SP Library Patched Up After Thursday's Car Crash

The children's department of the Scotch Plains Public Library is temporarily closed after a vehicle crashed into the side of it Thursday night.

Library Director Meg Kolaya told Patch Friday morning that she is waiting for an insurance adjuster to arrive and assess the area's safety before opening it back up to patrons.

Meanwhile, the outside of the building is at least temporarily secure. Public works crew worked until 11 p.m. building a wooden frame and plywood support system to cover the area where a woman driving a black Mazda slammed into it around 6:30 p.m.

Kolaya said she was at home at the time of the crash. She got a call around 6:45 p.m. notifying her of what happened. Regular staff members, that were present, told her that the library was busy at the time.

“They heard the screech, and then a huge bang when she crashed through the brick wall,” Kolaya said. “Books went flying a good ten feet from the wall.”

Luckily, no one was in the children's department when the accident occurred. Kolaya said she’s not entirely sure of the driver’s condition, but was told that she wasn’t badly injured. Fire, police and the Scotch Plains Rescue Squad all assisted on the scene.

The impact of the crash caused the building’s bricks to completely crumble on the inside. While the temper glass windows did not break, Kolaya said they are warped now and will likely have to be replaced. The library installed the new windows three years ago.

A building inspector arrived around 8:30 p.m. last night to inspect the library for structural damage to the supporting walls, but found no signs of any problems.

While it’s hard to say yet how much it will cost to repair the damage to the library, Kolaya said she reached out to their insurance agent last night and that he started the ball rolling on getting everything processed. The library is covered under the township’s joint insurance fund.

“I’m relatively sure this won’t be a problem for the town,” Kolaya said. “It’s pretty obvious it’s not our fault, and it should be covered.”

Once the library re-opens the children’s department, it may take a little while before Nancy Drew and other junior fiction books that were in proximity to the crash can be checked out. Kolaya said that she doesn’t think there was too much damage to the books, but that any that were hurt will be replaced quickly. Other books will eventually be removed from the scene so that they are available elsewhere in the library for checkout.

“I just want to emphasize how grateful we are,” Kolaya said. “The DPW, fire, and police department all really helped us out last night. That’s the nice part about a town like Scotch Plains.”