On February 11, 2016 Anchorage experienced a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that damaged several areas. The earthquake damaged the library of West Anchorage High School,  “I believe that it’s safe to keep student out of the library until the problem is situated,” said Stone.

Savrina Paul, freshman, believed that it would be good to have a smaller library in a classroom which only has reference materials in it. “I think it’s better if we have a smaller library to use for now since the big library is closed, “said Paul.

Many students, like Paul, were affected by the earthquake that damaged the library, but thought their way out of the problem like staying in class to use resources such as computers. If not they use their phones as a resource if classes are not available.

Miriam Dean is a counselor that runs the Career Resource Center at West. When asked if the library was going to affect her in any way Dean said, “Yes we are busy people and it takes us counselors about two through three weeks to move our things, which to me is too much hassle to get things from one room to another.” Dean was also asked if students would be affected by the relocating of teachers. “Yes because the office is very far away and when students register next year, they would have to come from the front office to the counselor’s office then to my office”

Stone said, “The West High library will be open this Monday to let kids in again.” Students and staff at West High will finally go back to the way things used to be on regular basis, but the library will be open for a few weeks then closed for reconstruction. The library is going to be reconstructed so they can fix the rigid ceiling from collapsing during the future.

According to the Anchorage Dispatch News, Engineers went to West to discover if the damages in the library were major damages, which was because the ceiling was not flexible to withstand the earthquakes gravitational movement. To fix the problem in the West library engineers are going to put in a flexible lateral system which is going to help prevent tiles in the library from falling down in the near on future. For now West Students will use other resources such as their phones and classrooms to get their work done until further notice from the principle.