managing public sector records: a study programme - International ...

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We have all heard the saying that prevention is better than cure. This is also true in the area of <strong>records</strong> and archives management. In terms of costs, it is of course much cheaper to prevent deterioration of documents than to repair them. An archival institution must therefore take all practical measures to ensure that the documents in its custody are well safeguarded against dangers. This has not been easy for Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service. We do not have a purpose-designed archives building. It is an adapted building. And the building is located right in the city centre which is also fairly polluted. However, all attempts have been made to keep it clean. To reduce the dangers of pollution in the storage areas which house sensitive materials, air-conditioning facilities have been installed. However, maintenance of these facilities have, at times, been a problem. As a result, the equipment has, once in a while, broken down for a considerable period. This is quite dangerous. A maintenance service contract will reduce this problem to the minimum. Attempts are now being made to put them under service contract starting from 1999/2000 financial year. The Unrealised Dream This case <strong>study</strong> has demonstrated that the need to have a functional conservation workshop for the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service was realised as early as 1963. However, it must be emphasised that the initial idea was to start developing a small and simple conservation workshop. Indeed, efforts were made to achieve this objective at first. But as time went on, it would appear as if the original well-thought vision got lost. Instead of starting with simple and achievable conservation plans for the Department, ambitious dreams began to develop in the minds of the former Directors of the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service. Even before the Department was able to start the most basic conservation operations for its own needs, we began thinking of developing a relatively bigger capacity to serve regional needs - and especially training needs. What a contradiction!! This approach seems to have been given some support by the late Albert H. Leisinger when he recommended that a school (training facility) be established in the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service for technicians and archivists. He observed that:- ‘It is my opinion that it is essential to establish a school for the training of both technicians and archivists not only from Kenya but also from such neighbouring countries as Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and other countries. The course for technicians could be from 4 to 5 weeks duration for Reprography and from 4 to 5 weeks duration in Conservation at a minimum.’ 22 Experience has, since the above recommendation was made, taught us that it was much more practical to establish adequate capability to serve Kenya’s archival and library needs first before we could begin to talk about regional needs. It was probably this wrongly placed ambition which blindly pushed the Kenya National Archives and 22 Leisinger, op cit, p.2. CASE STUDIES 13: MUSEMBI 14
Documentation Service to acquire expensive and complicated equipment before we obtained appropriate advice from a conservation expert as clearly recommended by Albert H. Leisinger. We were in a hurry to achieve this bigger objective. The results were clearly disastrous as explained earlier. Be that as it may, the relatively better resourced Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service began to develop some capability in conservation and reprography ahead of most other national archives in the region. Many national archives in Eastern and Southern Africa have, even upto now, not yet developed conservation workshops. The National Archives of South Africa and Zimbabwe are notable exceptions. This explains why we have, as I have already explained, received and accepted requests for attachments in our conservation workshop from some institutions in the region. In other words, the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service has, in the long-term, the potential to develop a relatively well-equipped workshop capable of serving some of the training needs in the region. Mr Rhys-Lewis has recently observed that the long-term benefits of such a ‘centre of excellence for the region, and Africa as a whole, are immeasurable.’ 23 But for us to achieve this long-term objective, we must slightly re-orient our thinking and our plans now. First and foremost, we must, in the short-term, plan to meet the needs of the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service only. These are already too many and complex. We must carefully plan to proceed from simple and achievable objectives to much more complex operations. Equally, we will have to co-ordinate much more closely documents restoration and repairs with microfilming activities than has been the case before. We must first strive to develop a centre of excellence for Kenya before we can begin thinking about the region. In other words, the hitherto ‘mild’ and unrealised dream of a centre of excellence for the region has now been re-oriented. This, indeed, is what it should have been from the very beginning. 23 Rhys-Lewis, op cit, 9 CASE STUDIES 13: MUSEMBI 15
Page 1 and 2: MANAGING PUBLIC SECTOR RECORDS Mana
Page 3 and 4: MANAGING PUBLIC SECTOR RECORDS A ST
Page 5 and 6: MPSR Project Personnel Project Dire
Page 7 and 8: Donors The International Records Ma
Page 9 and 10: CONTENTS Introduction 1 Case Studie
Page 11 and 12: MPSR CASE STUDIES AND LINKS TO THE
Page 13 and 14: 19 Henry Kemoni Kenya Managing Medi
Page 15 and 16: Development of Conservation Facilit
Page 17 and 18: The first Government Archivist had
Page 19 and 20: ‘On arrival, the consultant was f
Page 21 and 22: work produced was rather rudimentar
Page 23 and 24: The dust problem did not escape Mr
Page 25 and 26: Kenya National Archives and Documen
Page 27: themselves is equally tedious, time
Page 31 and 32: (b) If you (the student) were the o
Page 33 and 34: Appendix 1 LIST OF CONSERVATION EQU
Page 35 and 36: Case Study: Development and Impleme
Page 37 and 38: Record keeping system: information
Page 39 and 40: Case Study: A New International Tra
Page 41 and 42: suggestion by the Shadow Minister t
Page 43 and 44: Instructor’s Notes Analysis of ca
Page 45 and 46: microfilm and fiche by clerical sta
Page 47 and 48: • 25% a list of contextual factor
Page 49 and 50: Organisational structure The Depart
Page 51 and 52: allows for the admission of electro
Page 53 and 54: The use of tactics should also be g
Page 55 and 56: • establish an ongoing regime of
Page 57 and 58: Appendix A: Excerpts from Authority
Page 59 and 60: ***********************************
Page 61 and 62: Appendix B: Visualising Systems: Ge
Page 63 and 64: Appendix C: Describing Processes: F
Page 65 and 66: 13 USE OF ON-PAGE CONNECTORS: Use O
Page 67 and 68: CHECKS CORRESPONDENCE A Appendix D:
Page 69 and 70: Archivist in Charge- Reference 6. A
Page 71 and 72: Abstract Management of Financial Re
Page 73 and 74: This study represents the accountab
Page 75 and 76: Debt Management • project debt se
Page 77 and 78: • receiving and ordering the disb
Page 79 and 80:
The Legal and Regulatory Framework
Page 81 and 82:
• MONITORING PROGRAMME AND PROJEC
Page 83 and 84:
Major Types of Financial Records an
Page 85 and 86:
Business Process Information Area R
Page 87 and 88:
• bill books. Financial and accou
Page 89 and 90:
PROCESS TWO: In the second stage, e
Page 91 and 92:
The Financial Record Keeping Situat
Page 93 and 94:
cumbersome manual processes and all
Page 95 and 96:
could not validate the foreign inde
Page 97 and 98:
Problem One Case Problems Financial
Page 99:
Bibliography Barata Kimberly, Cain
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