CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Clearwater Main Library is set to reopen Tuesday, nearly four months after a malfunctioning fire sprinkler caused damage to part of all three floors.

"We're so excited," said assistant director Linda Rothstein. "Staff have been back for three or four weeks now. We've been putting everything back together. We've been making sure everything works properly, you know, making sure computers work and everything else.

"We've gotten a lot of messages from our patrons that they've missed us, and we've missed them, too. So, reopening back tomorrow is a perfect way to start the new year."

The library has been closed since Sept. 6, when the broken sprinkler caused millions of dollars in damages, including water damage to around 16,000 books. The city said drywall was replaced, carpets were cleaned, walls were painted, and a large percentage of the damaged books will be back on shelves.

Rothstein said SERVPRO evaluated the waterlogged volumes to see which could be helped by different salvaging techniques.

"Part of that involves freezing books. That helps inhibit the growth of mold, and it also keeps pages from rippling," she said. "The other thing they did is, for a few days after this happened, they completely shut up the building, brought in huge blowers, and raised the temperature in here really, really high, so high that no people were allowed to come in during the time.

"In fact, we were told, 'Take out your personal effects that you don't want anything affected.' And what that did is it brought the humidity level down and it made it so the humidity that was ambient because of the flooding didn't affect the books that weren't taken away."

Going forward, the library will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It will be closed on Sundays.