The University Cape Town (UCT) has begun work to help save and restore valuable academic resources, including books, manuscripts, and maps, housed at the institution’s historical Jagger Library, part of which was destroyed by the raging fires in Cape Town at the start of the week.
Pick n Pay was quick to respond to an urgent call from UCT’s executive team to assist with donating crates in which the delicate and irreplaceable academic resources could be packaged and stored so that expert restoration work on the material could begin. Together with its crate supplier, CHEP, 2,000 crates were delivered by Pick n Pay to UCT this morning.
“It’s indeed a sad time for us at UCT and for our history as we mourn the loss of a great institutional asset. We are comforted by the outpouring of help from all corners to salvage some part of this significant collection so that future generations may continue benefiting through the expansion of knowledge and consciousness from others that came before them. Today we want to thank Pick n Pay and CHEP for their rapid response and generosity that added to the to the conservation and restoration process,” says Ujala Satgoor, UCT Libraries: Executive Director.
The crates are required as part of the salvaging process. Items are being removed from the Jagger basement that have been compromised by water.Items are placed carefully in a single layer rather than be stacked.
Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, Transformation Director at Pick n Pay, says she is pleased the retailer’s logistical team could be assistance to the hard job the library and the institution has ahead of them in salvaging decades of history. To date, the retailer has been facilitating food and essential item donations since Sunday as part of fire relief efforts.
“After getting the call for assistance last night, we immediately leapt into action, and together with our supplier, CHEP, we were able to deliver a truck load of crates this morning.
“The Jagger Library is very much a part of not just the City of Cape Town, but the entire country. Some of our greatest leaders walked these halls, including some of the most revered international academic minds, all of whom have contributed to positive change in South Africa and the rest of the world.
“My heart goes out to volunteers trying to salvage and save all the historic information and books. It is an honour to be asked to play a role in the very important work this team is doing now,” says Ackerman-Berman.
The Jagger Reading Room, which was destroyed by the fire, is part of UCT Libraries’ Special Collections and housed a unique collection of more than 83,000 items of African studies material and other specialised subjects, as well as 1 300 sub-collections of unique manuscripts and personal papers.
The spread of the fire to other parts of the library was prevented owing to fire shutter systems installed in the building activating during the blaze. However, the library’s contents in the basement suffered water damage as a result of the water used to quell the fire. These items will be packaged in the crates and sent for cold storage after which an intensive and scientific process of restoring them will commence.
