Dodos in the archives: rebranding the archival profession to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century within ESARBICA

Abstract

Never before has the archival profession been challenged on so many fronts, especially in the developing world. The profession is at crossroads simply because the transformation from custodial to post-custodial phase has remained a fallacy and our perception remains sentimentally rooted to traditional archival practice which leaves little room for inventiveness and the distillation of ideas consonant with contemporary archival practice. The thesis of this paper is based on the argument that the records managers and archivists of the future will be recruited from schools of information technology (IT) and communications in view of the fact that our operational foundations and modalities cannot be transformed so long as we bury our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, oblivious to the fact that the archival landscape is transforming. The fact that we have lost the language ‘battle’ to the IT world is a harbinger of worse things to come so long as that conservatism persists. This paper, based on experience as a practitioner and academic, examines the core skills of the archival profession by illuminating how they have changed, if at all, from a developing world perspective by focusing on the archival education offered in the region covered by the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA). This paper focuses on the instructor and the product (graduate students and practitioners) as it is the argument of this paper that both need to acquire new skills and change priorities to guarantee survival in this digital age. A plethora of issues will be discussed here inter alia; the archival curriculum being offered in Library and Information Science schools in the ESARBICA region, how the organizational culture is acting as an impediment to transformation, the need for skills across the broad spectrum of library, archives and museology fields to remain professionally competent, and how the onset of digital technologies can empower archivists and records managers to adjust to the changing environments of custody, access, technology and the web. To survive beyond 2015, archivists and records managers in the developing world need an introspection to facilitate transformation so as to be able to remain professionally relevant in this information society.

Keywords:

• archival profession
• digital technology
• archival curriculum
• transformation
• organizational culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. ESARBICA was established in 1969, in Kenya. It brings together individuals and institutions concerned with the creation, use, preservation and management of recorded information in Eastern and Southern Africa. It comprises of 14 member states, namely Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe (ESARBICA, “About ESARBICA”). The mission of ESARBICA is the advancement of archives through regional cooperation.

^2.Mnjama, “Chronology of the East and Southern African,” 3.

^3.Mazikana, Keynote Address to the 21st Biennial Conference.

^4.Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration, 83.

^5. Telkom Business, “Advertorials Titled No Fluff Attached to Cloud Technology and Telkom's Technology Solutions,” City Press, November 24, 2013, 11.

^6.Stuart and Bromage, “Current State of Play,” 223.

^7. Ibid.

^8.Pymm, “Education for the Profession.”

^9.Wamukoya, “Reflections on African Archives.”

^10.Convery, “Information Management, Records Management,” 203.

^11.Svärd, “Impact of Information Culture,” 18.

^12.Sturges, Some Structuring Principles for Planning, 378.

^13.Garaba, “Investigation into Archival Appraisal Practices.”

^14.Mutiti, “Challenges of Managing Electronic Records,” 57, 60. See also, Mnjama, “Archival Landscape in Eastern and Southern Africa,” 463, 468; and Wamukoya, “Reflections on African Archives.”

^15.Ngulube, “Implications of Technological Advances,” 148.

^16. See note 9 above.

^17.Ngoepe, “Is Archives and Records Management,” 2.

^18.Khayundi, “Existing Records and Archival Programmes,” 62.

^19. The Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) surveyed were the University of South Africa (UNISA), the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), University of Fort Hare (UFH), University of Johannesburg and the University of Witwatersrand. Except for the UFH, full description of the modules offered was not on the Internet. Readers are advised to visit the homepages of the mentioned universities for a condensed version of the modules offered. The courses offered by UNISA are by means of distance teaching with assistance of study guides, prescribed books and readers. The UCT is now offering an M.Phil. in digital curation which is a commendable initiative to address technical training. The digital curation course is also delivered through hybrid learning.

^20.Khayundi, Existing Records and Archival Programmes, 71.

^21. Dr Francis Garaba is a former employee at the MSU, in Zimbabwe and lectured archival administration and preservation and conservation modules between 2005 and 2008. He also lectured the records and documents management module at the UKZN from 2010 until 2012.

^22.Khayundi, “Existing Records and Archival Programmes,” 62–89.

^23.International Records Management Trust, Integrating Records Management in ICT Systems.

^24.Millar, Archives: Principles and Practices, 196.

^25. Convery, “Information Management, Records Management,” 199.

^26.Cunningham, “Post-Custodial Archive,” 182.

^27. See note 9 above.

^28.Cachola, “‘Archival Anxiety and the Vocational Calling’.”

^29.Cox, “Appraisal and the Future of Archives,” 217. See also Asogwa, “Digitization of Archival Collections in Africa,” 10.

^30.Tibbo, “On the Occasion of SAA's Diamond Jubilee,” 19.

^31.Cox, “Are There Really New Directions,” 250.

^32. See note 18 above.

^33.Sturges, Some Structuring Principles for Planning, 379.

^34.Noko, Chikuni, and Ngulube, “Tracer Study of the Records and Archives.”

^35.Uhde and Hoye, “Career Choices for Archivists and Information.”

^36.Locker, “Should Archivists be Professional?” 132.

^37.Ptolomey, Taking Charge of Your Career,” 61–62.

^38.Cox and Larsen, “iSchools and Archival Studies,” 315.

^39.Tibbitts, “Education and the Archivists/Record-Keeper.”

^40.Sturzlinger, “Training Core Competencies for Archivists,” 203.

^41.Mancini, AIIM: The Rise of the Information Professional.

^42. Ibid.

^43.Katuu, “Archives and Records Management Education and Training,” 134.

^44.Onyancha, Maluleka, and Ngoepe, “Trends, Patterns, Challenges and Type.”

^45.Duranti, “Models of Archival Education,” 57.

^46.Okello-Obura, “Positioning Records and Archives Education,” 191.

^47.Aina, “Information Profession in Southern Africa,” 38.

^48.Tough and Moss, “Introduction,” x.

^49.Gilliland and Mckemmish, “Building an Infrastructure for Archival Research,” 149.

^50.Moss, “Scent of the Slow Hound and the Snap,” 18.

^51.Millar, Archives: Principles and Practices, 211. See also, Wamukoya, “Reflections on African Archives”; and David Leitch, personal communication to author at the International Institute of Archival Science, Trieste, Italy, October 20, 2013.

^52. See note 9 above.

^53. See note 28 above.

^54. Trott, September 9, 2013 (18:11), comment on archives and collections on the one side; records management on the other? The Archives Live Blog, September 9, 2013, http://archiveslive.ning.com/profiles/blogs/archives-collections-on-the-one-side-records-management-on-the.

^55.Dominy, “A Response to the Archival Platform Newsletter.”

^56.Tyacke, “E-Government and Archives,” 13.

^57. Convery, “Information Management, Records Management,” 198.

^58.Arahuetes, “Ecclesiastical Historical Archive of Biscay,” 31–36.

^59.Millar, Archives: Principles and Practices, 193.

^60.Sturzlinger, “Training Core Competencies for Archivists,” 198.

^61. Ibid.