Decentralisation as a marketing strategy for archival services in Zimbabwe
| Date | 30 August 2024 |
| Pages | 18-24 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-07-2023-0023 |
| Published date | 30 August 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Collection building & management |
| Author | Oscar Sigauke,Samson Mutsagondo,Munyika Sibanda |
Decentralisation as a marketing strategy
for archival services in Zimbabwe
Oscar Sigauke
Department of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Samson Mutsagondo
School of Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, and
Munyika Sibanda
Department of History, Archaeology and Development Studies, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Abstract
Purpose –Archival institutions must make their holdings and services known to the public to ensure increased usage. It is the obligation of archival
institutions to adopt strategies to market their services to increase the usage of their holdings. Therefore, this study aims to assess the National
Archives of Zimbabwe’s (NAZ) decentralisation drive as a strategy to market its archival services.
Design/methodology/approach –The multiple case study research design, which is interpretive and qualitative, was used for the study. The study
used interviews, questionnaires and document review as data collection tools. The collected data were presented, anal ysed and discussed using the
thematic data analysis approach.
Findings –Findings revealed that the NAZ decentralised provincial records centres were actively involved in the marketing of archival services
offered by the NAZ. The study also established that the decentralised provincial records centres perform activities such as records survey s, training,
oral history, issuance of brochures, guided tours and career guidance, which increase their interactions with communities they serve. The
decentralised offices took advantage of these interactions to market archival services offered by the NAZ.
Originality/value –The study illustrated that decentralisation of archival institutions and services to the lower tiers of government is a powerful
strategy for the marketing of archival services. Therefore, there is need for archival institutions to adopt or enhance the use of this strategy to
increase the usage of archives.
Keywords Archival services, Archives, Decentralisation, Marketing, National Archives of Zimbabwe, Provincial records centres
Paper type Research paper
Introduction and background of the study
Archival institutions play an invaluable role in the social,
political and economic development of a country. They house
treasures of special archival collections held on behalf of the
society (Kamatula, 2011). These special archival collections
have the potential to transform the lives of the members of the
public through fostering accountability, promoting democracy
and justice, protection of human rights and promotion of
cultural heritage, among others (Ngulube et al., 2017). The
access and use of these archives bythe public or by citizens in a
country largely depend on the citizens’knowledge of the
existence of an archival institution and its holdings. Scholars
have, however, bemoaned the underutilisation of the archives
by the members of the public, and highlighting that archival
institutions are at risk of becoming irrelevant if their holdings
are not used (Chaterera, 2017;Maphorisa and Jain, 2013;
Saurombe and Ngulube, 2016).One of the key factors cited for
this underutilisation of archives was lack of awareness of
archives by the public due to lack of proper marketing by archival
institutions. Archival institutions, therefore, havea duty to make
people aware of where to find the archives,an dwhen and how to
find the archives (Saurombe and Ngulube, 2016). Put
differently, archival institutions have an obligation to market
their archival services to the public to enhance their usage.
The marketing of archival services, although in its nascent
stage, has emerged as one of the essential activities of archival
institutions. According to Jestin and Parameswari (2005)
marketing covers those activities that connect the organisation
to its outside world that uses its products and services. Put in
archival terms, marketingcovers archival activities that connect
the archival institutions to the users of their archival holdings.
The marketing of archival services helps in raising the
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9326.htm
Collection and Curation
44/1 (2025) 18–24
Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2514-9326]
[DOI 10.1108/CC-07-2023-0023]
© Oscar Sigauke, Samson Mutsagondo and Munyika Sibanda. Published
by Emerald Publishing Limited.This article is published under the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both
commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to
the original publication and authors. Thefull terms of this licence may be
seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The authors want to thank all their informants for participating in the
study. Be blessed.
Received 11 July 2023
Revised 12 June 2024
Accepted 13 August 2024
18
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