National Archives digitalises

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NATIONAL Archives of Zimbabwe director Ivan Murambiwa says the department has started computerising its public archive libraries with 50% of the work already done.

NATIONAL Archives of Zimbabwe director Ivan Murambiwa says the department has started computerising its public archive libraries with 50% of the work already done.

BY RUTH NGWENYA

Murambiwa said digitalisation and availability of records online for the public to easily access information was vital.

Speaking on sidelines of the ongoing 23rd edition of Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (Esarbica), Murambiwa said digitilisation of records was a way of enabling democratic and open access to information by the public.

“At the National Archives of Zimbabwe we are in a transition in terms of public access regime to our archives. We are moving from a manual regime to a system that is enhanced by ICTs (information communication technology),” Murambiwa said.

“It’s a process linked to availability of resources.

“We started with computerising our finding aids so that our researchers could be able to search material in a faster way and have completed our audio-visual archives.”

He said the organisation had started uploading records to its website, adding the process should be completed by end of the next financial year.

“The current online documents are open for free readership, but as time goes on we will move to subscribed access,” he said.

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