(Updated 10:15 a.m.) One month after the Alexandria Library was crippled due to a “data incident,” the library is still recovering services and won’t say more about what caused the outage.
For weeks in early July, many of the library network’s digital services were completely inaccessible, including audiobooks, wifi and signing up for a library card.
Some of those services, like wifi and audiobooks, were restored after a few weeks. Others took longer and public computer stations and printing are still unavailable at the Barrett and Burke Branch Libraries. Payment for some fees and services also cannot be accepted.
“We have gotten internet stations and public printing back online at Beatley Central Library as of yesterday,” Senior Communications Officer Nathan Carrick said, “and [we] expect to have the other branches back online this week as well.”
The Alexandria Library said on its website that the technological issues were caused by a data incident:
The Alexandria Library system is experiencing a partial network outage due to a data incident. The investigation is ongoing and Library staff is working with cybersecurity professionals and law enforcement to remediate and investigate this incident. The Library is open and nearly all services are available.
Over a month after the Alexandria Library first published that notice, though, Carrick said the library can’t provide any additional information about the cause.
“We cannot provide an update on the investigation at this time as it is still ongoing,” Carrick said.