommodate.  

More information on KU Libraries locations is available at lib.ku.edu/locations.