Dear colleagues and students
It is now almost two months since we lost the Jagger Library in the fire that struck the University of Cape Town (UCT) upper campus on 18 April. I’m happy to report positive progress in the hard work that so many people have put into recovering the archives from the Jagger basements, led by the skilful UCT Libraries team. The first steps of this process have been documented in a series of striking photographs taken by colleagues in the Communication and Marketing Department (CMD).
On behalf of UCT and the UCT Libraries colleagues, I thank everyone who played a role in this arduous process. We would not have made it this far without the help of individuals and organisations who provided what we needed to begin the salvage and conservation work, including materials, specialised equipment, financial donations and muscle power. I give special thanks to our colleagues who work in UCT Libraries and whose life work has been affected by this tragedy.
Here are a few statistics to give you a glimpse into the scope of the salvage project:
Details of the restoration work, including the South African and international experts who travelled to UCT or advised us from afar on the preservation processes, are provided in my VC Desk of 7 May: “Update on restoring UCT Property”.
The Special Collections team are moving into interim premises in Mowbray, where they will reconstitute as a library and continue the restoration work.
It is important to note that during this salvage process, UCT Libraries colleagues continued their other services without fail. This includes all transactional services by request; research support for masters and PhD students in collaboration with leading national and international universities and the National Library of South Africa; and keeping all branches of the Libraries available as study spaces and the Virtual Library Services.
Please join me in wishing the members of the UCT Libraries team well as they continue their delicate and important restoration of UCT’s priceless archives.
Sincerely
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
Vice-Chancellor
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The Centre for Curating the Archive, in association with Michaelis Galleries (UCT) and UCT Libraries will stage a memorial exhibition marking the one-year anniversary of the tragic Jagger Library fire at the Michaelis Galleries. The exhibition will open to the public on Wednesday, 20 April 2022.
In an email to UCT students, Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said:
“Thank you for your patience as we seek ways to return to full academic activity at the University of Cape Town under COVID-19 regulations. Our first priority is to ensure the health and safety of everyone who needs to return to campus buildings.”
UCT is deeply grateful to all the donors who supplied food and other essential items for our students, and to everyone who has so generously offered other forms of support and assistance.
Everyone who would like to support the #UCTFire emergency relief fund is urged to please make financial donations to UCT through the UCT Alumni Ways to Give web page.
Donations can also be made by EFT using the details below:
Account name: UCT Donations Account
Bank: Standard Bank of South Africa
Branch code: Rondebosch Branch, 025009
Account number: 07 152 2387
Swift code: SBZAZAJJ
Please include your donor name if you so wish, as well as the reference for your donation, e.g. Name Surname, #UCTFire.