News
This last week of salvage and retrieval of materials from the basements of the Jagger Library was a lesson in despair and hope, collegiality and camaraderie, patience and impatience, stoicism and endless possibilities.
A huge shout-out to our volunteers - students, academics, retired and current Libraries staff, UCT staff, conservators (retired and current who have taken leave to be with us), staff from sister institutions, and local Capetonians who responded to our call for help this weekend. You made it possible for us to move 2172 crates of materials since Thursday and we will be continuing this week. And so a huge thank you to each one of you for showing up and making a difference.
Dismay and grief met the news that the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) historic Jagger Reading Room had been lost to fire on 18 April. The Jagger Reading Room was home to the African Studies collection, started in 1953, as well as portions of many other collections: journals, ephemera, manuscripts, film and video, and maps and rare antiquarian books.
A “tragedy of unspeakable proportions” is how current and past staff of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Jagger Reading Room described the fire that left their beloved library – a safe, beautiful space, and home away from home – in utter ruins.