It is important that on the world archives day, we reflect on the unique roles our national archives and archivist perform.
Speaking during the world archives day yesterday the Ministry of Culture and Tourism supervising Permanent Secretary Moses Tepai said, it is significant the nation recognises the uniqueness of archives in the way they provide authentic evidence of human actions.
Mr. Tepai said the national governments of past and present have shown great commitment in supporting the work of the national archives as a way forward and in improving the services to the people.
“Protecting and safeguarding the institution as our only national documentary heritage has been an area of priority.”
In highlighting the government’s commitment to the national archives Mr Tepai said, two major governments funded project has just been successfully completed and this includes the construction of retaining walls and fencing of the premises perimeters.
With that he said, currently the Ministry and the national archives are engaging in the digitization project which is funded by the current government.
“While digitization is a process whereby information is converted into digital format, it makes it easier to preserve, access, and share information through digital format.”
He said, original historical document may only be accessible to people who visit its physical location, but if the document content is digitized, it can be made available to people worldwide.
“The project once completed will open up collections that cannot always be accessed by users for example, very fragile cultural materials where it will also provide on-demand local, national and international access to the collection,” he said.
He said, through the digital format, the national archives will have the privilege to build partnership with other institutions to improve the quality of archival services by sharing resources and adopting common standards.
The Ministry wishes to acknowledge the great work of archivists who are skilled professional who care for our only National Archives and provide access to them he added.
By Biriau Wilson Saeni
