Terra, aside from water did you use any chemicals? How long has the palm been living in the library? Fan Palms, prefer cooler temps than other types of palms..If a room is hot/stuffy, this can cause brown leaves to death. Or if you applied fertilizer it may have burnt the roots. Does anyone at the library add other substinces? Toni

Likely unrelated, but I recently came home from Walmart with 3 chinese fan palms and they're doing well, but some of the leaves are very dry and brittle (dying).

I believe the leaves on mine are dying because I exported tehm from Walmart on a day that was -10c; bitterly cold and some of hte leaves were exposed.

Cheers

bbgardengal, FIFTEEN palm fronds turning from green to brown in TWO days has to be something abiotic. We had to remove the oldest frond on a Caryota palm each week for 3 successive weeks. The fronds were not completely brown but some browning was present on each 'fishtail'. The problem occured on only one of three such palms that receive exactly the same treatment every two weeks. In the individual opinion of five persons, all knowledgeable in the field of palms, something was poured at the roots. The floor of the building had been cleaned about a week before the first frond was removed and it has been surmised that some of the spent cleaning solution was poured into the container. The prognosis for the palm is not good.

Wutime..that IS freezing..normally, an hour or so after bringing a frost-bitten plant indoors, the leaves turn a grayish color. The gray is frost.
The same thing happened to me last month..I bought a dracaena..it wasn't exposed more than 2 mins..after getting it home, approximately 45 mins later, 1/3rd foliage grayed...
As long as roots aren't damaged your fan palm should be fine..though the leaves are lost..depending on marks, you can probably cut around damaged foliage..Good luck, Toni

That is very bizarre story. I am guessing someone applied some kind of chemical. Chinese Fan Palm trees are drought tolerant and can handle cold down to 10F. If your palm is not doing well don't cut half died leaves since it causes stress for the palm tree. Let them dry out before removing them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese Fan Palm