Online presence of public archival institutions of South Africa
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-10-2022-0034 |
| Published date | 21 March 2023 |
| Date | 21 March 2023 |
| Pages | 88-93 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Collection building & management |
| Author | Jan Maluleka,Marcia Nkwe,Patrick Ngulube |
Online presence of public archival institutions
of South Africa
Jan Maluleka and Marcia Nkwe
Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, and
Patrick Ngulube
Department of Interdisciplinary Research and Postgraduate Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –In the wake of the fourth industrial revolution, where most information is accessible online, archives should be visible online for them to
fulfil their legislated mandate and facilitate access to information resources. The Covid-19 pandemic has further underscored the importance of
online platforms in making archives accessible without the public having to visit archival institutions physically. The purpose of this study is to
examine the extent to which public archival institutions of South Africa are visible online with the view to deepen their understanding of how
archives promote themselves online.
Design/methodology/approach –The study employed content analysis to establish the online content of public archival institutions in South
Africa. A google search was conducted using the names of the archival institutions as search terms. The top results obtained after the search were
recorded for further analysis.
Findings –The findings suggest that public archival institutions in South Africa have limited online presence. Only the National Archives of South
Africa had an active website with collections that are accessible online. Some provincial archives had websites hosted by their parent bodies while
others had no websites at all. Only the Limpopo and Eastern Cape provincial archives had their Facebook pages in the top results. There were no
signs of other social media sites in the top results.
Originality/value –The study concludes that public archival institutions are not visible o nline. All provincial archives need to have websites where they
can be accessed. The use of social media platforms needs to be prioritised. In this fourth industrial revolution age, people communicate and interact online.
Public archival institutions should therefore make it their primary mandate to take the archives to where the people are currently meeting.
Keywords South Africa, Social media platforms, Online platforms, Online archives, Public archival institutions, Public programming
Paper type Research paper
Introduction and background to the study
In the wake of the fourth industrial revolution, where most
information is accessible online, archives should be visible
online for them to fulfil their legislative mandate and facilitate
access to information resources. Information technology and
the internet have transformedmany aspects of human lives and
they are a huge part of today’s culture. As a result, archivists
and records managers should be responsiveto the environment
brought about by the fourth industrial revolution in which they
find themselves. Prisecaru (2016) highlights that the fourth
industrial revolution is mainly based on internet and green
energies. The internet being about allowing easy access to
information and easy trade for goods and services while green
energies centre around cleanenergies and the cognisance of the
energy impact on the environment. The increasing online
transactions and availability of information online speak
directly to information professionals including archivists.
Mukwevho and Ngoepe (2018) argue that part of the mandate
of public archivesrepositories in South Africa is to take archives
to the people. Access to records and archivesis a veryimportant
aspect to society and there isa need for the general public to be
made aware of the treasures thearchival institutions are storing
on behalf of society (Kamatula,2011). Cook (1990) warns that
archives are not a private playgroundfor professionals, but they
are a sacred public trust for preserving society’s memories that
must be widely shared. Archives belong to the people, and they
need to be taken out of hiding and be made available to
ordinary people.
The sharing can be done through public programming.
Public programming can be explained as all activities
undertaken by archival institutions to promote access and use
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
42/3 (2023) 88–93
Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2514-9326]
[DOI 10.1108/CC-10-2022-0034]
© Jan Maluleka, Marcia Nkwe and Patrick Ngulube. 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. The full terms of this licence may be
seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
This paper is an output from the community project entitled “Taking
archives to the people”registered in the College of Graduate Studies at the
University of South Africa.
Received 15 October 2022
Revised 13 February 2023
Accepted 13 February 2023
88
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