Officials give update on recovery efforts at Phoenix's Burton Barr Library

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The cleanup continues at Phoenix's Burton Barr Library, north of Downtown Phoenix, and on Friday, officials gave a new look at the inside of the building.

Two weeks ago, nearly 7,000 out of Burton Barr's 500,000 books were ruined, in the aftermath of a monsoon storm that blew through Phoenix. All five floors of the library were left flooded, after a sprinkler pipe burst.

Over the past two weeks, crews have removed damaged carpet, dry wall, and wood paneling. Tat's in addition to removing the several thousand books that were damaged.

The next stage is to go through and assess furnitures, as well as coming up with a plan on what to do next.

Lee Franklin said it has been tough, as the library, which draws hundreds and thousands, remains closed.She is happy, however, they've been able to still provide the community with resources.

"We've been able to take all of that that we do at Burton Barr, and disperse it to our 16 other locations," said Franklin. "We're able to increase and add new programming."

Franklin said they are ecstatic to see their collections are still out circulating in the system. While they are not quite sure when exactly the library will reopen, Franklin is sure of one thing.

"Burton Barr will be back, I promise you," said Franklin.