Archives

Archives Management is concerned with the study of managerial functions that an individual needs to posses to effectively manage archives. This subject aims at imparting to the trainee knowledge and skills that will enable him/her to be able to appreciate the role of archives in the management of organizations. The trainee should be able to identify the various types of archives and be able to perform archives management functions.

Archivist
A facility that houses records retained for historical or research value after the primary purpose has been fulfilled. Archives is also defined as non-current records that have been identified for presentation because they posses enduring value. They are normally selected from a mass of records and that they possess or have enduring value which warrants preservation. They form a small fraction of all the records of an organization. Archives therefore can be used to refer to a building or a room that houses archival materials or the materials themselves.

Archives management
Refers to the theoretical and practical study of policies, procedures and problems, which relate to archival functions. It is also considered as the practical activities involved in the control and direction of archives including various functions. Acquisition of archives Accessioning of archives Description and arrangement Preservation and security Access and use Archival legislation Marketing and archives

 IDENTIFYING ARCHIVES The archivist should carry out a records survey, followed by an appraisal, acquire the material through purchase, gifts, donations, loans, and exchange donations like the Joy Adamson donations to the Kenya Museums. Other acquisitions include legal deposits (by aspect of the law e.g. certain items should be deposited at the Kenya National Archives as a requirement e.g. every PS or the Government printer is required by law to deposit two copies of any publication at the archives as required by the laws of Kenya. It is also a requirement that any publication about Kenya e.g. a book must be deposited at the Kenya National Library Services (KNLS). Another method of acquisition is through the retrieval of migrated archives.

 PRESERVATION Once he has acquired the material he must now prepare to preserve. All records collected must be entered in a register. This is called accessioning. This will be followed by arrangement. This means the archivists must follow some outlined principles which include: Provenance: (source or origin). Materials should never be mixed. They should be retained in the order in which they came i.e. materials from Ministry of Education should never be mixed with those of the Ministry of Lands

 Avail archives to users. The archivist will describe the information contained in the archives. Access into the archives is restricted. Reference materials like Encyclopaedias can be consulted inside the search room. Marketing archives should publicize about what they have in the archives for people/public to know. He should re-appraise his records and ensure that whatever he has in his custody is still of value.

TYPES OF ARCHIVES
PUBLIC ARCHIVES These are official records which have been created by the public sector and they have been managed in the respective registries. Public archives are normally managed by the National Archives of a given country e.g. in Kenya Public Archives are managed by KNAD services. Definition of public records and consumption is well reflected in the appropriate legislation or Act of a country e.g. in Kenya you can read Public Archives Act Cap 19 Kenya Laws. Public Archives are those records which are created in public organization and institutions and are governed by the relevant legislation e.g. Archives of government ministries and departments Archives of local authorities ad office of the president Parliament Electoral commission Judiciary etc

 SEMI-PUBLIC ARCHIVES These are the archives of parastatals or institutions which are semi autonomous or organizations of the government. This archives are also governed by the Public Legislation e.g. archives of Telekom, NSSF, NHIF, KPLC, KR, KPA etc

 PRIVATE ARCHIVES These are records, which are created by the individual private company. Institutions or company policies govern political parties and them. The nature of information in these archives is on the functions and activities of these private companies and it is not open to the public for research unless under special permission.

Acquisition of archives
4) Transfer (Direct) This involves records from the public sector which are transferred directly to the archives. It is a method whereby the creating agencies transfer their records or move their records from their offices into archives. Ownership will still remain the creating agencies owner. In such case, only the physical custody of the records change but the ownership remains with the creating agency. 5) Legal deposit: It is a requirement by the law i.e. public archives act Cap 19 laws of Kenya that certain organization are required to deposit copies of their records at the national archives as per the statutory requirements. Such include the Director of Kenya Bureau of Statistics, Permanent Secretaries, Government printer etc.

 ACQUISITION PROCEDURE 41 Acquisition involves a lot of decisions and actions to be taken. The process of acquisition should not be done haphazardly to avoid wastage of resources in terms of manpower financiers and time. The aim of any archival service within its own agreed field of operation would be to build up holdings or a collection which contain balanced documentation of the chosen subject area. Therefore acquisition should follow the procedure below

Acquisition procedure
Appraisal: The Archives is not a dumping place for valueless materials or any material which are not relevant. The archivist needs to determine the value of the material before they are transferred to the archives. This appraisal takes place in the curators offices for provide records or in a records centre for public records. Agreement of transfer: Once the archivist has identified the records he wants, it may be necessary to write down tan agreement either through lawyers or through an official letter or through verbal agreement. They have to state whether the deposits is temporary or permanent. Actual Transfers: The archivists should agree with the creator as to who should be responsible for the transfer i.e. transportation. All records to be transferred should be recorded down in a transfer list and a copy of this list should accompany the records. The records should be properly packed as they are old and fragile to avoid damage. The dates 42 of transfer should be fixed by the archivist and the creating agent. Receipt of archival materials. Upon receiving the records the archivist should acknowledge immediately i.e. write back. Determine proper treatment/arrangement: The archivist should determine the most suitable arrangement for the records by doing the following:
Note down all what was received at the receiving bay. Dust the files/records. Remove all the metal clips and staple and replace them with nylon ones. Avoid mixing the records and making any unnecessary changes in their order i.e. should be arranged according to principle of provenance and original order.

 Discuss various reasons why acquisition of archives should be done systematically and not haphazardly.

Archives Arrangement Principles

Arrangement is the process of physically organizing records and papers to reveal their contents and significance in accordance with the accepted archival principles of provenance and original order. Principles of Arrangement

 This principle holds that archives of all kinds, which have their origin or provenance as either administration Units, organizations or individual should be kept together as a single entity and not mixed up with those of different origin.

 PRINCIPLE OF ORIGINAL ORDER This is principle states that records should be arranged or maintained in the order in which they were originally kept when in active use. It simply means that the archives should be stored or arranged the way they were stored/ arranged by the creating office The principle advocates for the restoration of organizational registry order of arrangement of records or the mode of arrangement that was being followed in arranging records in the registry.

Record Group concept

Ina record group system, a collection or a group of records can only be placed at one logical place. The arrangement represented the organizational pattern of the source. The arrangement means that records should kept in separate units that correspond to their sources in organic bodies where each unit is treated as an integral unit (record group).

 REASONS FOR ARRANGEMENT To enable the archivist to determine whether there are documents that should be repaired or bound. To determine whether there are documents that should not be made available for research for reasons of privacy, confidentiality or security. To determine whether there are ephemeral documents that should be recommended for destruction. To be described and made accessible for research.

 SECURITY MEASURES IN THE SEARCH ROOMS Installing some surveillance cameras and videos Should be close supervision and monitoring by an archivist to know the activities going on in the search room To restrict users from taking bags folders and heavy jacket to the search room this discourages theft of archives. Users should not allow to take newspapers and books to the search room because written data can be used to disguise received and stealing. No users should be allowed to go with equipment that can be used to cut records in the search room e grazer blade, pen knives etc Allowing only registered user to use the search room after identify yourself. Having out exit point where users are checked to determine whatever they have carried archives materials.