Update 8/8: The Department of General Services, which oversees facilities management for the Rosedale Library, announced that repairs were made to the HVAC system on August 7 and the site is now being properly cooled.
Original: In the District, public libraries are designated as official cooling centers, meaning that people can go to seek refuge from the heat during dangerously hot weather. But the Rosedale Library in Northeast has closed repeatedly since mid-March because of high building temperatures due to HVAC issues. And more than half a dozen closures have been on days when the temperature outside was high enough to activate the city’s Heat Emergency Plan.
“It’s so frustrating and disappointing to see 40 young people sitting outside in the heat, with a chain on the library door,” says Emily Wagner, the president of Rosedale Library Friends. “The [library] parking lot is full of kids, who would much rather be inside, in a cool place, staying out of the heat,” she says.
Rosedale Library closed early 19 times so far this year, according to library spokesperson George Williams, which added up to almost 60 hours that the facility was shuttered during normal operating hours.
The seven-year-old library is located in a shared building with the Rosedale Community Center, so it is maintained by the D.C. Department of General Services rather than the D.C. Public Library system. Williams said that DCPL is “working with the D.C. Department of General Services on a solution.”
Many Rosedale residents are frustrated by the repeated closures, and on Monday, the Rosedale Library Friends group launched a petition calling on D.C. Public Libraries, DGS, and elected officials to resolve the library’s ongoing temperature control issues. The petition has more than 100 signatures so far, according to the library advocacy group.
Wagner says that the library’s temperature issues, which the group has been tracking for about eight weeks, have distracted from the group’s other priority areas. Normally, they’re focused on helping the library expand its services by raising funds for things like snacks, art supplies, and special performances. Now, they’re trying to make sure the library stays open when temperatures rise.
She has kept a spreadsheet of all the times D.C.’s public libraries have had to close this summer according to tweets from the DCPL Twitter account. Based on Wagner’s tally, most of the closures have occured in temporary spaces, like DCPL’s Library Express on K Street or the Washingtoniana collection in Van Ness, or in facilities that are co-located with other private or public buildings, like Rosedale. “If you’re in a temporary space and it’s closed, I can understand that,” Wagner says. “But if you’re in a permanent space and it’s closing regularly, then that’s a problem.”
Rosedale Library has experienced the most closures overall, according to Wagner’s data, but it isn’t the only co-located library branch that’s closed recently due to HVAC issues. The Northwest One Library experienced eight closures and Deanwood Library has closed at least three three times because of high temperatures since the beginning of the year (a request for proposals posting on the DGS website says that the Deanwood Recreation Center, where the library is located, has experienced “major problems with the HVAC system for the building, mainly due to insufficient or incorrect maintenance.”)
Rosedale Friends sent a letter about the library’s heat issues to Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, whose ward includes the library, and brought the issue to the attention of DCPL and DGS staff. The group got an email response from DGS earlier this afternoon but Wagner says that, on the whole, the department has been “fairly unresponsive.”
“The Department of General Services is aware of and appreciates the concern expressed by the Rosedale Friends Group through its petition to act expeditiously to resolve cooling issues at the library,” Department of General Services Director Keith Anderson said in an emailed statement to DCist. “The agency is working swiftly to resolve existing temperature control issues at the library and is making efforts to repair this issue immediately.”
Allen tells DCist that he’s been in contact with both DGS and DCPL about the library’s heat issues. “This ultimately is a DGS issue,” Allen says over email. “In the future, we need to consider if it would be best for libraries to always control their own space since we depend on them to provide so much each day. These are important places where our community comes together, where folks can get out of the heat and be welcome no matter what.”
Wagner says that Rosedale Library Friends will continue to push for a solution to the library’s temperature issues, especially as DCPL compiles its Library Facilities Master Plan, which will guide the city’s library services planning for the next decade.
“The Rosedale Library Friends appreciates DCPL’s proactive work to anticipate future needs and repairs,” Wagner says. “But we also need them to make sure we are getting the same attention and evaluation today, before this summer is over.”
