On January 29, the Questa Library experienced a sewer backup which resulted in wide-scale flooding across the entire library. The incident forced the Questa Library to close with no clear timeline for reopening, although repairs and remediation are currently underway.

The majority of the damage was done to the building itself. The floors and walls have been gutted to check for mold and asbestos. Books and other items have been moved to a secure storage location while the remediation work is taking place.

Luckily, the Village says the results for asbestos came back negative, so the big focus now is to fix the floors and walls damaged by the flooding.

Library staff worked diligently to move select books and copy machines to the adjacent Youth and Family Center to continue to provide limited resources to the community. Black and white photocopies, selected books, and Interlibrary loans are among the limited services that will remain available.

“This is certainly a setback,” said Questa Library Director Sharon Nicholson. “We were looking forward to expanding morning and evening hours to accommodate people in our community. Now we will have to wait a while longer.”

The library set up at the Youth and Family Center is available to the public in the art room from Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

If members of the community have any additional questions about this situation, they can contact the library at library@villageofquesta.org or call (575) 586-2023.