'Shocking' vandalism, including water damage, broken computers at Fredericton Public Library
The Fredericton Public Library has suffered "senseless" and "heartbreaking" damage after a break and enter discovered Monday morning.
Ben Wolthers, the president of the library board, said one of the windows by the door was smashed and the interior was vandalized, mainly targeting electronics and physical infrastructure, but leaving the books alone.
"It was pretty surprising and shocking, I'd say, how bad it is," he said in an interview.
Sonya Gilks, the public information officer for the Fredericton Police Force, said police received a call about a possible break and enter at the Carleton Street location on Monday, around 6:40 a.m.
She said an alarm was triggered, but couldn't say at what time.
A broken window, now boarded up, appeared to be the entry point for the people who vandalized the interior of the Fredericton Public Library. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
She said the Community Safety Services unit was the first on scene as they had been patrolling in the area.
Both the regional director and Fredericton Library director declined interviews and deferred to the City of Fredericton for comment. While the library is part of the provincial public library service, the municipality is responsible for maintaining library facilities.
Scott Brown, the manager of building services for the city, said most of the damage was cosmetic.
He said all of the fire extinguishers had been sprayed, walls were broken down to gain access to locked spaces and computers and TV monitors were damaged.
A water fountain was ripped off the wall, drains plugged and taps turned on, causing water damage, he said.
Sonya Gilks, the public information officer for the Fredericton Police, said the force received a call about a possible break and enter at the Carleton Street library location at around 6:40 a.m. on Monday. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
And the damage done to technology in the building is significant.
"The computers and things that staff use to support the library and run the programming, technology within the children's section and things like, that will have to be repaired or replaced [before] that program can be offered."
Brown said it will take time to determine the cost of the damages, but his guess at this point is between $50,000 and $100,000.
He couldn't speak to when the programming would be back up and running, but as far as the building goes, he said it should be up and running within days — next week at the latest.
Scott Brown, the manager of building services for the city, said most of the damage was cosmetic. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
The library has security cameras but the DVR had been pulled and someone made an attempt to destroy it, Brown said.
Gilks couldn't say whether the footage was recoverable.
She said it's suspected that the incident was an act of vandalism and not theft, but the investigation will reveal more information. There have been no arrests yet.
Wolthers said he hopes the vandalism wasn't targeted.
"I hope it was kind of just needless destruction because if you're going to target something, that's a really weird thing to target," he said.
"In a weird way, I hope it was senseless."
Concern for staff
Wolthers said his first thought when hearing about the incident was about how it would affect the staff.
"Anyone who's been to our library here has encountered our staff, and they know just how passionate they are about their work," he said.
Along with supporting the staff, he said the focus is to get things cleaned up and ready to serve the public again.
While this location is closed, he said the other libraries in Fredericton will be operating as normal as well as the book drop and online services.
On social media, people have been offering to help and hundreds of people shared a post from the Fredericton police about the incident.
"We have such a beautiful community behind us," said Wolthers.
"The people here are hungry for libraries, so it's just great to see them show that."
