To collaborate or not to collaborate, that is the question

Abstract

Public archives in east and southern Africa are functioning in a competitive information environment. Institutions such as libraries and museums also offer information, but fewer people utilise public archives. More effort is required to make archives a part of the daily lives of citizens in east and southern Africa. This study sought to explore whether or not public archives should collaborate with other information providers in their mission to increase social interaction with the archives. Directors of National Archives, archivists and members of the East and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) Board were invited to shed light on their experiences and views regarding collaboration in outreach initiatives. The directors completed a questionnaire, while the archivists and board members participated in face-to-face interviews. Country reports from the different ESARBICA member states were also reviewed. The findings indicate that collaboration in outreach initiatives took place to a certain extent, but libraries and museums were rarely part of this. This paper recommends that public archives play a stronger role in collaborative efforts to improve their visibility and widen their outreach to the public in east and southern Africa. The findings provide an overview on collaborative outreach projects from the perspective of selected archivists from this region, and therefore cannot be generalised to represent the common views of this entire region.

Taking archives to the people: an examination of public programs in the National Archives of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives

“…64 Most archival institutions work with restricted budgets, so researching their users and responding to their feedback will enable them to work more efficiently and effectively. 65…”

“…9 Saurombe describes public programming as 'a tool that enables public archives to communicate archives to citizens and receive feedback on services offered through a body of coordinated activities with the aim of developing an effective and efficient archival service'. 10 Overall, public programming initiatives offer archivists a unique opportunity to connect with the people they serve by informing them of their resources and services and to obtain feedback on how best the repository can address their information needs. According to Blais and Enns, and to Craig, archival repositories should not overlook public programming initiatives because they serve as a means to influence not only the public, but funders or administration authorities too.…”

Provisions for managing and preserving records created in networked environments in the archival legislative frameworks of selected member states of the Southern African Development Community

“…Ultimately, if the SADC desires to participate effectively in the global economy, the region has to undergo regulatory upgrading that is easier to access from a regulatory standpoint. 15…”

Making history a compulsory school subject – opportunities for memory institutions

“…Although it would appear from the available literature that many of Africa's national archives are aware of the importance of public programming and outreach, the majority of these institutions fail to provide online access to collections. Scholars such as Kamatula (2011), Mnkeni-Saurombe and Ngulube (2016), Ngoepe andNgulube (2011), Ngulube (1999) and Onyancha, Mokwatlo and Mnkeni-Saurombe (2013) have conducted studies on public programming in eastern and southern Africa. From these studies, it would appear that the utilisation of archival collections for educational purposes has not yet been considered by the archival institutions.…”