Press Releases 2006

CONTACT: Mary Planding
Director, Marketing & Communications
(831) 479-5744
mary.planding [at] cabrillo.edu

September 26, 2006

After the Flood:  A Rescue and Release Project with Books

Friday, September 29, 2006 – November 3, 2006

Cabrillo College Enrollment Services Building

Opening Reception, Thursday, September 27, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

APTOS, CA— On May 15, 2006, a leak in the Cabrillo College library sprinkler system created a 2-inch deep puddle of water spanning 20 feet in the main stacks. The moment the library staff discovered the weekend-long flood that Monday morning, they had to make quick decisions about which books to salvage and which ones to send to the landfill before any molds developed. 

A number of bags went to the landfill, but librarians /artists Jody Alexander and Laura Thompson, who considered the damaged books as raw material for art, rescued 100 of them. The two artists then put out a call, asking fellow artists, faculty, librarians and students on campus to transform the damaged books into art objects— to “make them beautiful and interesting again.” 

The results of these efforts over the past 4 months is “After the Flood:  A Rescue and Release Project with Books”, an art exhibition that adorns the walls of Cabrillo’s Enrollment Services Building (Building 100) and the display cases in the college’s library.

The facts about the damage:

• 5 book ranges seriously affected
• Approximately 8,400 books were physically examined for water damage
• 192 books were, at the outset, physically withdrawn from the building due to water damage
• a total of 170 wet books were air-dried, 139 were saved and returned to the stacks, only 32 were damaged enough to be withdrawn after drying
• a grand total of 224 books were withdrawn from the collection due to flood damage

A portion of any artwork sales will go to the Cabrillo College Library book fund.