Prof Duranti
The Department of Information Science hosted the first annual lecture on archives and records management on 1 November 2012 at the Dr Miriam Makeba Concert Hall, Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria. The hall was filled to capacity with Unisa staff members and archives and records management practitioners from both the public and private sector, including a few from Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Dr Britta Zawada, Deputy Dean of the CHS, welcomed attendees and thanked guest speaker Prof Luciana Duranti, stating that they couldn’t have asked for a better scholar to present the seminar. Indeed, Prof Duranti is one of the archival luminaries and pioneers of archival education across the globe. ARMA International Education Foundation presented her with an award for academic excellence for her Master’s Programme in Archival Science in June 2012.
Prof Duranti, who is currently Chair and Professor of Archival Studies at the University of British Columbia, spoke about Continuity and Transformation in the role of Archivists. “The most important outcome of these efforts will be successful only if we are able to make the records and archival environment understand the spirit of what we recommend. We will be able to incorporate it into our actions and recommendations, the outlook and way of working of those whom we intend to serve,” she said. Her emphasis was on the duty of records managers and archivists to records as the trusted custodians.
The seminar touched on the archivist’s traditional role, highlighting that the primary duty is to the records and the secondary duty is to the user. In this regard, as Prof Duranti put it, “by serving the records, archivists will be serving the users.” Serving records means records need to be preserved from deteriorating and described so that they can be retrieved when needed. “With digital records these factors are still good but no longer sufficient,” she said.
She emphasised that in terms of the nature of digital records the recorded content, structure and medium were no
Prof Thomas Van der Walt from Depart. of Information Science, Dr. Buhle Mbambo Thata, the Director of the UNISA Library, Prof Luciana Duranti, Dr Britta Zawada, Prof Bosire Onyancha from Dept. of Information Science and Mpho Ngoepe from Centre for Applied Information and Communication
longer inextricably linked. Therefore, archivists could no longer determine the trustworthiness of the object-record which is composite and permanently new.
She described archivists as trusted custodians who should position themselves at the beginning of the record life-cycle rather than waiting until records become archives, assessing the authenticity of the records and monitoring them throughout their existence.
She concluded the seminar by stating, “Records offices and archives should become a locus of research by establishing a partnership with academics involved in international research and in professionals involved in standard development.”
By Busi Mabaso
