MUNCIE — Cleaning up a mercury spill at a city library hasleft officials without money to buy new books.
Officials estimated the cost of the Kennedy Library cleanup at$200,000, of which half will be paid by the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency.
But the library's $100,000 share was uninsured, Muncie PublicLibrary Director Virginia Nilles said Tuesday during an open houseat the library, which has been closed since Sept. 18.
As a result of the loss, ''we've stopped buying books, put afreeze on hiring, all the things you'd expect,'' Nilles said.
Officials held the open house in part to demonstrate thebuilding was safe, but the library was not expected to re-openbefore Dec. 1.
The library was closed after a staff member found specks ofmercury on a computer table and keyboard. EPA officials said abroken fluorescent light bulb was one likely source of the spill,but later said there could have been additional, unidentifiedsources.
All the library's books, tapes and furniture had to be removedand decontaminated, and all the carpeting had to be removed anddisposed of as hazardous waste.
The building remained empty Tuesday, its concrete flooruncarpeted. The library's 100,000 books were stored in semitrailersin the parking lot.
Officials said part of the reason for Tuesday's event was tomake the public aware of the dangers of mercury. Health experts saymercury can damage the nervous system and cause birth defects. Inhigh doses, the element can be fatal.
''It's not the quantity of mercury that makes a difference, justlike you don't need 2 pounds of rat poison to kill a rat,'' saidBill Simes, on-scene coordinator for the EPA.
''A small amount can cause a health problem, especially in youngchildren who don't understand that shiny little spot I can playwith is bad for you.''
Authorities in Muncie have responded to three other mercuryspills during the past year.
''Five years ago we would have taken this as a matter of courseand cleaned up in a pragmatic kind of way,'' said Nilles. ''Nowit's become a big deal, and I understand why we have to go throughthis ... but it doesn't make it any easier.''
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