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Archives and Records Management Education and Training: what can Africa learn from Europe and North America?
Shadrack Katuu Information Development 2009 25: 133 DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714 The online version of this article can be found at: http://idv.sagepub.com/content/25/2/133
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Archives and Records Management Education and Training: what can Africa learn from Europe and North America?
While archivists in the developed world face up to the challenges of digital media, Africa is still struggling to prop up dilapidated record keeping systems for paper records. Shadrack Katuu
INTRODUCTION
During the educators working session of the Global Forum on Evidence Based Governance in the Electronic Age hosted by the International Records Management Trust (IRMT) in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, participants from various Commonwealth countries identied various key issues in the development of archives and records professionals globally. One of the issues discussed was the fundamental importance of education and training in developing professionals to tackle the challenge of governance in the electronic age. The educators discussed several worrying trends in the public sector including the loss of educated or trained staff to the private sector and the need to balance skills and knowledge as well as between theory and practice (International Records Management Trust 2002: 67). There was also extensive discussion of the different types of educational programmes available in different parts of the world including pre-appointment education on-the-job introductory education and training post-appointment continuing education graduate-level advanced education awareness raising for non-records personnel short course training for skills development (International Records Management Trust 2002: 6).
each of the different education and training programs was an important topic, they would have to return to this discussion at subsequent meetings (International Records Management Trust 2002: 6). To the best of the authors knowledge, no such meeting has since been convened, but an interest in the various components of the programs around the world and their relative success or failure still remains an area of interest among educators worldwide. Nayani Samarasinghe, in her thesis, identies four patterns of archival and records management education and training globally (Samarasinghe 1994: 27). This article is an attempt at examining these patterns by outlining developments at the cradle of the profession in Europe as well as the situation in North America, which has, for the last two decades, been the global epicentre of contemporary research and scholarship. This brief examination aims to draw pointers and lessons in order to inform the situation in Africa.
BRIEF HISTORY IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
Different types of public and private agencies including national archives, universities, colleges, technical schools and public administration training institutes around the world offer these differing types of educational and training programmes. Participants in the Global Forum noted that while the specic nature of
Although North American archivists and records professionals have long looked to European education, in 1981 William Orr suggested to his generation that Europe could offer certain fresh perspective(s) on what have been generally unresolved issues (Orr 1981: 27). Europe undoubtedly has a very rich and diverse professional history. While there is no single European perspective on education, it is evident that there are patterns which may have different variations in different countries. According to Samarasinghe, three of the four models of archival and records management education found globally could be used to characterize certain European countries education traditions (Samarasinghe 1994: 27). In the Italo-Hispanic model, Italy and Spain have a well-developed archives system that supports the education and training and recruitment into the profession precedes actual training. This model has greatly inuenced the pattern of education found in Latin America.
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Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
found in other European nations. The consequence is a lifting and copying of institutional archival practice without critical re-examination. However, recent developments in various universities such as University College London, Aberystwyth and Liverpool as well as efforts in Scotland are addressing this apparent weakness. (Shepherd 1998; Ellis and Greening 2002; Westood 1998; Rankin 2003) This brief review of the traditions of archival and records management education in Europe reveals several things. First, that there needs to be a deliberate attempt to balance theory and practice, so avoiding the dangers of adopting the excesses of either. Secondly, that there should be deliberate attempts, on a regular basis, to change the curriculum whenever that change is necessary. For example, the rigidity of the French system may have caused it to lag behind in addressing essential issues associated with the management of modern documentation. Thirdly, as Orr put it, that autonomous and self-contained programs can and do thrive (Orr 1981: 38). One point worth noting is the obvious connection with the historical discipline. While Bucci notes that tending towards a historical discipline has been a cause of weakness, one cannot ignore the fact that, with that strong afliation, the archives and records management discipline has developed in a very scholarly way. (Bucci 1992: 17) According to Richard Cox, in North America there are two schools of thought when it comes to the issue of archival education. There are those who believe in the pragmatic way of learning and are workshop oriented, while others are more focused on education in archival theory and methodology (Cox 1992: 526). Also, the patterns of development of archival and records management and training in the US and Canada are quite different. Lastly, archivists and records managers in North America have viewed themselves as belonging to separate professions, a ssure that is very apparent in the education programs. From the outset the pragmatic school of thought dominated professional discussions on archival education and training strategies. For example, a report by the education committee of the Society of American Archivists in the 1970s stated that the committee was not convinced that the discipline could be served sufciently through the development of separate degree programs nor did it have sufcient intellectual substance to merit one (Mason 1972). What seems to be at the core of the pragmatic school of thought is the premise that perhaps good archivists
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
After examining the European tradition, and highlighting signicant aspects of the North American experience, the question is whether these can be used to present fresh perspectives to the archival and records management programs in Africa. As a precursor, it is important to outline what major developments have taken place in Africa. S Mwiyeriwa traces the early archival training in Africa to courses designed in North Africa (Mwiyeriwa 1988). Information on these programs is not commonly available in the literature. Therefore, this discussion is limited to archival and records management and training in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The most signicant period in the establishment of archival and records management in SSA started in the 1970s. The International Council of Archives (ICA) and UNESCO were involved in establishing regional training centers to cater for the training needs of archivists in SSA. They established two centers, one for Francophone countries in Senegal in 1971 and another for Anglophone countries in Ghana in 1975 (Mwiyeriwa 1988; Evans 1988). The centers were seen as a more cost-effective way of instructing archivists and records professionals rather than sending them overseas. At that time, newly independent states were in great need of skilled human resources to manage public and private institutions (Saint 1999). According to Mwiyeriwa, by 1988, these centers had met more than 30 percent of the training needs in SSA (Mwiyeriwa 1988: 171). However due to lack of continued funding these centers have since degenerated into national programs. The need for skilled labor did not recede, and consequently individual nations set up their own programs to cater for the increasing demand for trained personnel. Kenya started a program for the paraprofessional in the national polytechnic in 1979 (Mwiyeriwa 1988: 171). A study published in 1982 revealed that while the Kenya National Archives had 141 staff members, only 25 were graduates and 34 held para-professional qualications (Waltford 1982: 6). During the 1970s and 1980s other countries such as Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe followed Kenyas example by establishing national courses and training
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workshops as well as university programs (International Council on Archives 1992). Most recent research shows that there are over 30 programmes in tertiary institutions in SSA and Appendix A provides a listing. Evident in this quest to satisfy national needs is the lack of a professional consensus on the design and implementation of the various education programs. For example, should para-professionals receive certicate education like in Harare Polytechnic in Zimbabwe, or diploma education like the School of Library, Archives and Documentation Studies in Tanzania? Is the Bachelor of Information Sciences from Moi University in Kenya comparable to the Bachelor of Library and Information Science from the East African School of Librarianship in Uganda? How do these programs compare to the postgraduate diploma that is offered in the University of Ghana? Added to this peculiarity is the realization that training rather than education is the term or concept that is generally addressed in these programs. Several regional commentators have, through their publications, demonstrated the tendency towards skill building rather than the development of a professional mindset (Njovana 1992; Wamukoya 1992; Zulu 1992; Mwinyimvua and Makando 1992). This suggests that the programs have followed a trend very similar to the pragmatic school of thought in North America, which unconsciously ignored the role theoretical and methodological processes play in informing professional practices. The philosophy that emerges indicates that there are inadequate educational and inquiry processes to effectively address the training and skill building requirements. By taking this premise through a reverse extrapolation, one could provisionally conclude that this trend towards practice rather than theory may have been established during the era when regional centers were in a rush to produce a much-needed work force in newly established archival institutions (Mwiyeriwa 1988: 168). Further, one could conclude that, based on the changes in both Europe and North America, the singular mandate for skill building needs reassessment. Eastwood asserts that training without education is arid and rigid (Eastwood 1988: 251). This calls for action against a trend that would otherwise cause the demise of a profession that is still in its infancy. Indeed the signs are already evident. Peter Mazikana, asserted in a report for UNESCO that: most African archivists feel that it is inevitable that the discipline of archives, records management and
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
evolution of professional education and training in the region. In a very general sense, the guidelines should adopt a four-pronged approach: (a) identifying the knowledge areas that have been associated with the eld (b) developing a strategy to deliver appropriate and adequate instruction programs to cover these areas of knowledge (c) identication of the right potpourri of resources necessary to support these programs while considering the unique constraints that plagues the profession in the continent (d) and nally identifying the means to sustain the programs into maturation (Walters 1992: 85) Of the four prongs, the rst requires further elaboration because it deals with the question of what, with the others being more self-explanatory because they deal with the question of how. In order to assist in identifying knowledge areas, the regional task teams need to examine two distinct knowledge areas, core knowledge and interdisciplinary knowledge (Society of American Archivists 2002; Association of Canadian Archivists 1990). The rst major area of core or substantive knowledge should cover three thematic divisions; knowledge of records and archival functions, knowledge of the profession and contextual knowledge. Each of these divisions could be further broken down: Knowledge of records and archival functions management of current and semi-current records (classication, retention scheduling, record protection), appraisal, archival processing (accessioning, arrangement and description). Knowledge of the profession history of the profession, records and cultural memory, ethics and value. Contextual knowledge administrative history and elements of law for the profession, social and cultural systems, legal and nancial systems, information management, managing digital records. The second major area should be interdisciplinary knowledge that should include information technology, preservation and conservation, research design and execution, management and organizational theory. Additionally there is a need to address the unique socio-cultural context within the continent. Harris and Hatang argue that the discourse in Africa has not questioned, less contested, what are essentially
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
While Europe has served as the cradle of the profession and North America its epicentre of contemporary research and scholarship, Africa has the potential of being a hub of ingenuity and innovation in the face of diminished resources and dire need. As has been observed, while North America and Europe battle to adequately manage and provide access to their rich collections, and as they simultaneously deal with the challenges of digital media, Africa is still struggling to prop up dilapidated record keeping systems for current records. It is in this area that the potential for innovation lies and one that could still be useful to the industrial world, especially in institutions that are poorly resourced and often in remote areas. The profession on the African continent is faced with a double challenge. First and very evident is the challenge of addressing ineffectual record keeping systems in both the public and private sector. There is urgency, not only to manage paper records, but also to address the increasing danger of losing electronic memory. Harris, referring to the recordkeeping reality in South Africa, a country that is considered ahead of others in SSA, states that electronic memory resources are being lost in huge quantities (Harris 2000: 93). Secondly, and possibly less obvious, is the fact that memory institutions in Africa are failing to incorporate the tapestry of the peoples memories, stories, myths and traditions (Harris 2001: 5; Keakopa 1998: 98). It may seem that what is lacking is a systematic strategy to engage indigenous ways of knowing in the archive
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Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
This review process, whether aimed at redressing recordkeeping challenges in the paper and electronic environment or in incorporating orality, should not only look at decolonizing the curriculum but also be proactively informed by product and market analysis of the graduates produced. Dennis Ocholla states that product analysis entails tracing graduates to their current places of employment and interviewing them together with their employers in order to determine whether the knowledge, skills and attitudes gained during training were adequate for their current job requirements. He denes market analysis as details regarding date and location of advertisement, type of employer, job details and job specications and requirements in terms of qualications, experience, knowledge, skills and attitudes were captured from this source and analyzed (Ocholla 2000). While universities around the world have been engaged in such studies (Pember 2003) few in Africa have been conducted in the general information studies eld and none has been published in the archives and records management eld (Aina and Moahi 1999; Lutwama and Kigongo-Bukenya 2004; Rugambwa 1998, Tiamiyu and Aiyepeku 2004). Without such studies, it is difcult to empirically determine how professional theoretical knowledge and practical activities feed into each other. If African professionals have to address challenges that are real within their locality, they need to have full cognizance and engage with accurate realities of their world. This would ensure that they stay relevant to societal needs rather than remain defensively inside the professional cloister that is based on the realities of either Europe or North America (Cook 2001: 22).
1974 N/A 1934 19831985 1995 1948 1967 2005 2004 1999 1955 1922 1966 1974
21
C B, D C C B M B/PGD B/PGD/M/P B/PGD/M/P PDC C/HC/D/ PDC/B/M/P PGD/P B C D M D D/B/M/P D/B C/D C/D
University of Witwatersrand Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences1 8 Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Omdurman Islamic University Department of Archives and Librarianship1 9 Institute of Development Management2 0 Bagamoyo School of Library, Archives and Documentation studies University of Dar es Salaam Department of Information Studies Uganda
24 25 22 23
Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology Makerere University East African School of Librarianship
University of Zambia Department of Library and Information Studies Harare Polytechnic Department of Library and Information Science
Legend : B = bachelor degree; C = certicate; D = diploma; HC = higher certicate; M = masters degree; P = PhD; PDC = post diploma certicate; PGD = post graduate diploma.
Appendix A: Sources
1. Institute of Development Management (2008) Human and General Resource Management Records and Information Management http://www.idmbls.com/crs/ crsdet.php?cod=REC Accessed 27 July 2008. 2. University of Botswana (2008) Faculty of Humanities Department of Library and Information Studies http:// www.ub.bw/learning_faculties.cfm?pid=583andf=4and d=31andrf=326 Accessed 27 July 2008.
3. University of Ghana (2008) Department of Information Studies http://www.ug.edu.gh/deptdetails. php?recordID=25 Accessed 27 July 2008. 4. Eldoret Polytechnic (2008) Course details http:// www.eldoretpolytechnic.ac.ke/Courses%20page.htm Accessed 26 October 2008. 5. Kenya Polytechnic (2008) Information and Liberal Studies http://www.kenyapolytechnic.ac.ke/ILS/ILS. htm Accessed 26 October 2008.
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19. Omdurman Islamic University (2008) Omdurman Islamic University http://www.oiu.edu.sd/ Accessed 26 October 2008. 20. Institute of Development Management (2008) Human and General Resource Management Records and Information Management http://www.idmbls.com/crs/ crsdet.php?cod=REC Accessed 27 July 2008. 21. Tanzania Library Services Board (2008) School of Library, Archives and Documentation Studies http:// www.tlsb.or.tz/slads.asp Accessed 26 October 2008. 22. University of Dar es Salaam (2008) Information Studies Programme http://www.udsm.ac.tz/department_s/is/ content.html Accessed 27 July 2008. 23. Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology (2008) Diploma in Records and Archives Management http://www.uict.ac.ug/academics/ management/diploma_in_records_&_archives_ management.htm Accessed 26 October 2008. 24. Makerere University (2008) East African School of Librarianship http://easlis.mak.ac.ug/ Accessed 27 July 2008. 25. University of Zambia (2008) Department of Library and Information Studies http://www.unza.zm/schools/ education/index.php?option=com_contentandtask=vie wandid=16andItemid=48 Accessed 27 July 2008. 26. Harare Polytechnic (2008) Department of Library and Information Science http://www.hrepoly.ac.zw/library_ and_info_scie.htm Accessed 27 July 2008. 27. National University of Science and Technology (2008) Department of Records and Archives Management http://www.nust.ac.zw/departments/ram/index.htm Accessed 7 March 2008. 28. Mzuni University (2009) Department of Library and Information Science http://www.mzuni.ac.mw/ BSc%20LIS.htm Accessed 17 February 2009.
References
Aina L.O. and Moahi K. (1999) Tracer study of the Botswana library school graduates. Education for Information, 17, 215244. Aina, L.O. (1994) The challenges of training the new information worker in Africa Librarian Career Development, 2(2) 1317. Alexander, Philip N. (1993) listserv ARCHIVES@LISTSERV. MUOHIO.EDU message sent 20th May 1993. http:// listserv.muohio.edu/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind9305 candL=archivesandO=DandP=11748 Accessed 27 July 2008. Alonso, Vincenta. (1988) Archival education in Spain. American Archivist, 51 (3) 330335. Amutabi, M. and Oketh, M. (2003) Experimenting in distance education: The African Virtual University (AVU) and the paradox of the World Bank in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development, 23(1) 5773.
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
Acknowledgment I am indebted to Prof. Terry Eastwood, Dr. Nathan Mnjama, Ms Lilian Nduta and Dr. M MinishiMajanjafor their valuable advice during the preparation of this article. I take responsibility for any faults. Abstract While education and training of archives and records professionals within Sub Saharan Africa has a history of about ve decades, elsewhere professional development has a history lasting several centuries. In Europe, archivists have been in existence since
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Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
Towards an ideal library and information studies (LIS) curriculum for Africa: Some preliminary thoughts Aina, L O. Education for Information; 23 (3) Sep 2005, pp. 165185. The paper traces the inability of the curricula of LIS schools in Africa to respond to the immediate job environment in Africa. The main weakness of the curricula is that they reect essentially the curricula of LIS schools in the Western World. Thus, while most of the LIS curricula are relevant to the traditional library setting, the curricula fail to address positively the emerging information market in Africa and the untapped information job openings in the rural areas. The paper proposes an ideal curriculum that would cater for the traditional library setting, the emerging information market and the job openings in the rural community. It caters for both global and local needs. This curriculum consists essentially of eight modules. These are library concepts, information and communication technology, archives and records management and rural information service. These four modules constitute the core of the ideal curriculum. Other relevant modules in the curriculum are research, management, publishing and public relations. The ideal curriculum was compared with the existing curricula of three library and information science schools in Africa, with a viewing to establishing the divergence between these existing curricula in Africa and the ideal curriculum proposed. (Original abstract) (Selected by the Editor from Library and Information Science Abstracts)
Information Development (ISSN 0266-6669) Copyright 2009 SAGE Publications. Vol. 25, No. 2, DOI: 10.1177/0266666909104714
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