Seychelles National Archives re-opens |04 March 2014

The Seychelles National Archives has re-opened its doors to the public all clean and fresh, after it had been closed for eight months.

The closure was due to accumulation of dust on certain documents and threat of fungicide agents to the health of staff and clients.

The place is now equipped with wall and ceiling ultra violet sterilisers, dehumidifiers and an ozone generator, a treatment system provided by Enviro Tech which uses ozone and UV (ultra violet) light to purify the air and in turn eliminate the fungus.

Enviro Tech was awarded the contract after its trial test proved successful.

“What we did is through the help of Enviro Tech we did an ozone ‘shock’ treatment on the documents and in the repositories. We have installed an ozone generator around the office which is switched on fortnightly for six hours. It automatically goes off as it is equipped with a timer. This is because we normally switch it at night when nobody is around. We have also installed ultra violet (UV) sterilisers to purify the air,” said Alain Lucas, the director of the National Archives.

He also said that he has appointed a permanent person to constantly monitor the level of temperature and humidity to make sure the previous incident is not repeated.

“The incident also portrayed the importance of that institution. Since its closure a backlog has accumulated of people wanting information and other services the archives provides. Clients are ‘fighting’ to get the chance to be served first,” said Mr Lucas.

He said even when the archives was closed it had to offer services in between and these were possible through digital versions of documents which were scanned and stored on pendrives or externals.

The Seychelles National Archives, which falls under the Department of Culture in the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, had to increase its research capacity to meet the demand of the general public as the thirst for knowledge was increasing.  

As a result of the awareness programme in the course of 2010-2012, more people came to the National Archives and this has been a major challenge to the management of the institution.  Documents which have been dormant for the past 60 years or so were being appraised, assessed, scanned and made available to the general public.  

Unfortunately the same documents have in the course of time accumulated dust and in certain instances fungicide agents had threatened the health of the staff and clients.
 
The fungus also spread to the National Library as a result of movements of documents and consequently the library is still closed as treatment work has not yet started there.

Mr Lucas explained that the archives sought the help of external bodies, notably the Departmental Archives of Reunion.  

“We also solicited the help of the Seychelles Bureau of Standard (SBS) for us to be able to determine the level of contamination in the air, in the documents and on surfaces. The results showed that there were spores in the air and colonies of fungus growing on surfaces. SBS also carried out a biological test in the National Library and the results confirmed an increase in the level of fungus,” noted Mr Lucas.

“Due to the gravity of the situation, we sought the help of the company Enviro Tech who proposed to us a system – a treatment that uses ozone and UV (ultra violet) light to purify the air and in turn eliminate the fungus.

 Meetings were held with representatives of Enviro Tech and another company, the Safi Group specialising in the eradication of fungus. Enviro Tech was given the contract to do the treatment on a trial basis by using ozone and UV light and the control of humidity by installing dehumidifiers in archives repositories. The trial would determine the system’s effectiveness,” added Mr Lucas.
 
He said the trial treatment has proven to be a real success following the test carried out by the SBS.

“The level of fungus in the air has gone down to the normal level and remarkable improvements have been recorded on surfaces and in documents,” he said.

He added that the ministry has also contracted out the treatment of staff to Enviro Tech using sauna combined with ozone technology.  

“The treatment has proven to be effective to such an extent that staff having chronic diseases have observed remarkable improvements in such ailments and are encouraging others to come forward for the treatment,” said Mr Lucas.

The ministry has decided to put in place a committee that consists of the Ministry of Health, Department of Culture, Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Land use and Habitat, Department of Public Administration and other partners that would ensure that such a situation does not repeat itself.

On their part, the National Archives and the National Library have created a mini committee to monitor the level of humidity and temperature to ensure a proper environment for documents and books so that there is no recurrence of such a situation.