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The Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), Government of Canada, through Shastri Indo‐Canadian Institute, encourages Indian scholars for Understanding Canada Faculty Research, Fellowships; the author visited Canada during March 2010 to study Canadian archival system, especially records management in archives in Ontario province; the driving rationale for the study was the realization that there existed very few or no archives and record management (ARM) programs in India. This study intends to report different types of ARM programs in Canada, with special reference to e‐records management, namely automation status, creation of virtual exhibits, preservation of digital images, metadata standard for e‐records, etc.

The author visited national, provincial and municipal archives and conducted unstructured interviews with archives staff/managers.

Records are considered as commodity and attempts to improve their management has necessitated a more integrated and controlled approach. In this study, it is noted that archivist and records managers have at present very little influence on policy implementation of archives and working under university librarian and less influence on decision making. All the university archives get a nominal amount from library budget. No separate budget for archives is available; modest budgets are allocated for rare book collection. The total archives concept in English Canada is based on the American system. The responsibility for collecting and copying its historical records fell to the government; with the so‐called convergence of technologies helping to fulfill new demands and rising expectations and to empower the end‐user. It was possible to establish very good relations with the archivists of these institutions and the author is keen to keep contact with them. It is expected that this study will serve as a building block to deeper examinations of broader issues such as the core competencies with respect to records management with special reference to e‐records management.

The prime objectives were to overview the current state of active and passive record keeping in the Government of Canada and identify the core competencies required to build effective record keeping infrastructures in the digital environment that has emerged in most government institutions. During a period of one month, the author was able to visit only selected archives in Toronto and Ottawa. The archives in other parts of Canada are not included in this study due to time limit.

The paper presents a study of the archival system in Canada and its role and contribution towards promoting a knowledge society in Canada.

Archives and records are important resources for individuals, organizations and the country. The academic archives are created and maintained for the effective execution of university educational and corporate functions. The archives management practices in universities are being studied in the developed countries; however, a scarcity of empirical research is observed in the context of developing countries, for instance, Pakistan. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the archives management practices performed in the archival units of University of the Punjab (UoP), Lahore, in association with the successful execution of university educational functions.

A structured survey questionnaire was developed to collect responses from the record-keepers and archives monitoring staff using a complete enumerative (census) approach. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS 23.0 in addition to structural equation modeling (SEM) run in AMOS 22v.

The findings of this study revealed an inconsistency regarding the policies and procedures, arrangement and filing records and access and retrieval due to the practice of self-developed procedures in the UoP archival units. Although archives management practices have significant impact on university academic as well as research-related functions, however, there is lack of centralized and standardized practices for archiving records in the UoP. Lack of professional/trained staff and policy document are key limitations in building systematic and standardized archives management system in academic intuitions, particularly in the UoP.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study in Pakistan that has explored archives management practices used in university archives. It also contributes theoretically and methodologically through the underpinnings of archival principles in association with university functions and developing a validated scale to explore archives management practices in universities. The findings of this study may be helpful for the concerned bodies, university administrations and archives managers to establish, manage and improve the academic archives systematically.

This study aims to investigate a framework for implementation of legislative framework governing records management throughout the life cycle in the Limpopo provincial government of South Africa.

This quantitative multi-method study used a semi-structured questionnaire, document analysis and interviews to collect data. The dominant approach was quantitative, with some support from limited qualitative data, which served to clarify the statistical data. No sampling method was applied, as the study targeted the entire population of 135 records management participants from the provincial departments with the questionnaire, while nine participants from provincial archives participated in interviews.

The study revealed that the role of the provincial archives in enforcing compliance with legislative frameworks for the proper management of records was always disrupted by a lack of key resources such as staffing, for inspecting and training records-creating departments and working resources at the departmental levels.

The findings will contribute to the field in respect of future studies into compliance with records management legislation, and the proposed framework may be applied as a theoretical basis for, or part of, a conceptual framework.

The study will serve as a resource or benchmark for archivists and records management professionals in the industry, as they count amongst the policymakers who find ways of monitoring, evaluating and enforcing compliance with the legislation governing proper records management.

The proper implementation of recommendations from this study will lead to significant improvements in the management of records with enduring value, allowing them to finally be transferred to an archival repository to serve the public interest as heritage, national memory, or resources for researchers and authors, amongst others.

The study proposes a framework for implementation of legislation governing records management with greater ease in the Limpopo provincial government of South Africa.

This paper aims to analyse the current Southern African countries’ archives and records management legislations to identify the gaps and challenges. It is important to assess the role played by National Archives legislations within the preservation of heritage and history; private archives known as liberation archives; the transfer of archives; the disposal and retention of records, access, copyright management and skills; and development of staff.

The study used a qualitative methodology through document analysis, interviews and observation. The sampling of the study comprised representatives from the selected Southern African National Archives (South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia).

The key findings revealed gaps of the archives and records management legislations in terms of definitions, transfer, disposal and transfer of records and accessibility. Some of the Southern African countries failed to use archives and records management legislation to promote accountability and governance.

The research is limited to the following countries: Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.

Archive and records management legislation which has gaps creates problems in terms of effective implementation of archives and records management programmes.

The failure by Southern African countries to revise their National Archives legislations and clarify the role of National Archives will lead to loss of archival materials if not addressed.

Updated archives legislation contributes to the development of effective archives and records management programme.

The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare the current state of archival and records systems in two of ESARBICA member countries, namely South Africa and Botswana.

The paper uses a qualitative research approach. To draw inferences and make recommendations, a survey was conducted in national and provincial archival institutions of both countries. Secondary data were derived from literature search and primary data from questionnaires.

While archives and records services in both countries do have legislation, they are not being recognised and given status in the government and public arena. Archivists and records managers in either country are still marginalised by state administration. There is no political champion of archives and records management in either country. There is a shortage of funds and staff, accompanied by poor infrastructure and lack of vision by the leaders of archival institutions in both countries. In South Africa, the national archives have inherited a role from the previous dispensation and it still remains a subordinate functionary within the Department of Arts and Culture, rather than being relatively independent. In Botswana, the national archival system is centralised and is also a subordinate functionary within the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

The findings and recommendations will help in guiding national and provincial archival institutions in both countries to facilitate the effective management of records to determine those of archival value, to preserve them for posterity and to make them accessible to the public.

This is the first comparative study on archival and reocrds management systems between Botswana and South Africa.

The purpose of this study is to assess the appraisal of records at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Venda. Furthermore, the study intends to recommend appraisal of records to recognize African culture, reviewing records management policy to include an element on the appraisal of records, raise awareness on the appraisal of records, capacity building and develop electronic records management strategy to appraise records.

This study is based on the qualitative research technique. The research approach is a multiple case study comparing the previously advantaged and disadvantaged universities in South Africa.

The study found that archives and records management legislation, archives and records management policy, re-appraisal of records, capacity building are essential for the appraisal of university records. Lack of appropriate appraisal theory and strategy by the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Venda leads to a loss of institutional memory.

This research is limited to the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Venda. These two institutions are a sample of the state of archiving in South Africa.

There is very little, if any, research on the appraisal of South African universities' records. The outcome of this research will benefit universities that are seeking to develop and implement appraisal strategies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of appraisal with regard to compliance with archives and records management legislations (ARML), the archives and records management policy (ARMP), reappraisal of records, capacity building, archives building and electronic records management (ERM) and to make a recommendation based on the research findings.

This study was based on the qualitative research technique. The research approach was a multiple case study comparing the previously advantaged and disadvantaged universities in South Africa.

The study found that ARML, ARMP, reappraisal of records and capacity building are essential for the appraisal of university records. The lack of appropriate appraisal theory/strategy led to a loss of institutional memory.

This research was limited to the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) and the University of Venda (UNIVEN). These two institutions are representatives of the state of archiving in South Africa.

This research will serve a benchmark for other South African universities, intending to implement systematic disposal of records in compliance with legislations and policies.

Failure by universities to appraise records will lead to the loss of institutional memory. This implies that history of institution will be lost if necessary measures are not taken.

There is very little, if any, research on the appraisal of South African universities’ records. The outcome of this research will benefit universities that are seeking to develop and implement appraisal strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of climate change on South Africa’s Mpumalanga Provincial Archives (MPA) and related records management activities.

A qualitative research approach/method was used to collect data from the source, including purposive sampling and expert knowledge solicited through semi-structured interviews. A review was undertaken to source climate data and related archival sector literature.

Recent extreme weather events in Mpumalanga seem to bear out climate change projections. The current absence of relevant strategies and plans implies that the MPA and provincial departments are not yet prepared for emergencies. The lack of a plan, an implementation strategy and related training may increase the impact of disasters on the provincial archives’ environment. Without disaster plans and robust preparedness, the question of how the MPA is going to preserve archives for future generations is raised. In addition, due to a lack of guidance for registry staff, appraisal is not allowing for identification and processing of archival materials, so combined with a lack of disaster management strategies and plans contributes to the loss of archives.

This research is limited to the MPA; however, the findings may be extended to other South Africa provincial archives and parts of the world experiencing similar issues. There is a need to conduct similar research on a larger scale so as to explore the impact of climate change in other provincial archives to provide a wider context of the problem within South Africa.

When archivists accept holdings into their repositories, they take the responsibility for their archival custody. But, these efforts may come to nothing if the archives are lost. Disaster management is the key to the protection of the archives.

This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of climate change on archives. The results achieved should be seen as a first step towards identification of the issue.

This paper aims to focus on the need to ascertain harmony in records and archives management practices between the university archives, sports union and the various sport clubs at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in an endeavor to establish whether these fugitive records are being captured.

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to investigate records and archives management practices in sport clubs on the Pietermaritzburg (PMB) campus, UKZN. Data are thus obtained through a questionnaire, interviews, observation and email correspondence. This triangulation of methods of data collection is designed to increase the validity and reliability of the results.

This study has established that there was much dissonance with regard to records and archives management practices and recommendations inter alia included their need for overhaul and the need for pro-activeness on the part of archivists to collect this heritage for future reference.

This study is only confined to the UKZN, PMB campus and not the entire university that constitutes a limitation. The findings may assist university authorities as decision and policymakers to ensure that records and archives management practices in universities are overhauled to prevent further loss of records. The study has focused on one genre of records, namely, leisure records, and there is a need for a comprehensive study on the entire university’s record-keeping system.

This paper highlights the plight of university archives and reiterates the need for an urgent review by university authorities with regard to their management.

This paper has used a number of data collection techniques to ensure reliability and validity of the data gathered. Physically checking the collections in the university repository to establish gaps corroborated with the research findings in an effort to establish the underlying cause of poor archival development.

This article gives an overview of education and training of records managers in anglophone Africa and then focuses on standards for training of archivist and records managers. Using South Africa’s National Qualifications Framework and the South African Qualifications Authority guidelines, a training model that can be used elsewhere in Africa with some adjustments is suggested. The article recognises that there can be no one set of universally standard desirable outcomes for all educational institutions, as the outcomes must depend on the institution’s nature and mission. Whilst the teaching and learning processes may differ between countries, there should be a substantial commonality in the outcomes achieved. Thus it would be possible to have generic processes of assessment and accreditation. Adherence to standards is key to the generic process of accreditation and professional mobility.