Volunteers

The volunteer corps became an ‘army for the archive’ with the singular goal - the speedy removal of the collections from the wet, mouldy basements. People returned again and again to salvage collections until everything that could be removed by hand was taken out of the basement. The shared intensity of experience elicited an unforgettable camaraderie that also alleviated the isolation and desolation of the 2020 lockdown.

Volunteerism was an essential component of the extraction and rescue of about 13000 crates of library and archival material. We would not have been able to do this without the many selfless beings who stepped up in this crisis. Neither would it have been done so successfully and without a single instance of COVID-19 infection onsite without careful planning and handling of the gift of volunteerism.

Nikki Crowster, Library Director: Information Systems and Resources

The Packers

Packers in the basements worked in teams of two or three, systematically removing items from shelves, placing them in crates, and labelling them. Photos, archival film and other items in the flooded basement were first to be removed.

The Human Chain

Crates were constructed at the entrance to the basements, sent to the packers to fill and label, and then brought out again to be sent to triage or storage. This process was only possible with the use of human chains, with an average of fifty people per shift. Libraries staff members served as team leaders to coordinate shifts.

Human chains snaked between shelves, along corridors, up and down staircases, and between buildings until the crates reached their destination.