- Author
- Cerberus
- Title
- Libraries, Collections and Works of Art: Always at Risk From Fire or Theft.
- Journal
- Fire and Security Engineering, Vol. 5, 1-4, August 1989
- Keywords
- libraries | historic buildings
- Abstract
- You don't need a blazing torch nowadays to set a library on fire: in 1986 a small fire in one department destroyed a large part of America's third-largest library: 200,000 volumes were destroyed by the flames, 150,000 were damaged by fire or smoke and a further 600,000 suffered water damage. Furthermore, the most important collection of patents in the western USA was destroyed. Only three months later there was another arson attack on the same library, detroying artistic and musical collections.