During
the course of the second semester in 2016 the students countrywide led a “#Fees
Must Fall” campaign from which the University of KwaZulu-Natal was not immune. On
6 September 2016, students continued with protests for the better part of
the day. The situation turned chaotic due to clashes between the students and
South African Police Services (SAPS). Around 5 pm, the GMJ Sweeney (Law Library)
was set alight. Most staff had left for the day with the exception of those who
had other commitments and were involved with part-time students.
The
following day we were all devastated as we witnessed a gutted library, covered
in soot and water and areas burnt beyond recognition. The atmosphere was sombre
and one of disbelief. Everyone was in a state of shock because of the incident.
There was no time to lament, as swift solutions had to be sought to remedy the
situation. Subsequently, respective stakeholders (Library, Law School, Campus Management
Services and MTI Group) met to map a plan of action to restore library service.
THE
GREATNESS OF TEAM WORK IN THE CRISIS PROJECT
The
mammoth project was about to start. The University brought forward the
September mid-term vacation to allow a spirit of calmness to prevail. In an attempt to get work done
speedily, the services of graduate assistants (GA) and undergraduates were enlisted.
Within the space of 10 days we embarked on
and completed much of the process of:
- Packing up the entire Law library collection to be sent for restoration; it was dirty, hard hard work!
- Identifying new space on the first floor of the EG Malherbe Library to temporarily accommodate the Law Library and School of Law staff.
- Organizing a team to prepare for the library refurbishment.
- The reconstruction began.
The work begins…
Team work and project management are buzz words
we often use in our everyday work, without a meaning outside the context. ‘Project management’ is used in the
context of the project as an activity as opposed to it as a title. Due to time
constraints the process of planning and execution of the project were done simultaneously. Hence, dealing with the
crisis did not allow us the latitude of project management planning in its
logical form. The various teams worked individually and thereafter collaborated
during specific times to ensure that the project progressed well. The teams responsible
for ensuring that the Law Library could return to its normalcy as soon as possible were
constituted as follows:
- The Campus Management Services (CMS) to deal with the physical building and removal of furniture etc
- Information and Communication Service Division (ICS) to remove damaged computers and equipment
- Adams Book Sellers and Stationary for the replacement of burnt items
- MTI Group: Humidity & Moisture Control to clean the sooty books
- Graduate and undergraduate assistants and library student assistants to pack the books into boxes
- School of Law who did most of the project management – and fed the students!
- Library who directed students, packed boxes and liaised with all the contractors.
We worked tirelessly for two weeks,
ensuring that the library services could
be as fully functional as possible providing a quality service to all users
timeously by the beginning of the new semester two weeks away. Many had to
sacrifice their personal time in order to meet the respective deadlines. Against all the odds these efforts were
achieved.
Once the original building was more or less fully
restored, nine months later, in July 2017, the temporary Law Library returned to
a refurbished GMJ Sweeney Law Library.
The teams across campuses jointly contributed in ensuring this.
Experiences learned
from the project
Any situation presents one with an opportunity
to learn from these challenges. Even though
disasters rarely occur, they leave indelible
images to the affected. In the circumstances things cannot be changed but the lessons
learned are critical going forward. The plight faced by the Law Library
required quick thinking action and needed us to respond to the crisis despite
having no proper disaster plan in place which led to makeshift arrangements. The
progress achieved in the restoration of the Law Library was impossible without
the following principles:
- Trust relationship
- Co-operation
- Pooling of skills
- Inspiration
- Innovation Visionary Leadership
- Co-ordination
Although the work was intense, physical and
challenging we managed to find humour, happiness and love out of what we did.
The enormous task that was impossible to an individual, was only made possible
by the collective effort of the team.
PHOTOS
BEFORE AND AFTER THE HOWARD COLLEGE LAW LIBRARY FIRE
BEFORE
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AFTER
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