3.5 Digital Archiving Readiness
3.5.2 Resources for digital archiving
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low internet connectivity and bandwidth as the barriers to successful digital records and archives management implementation at the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Services. Another recent study by Ambira, Kemoni and Ngulube (2019) established that the state of ICT infrastructure in public sector organisations and institutions was poor, leading to the conclusion that the readiness of ministries for e-governance service provision was below bar. Further, Ambira, Kemoni and Ngulube (2019:306) cite a report by Ministry of State and Public Service (2011) which revealed that the integration of ICTs in the management of public sector records and information has been uncoordinated and disjointed, with individual ministries implementing their own approaches and strategies. The overall effect has been a flawed implementation process for digital records and archives management, affirming the notion of poor ICT infrastructure and lack of readiness for digital recordkeeping in public sector organisations in Kenya, a gap that this study attempted to address.
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considerations in ERM and digital archiving solutions because they are an indicator of an archival repository and organization’s commitment to support the project and the extent to which the employees can genuinely and actively take part in the process (Hamid 2018:17). In particular, McLeod and Childs (2013:17) noted that people issues are basic but complicated because they encompass philosophical attitudes, awareness recordkeeping issues as well as knowledge and skills possessed by staff. A study of the New Zealand public sector by Yin (2014) established that user involvement during planning process was among the top-ranking social factors contributing to lack of user buy-in and lack of senior management support during the implementation of digital recordkeeping systems. Hamid (2018:17) advises that users of digital recordkeeping systems should receive timely communication concerning proposed changes and be involved in consideration of available options and subsequent decision making (Hamid 2018:17). Summarizing on the aspect of people as an important resource in digital records and archives management projects, Hamid (2018:17) cites Self (2007) who proposed five key questions that should be considered when determining staff readiness for change, which in the context of this study is digital archiving:
i. Is there a need for digital archiving?
ii. Is digital archiving the right change to make?
iii. What should be done to boost staff confidence in the digital archiving project?
iv. What is the actual organizational support for digital archiving? and
v. How can staff be facilitated to understand the nature of digital archiving project outcomes?
Education and training: Digital records and archives management initiatives are doomed to failure if they are not supported by qualified and experienced staff as well as regular training programmes for the staff (Asogwa 2012:203). Consequently, continuous education and training for records professionals have become a global concern for governments and organizations (Johare and Masrek 2011:699). In Australia, electronic records management programme was a success because the government allocated above 80 percent of the budget to staff training (Asogwa 2012:205). In Africa however, there has been growing concern that archival institutions and records management units are being run by recordkeeping
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professionals who are not well versed with issues regarding creation, appraisal, preservation, access, security, disposal and dissemination of digital records and archives (Asogwa 2012; Erima and Wamukoya 2012; Mulauzi et al. 2012; Kamatula 2010; Groenewald and Breytenbach 2010). A study of three state-owned universities in Nigeria by Asogwa (2013) assessing the extent that employees were conversant with digital records management painted a distraught picture in the country, with 69 percent of the respondents indicating that they lacked knowledge to manage records throughout their lifecycle. Similarly, Mulauzi et al. (2012:7) asserted that recordkeeping professionals require core competencies and skills to develop and set up comprehensive ERM and d-archiving strategies. Mulauzi et al. (2012:7) further noted that the competencies and skills are varied and can be classified into technology skills, information management skills and project management skills which include skills to create, capture, classify, index, appraise, store, preserve, retrieve, track, dispose and archive digital records. The competencies required include but are not limited to knowledge of the digital environment for records, knowledge of digital recordkeeping trends and practices, knowledge of digital record types as well as knowledge of IT applications for recordkeeping (Mulauzi et al. 2012:7). Of interest to this study, Kamatula (2010) drew attention to the prevailing research gap on minimal studies in the area of skills for digital records and archives, pointing out that records management and archives practitioners are struggling with issues relating to lifecycle management in today’s digital dispensation.
Finances: The success of digital recordkeeping programmes is dependent upon sufficient funding and budgetary allocations. Construction and maintenance of a digital archive constitutes costs for activities such as data capture, selection, storage, maintenance, description and discovery, use, preservation, among others. Citing Anderson (2004), Taiwo (2019:26) postulates that the key barrier to the success of digital records and archives management implementations is failure to sufficiently meet the cost of funding the project. The problem of low budgetary allocations for recordkeeping in general is common in Africa and has commonly been attributed to embezzlement, fraud and general mismanagement of funds as noted in a number of studies. For example, Asogwa (2013) revealed that the problem of budgeting in Nigeria was attributed to corruption with cases of money meant for development projects finding its way into individuals’ pockets and records evidencing authorization
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of these projects disappearing or otherwise being burnt through supposed cases of arson. Similar cases of funds mismanagement have been reported in public universities in Kenya, a recent example being in September 2019 when the nation was shocked by a local television station, Citizen Television’s investigative story on Maasai Mara University dubbed “The Mara Heist” that put the institution on the spot over allegations of misappropriation of 190 million Kenya shillings. Records management issues were brought to the limelight as evidence was sought to pin down the culprits. In another study, Belator et al (2019) found that lack of preparedness for digital recordkeeping at KNADS was also attributed to insufficient budget allocations.
The present study investigated the financial soundness and preparedness of public universities in Kenya for digital archiving.