The devastating fire at the Jagger Library in April 2021 housing Special Collections saw the team, including Principal Archivist of the Special Collections Department, at the University of Cape Town Libraries, Ms Michal Singer, grapple with the aftermath of the fire.
According to Singer, the devastation brought a couple of lessons. Firstly, clear and transparent communication is crucial to business continuity during disruptions and everyday operations when such unexpected life occurrences happen. In addition, improving the general understanding of the processes and investment requires ongoing audio-visual digitisation and preservation, which are central to garnering broad support for such efforts.
Singer will be taking part in a panel discussion at the upcoming online industry gathering exploring “Mitigation And Preventative Measures For Safeguarding Audio-Visual Archives Disaster Effects.”
The free-to-attend online industry forum is hosted by Broadcast Media Africa (BMA) in collaboration with Apricity Consulting on “Risks And Disaster Safeguarding For Audio-Visual Archives In Africa” under the #PreserveAfricaArchives industry programme. It has been confirmed for Thursday, 7 October 2021, at 10h00 GMT on Zoom.
Take a look at the below excerpt from a conversation between Broadcast Media Africa (BMA) and Ms Michal Singer ahead of the upcoming Forum below:
BMA: What influenced your decision to agree to participate in the Online Forum on “Risks And Disaster Safeguarding For Audio-Visual Archives In Africa”?
Michal Singer: I was invited to participate in the upcoming IFTA conference by Ilse Assmann following the devastating fire at the Jagger Library housing Special Collections on 18 April 2021. She also put my name forward to speak at this Forum. I am keen to share the experiences faced by our team in grappling with the aftermath of the fire. It is a cautionary tale that will hopefully provide some insight into the nature of disaster management for libraries and archives.
BMA: What aspects of the audio-visual archiving and preservation sector are you passionate about?
Michal Singer: I am passionate about the preservation of audio-visual archives that contribute directly to local and global culture and scholarship. South Africa has a wealth of audio-visual resources, but without digitisation, they remain inaccessible. In practice, this translates to finding mechanisms to support the broader preservation of audio-visual material through digitisation. Analogue cassettes were not built to last. There is a limited shelf life for this material. The tools of digitisation, particularly new modes of digital preservation, now make it possible to circumvent the otherwise inevitable decay and destruction of these crucial, irreplaceable archival resources.
BMA: What is the biggest industry challenge currently concerning the safeguarding of audio-visual archives?
Michal Singer: Digitisation of audio-visual material requires significant human and technical resources. One of the challenges is the time consuming and meticulous practice of applying persistent identifiers and creating metadata. Digitisation of audio-visual material requires expensive equipment and must be done in real-time. Mainly taking place behind the scenes, it is a commonplace for the work related to the digitisation of these assets to be downplayed. Without accurate metadata, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to organise and maintain digitised records. In other words, the work doesn’t begin with digitisation. It starts with the application of Information Science practices to the audio-visual archive.
BMA: In your opinion, what do you think can be done to improve business continuity strategies applied during disruptions?
Michal Singer: Clear and transparent communication is crucial to business continuity both during disruptions and everyday operations. Improving the general understanding of the processes and investment required to support ongoing audio-visual digitisation and preservation is central to garnering broad support for such efforts. During the Jagger Salvage, we quickly mobilised our existing resources and infrastructure to ensure communication, sometimes in real-time, to the public through news outlets, social media, as well as a dedicated website. This helped sustain efforts, motivate volunteers and inspire donations. In addition, the Libraries tapped into international scholarly networks to support alternative access to resources to support the academic project.
BMA: Could you please tell us what you hope fellow participants will take away from this industry event?
Michal Singer: The Jagger Library Fire was an irreversible tragedy with which we are still grappling. There were many lessons learnt about how to manage a disaster. I hope that participants, particularly those involved in the preservation of archival resources, become more aware of the need to be prepared; fire can happen at any time. I hope that fellow participants take away the notion that the mitigation of risk and disaster is not a box-ticking exercise – readiness and preparedness are the responsibility of everyone tasked with the preservation of audio-visual resources and other archives.
