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This article aims to examine capacity building requirements for e‐records management in East and Southern Africa. It argues that e‐records management poses a number of problems and challenges that include but are not limited to: lack of skills and competencies, inadequate resources, lack of awareness among government authorities and records professionals, fragility of media and the need for specialized storage. The paper provides the current status of e‐records management in ESARBICA with emphasis on e‐records management capacity building. Last but not least, it proposes a number of strategies and solutions for the management of e‐records in ESARBICA.

This article is based on a literature review in general and desk research based on professional consultation and the experiences of the authors within the region.

Authors' findings indicate that there is a dearth of e‐records management skills and inadequate capacity in the ESARBICA member countries.

The study was limited to ESARBICA member countries, whereas it would have been more inclusive if all the countries of East and Southern Africa were involved. More research is therefore needed to cover the rest of the region.

Effective e‐records management has the potential to improve service delivery and enhance accountability and transparency in government but only if requisite skills needs are met.

This is the first attempt to explore capacity‐building issues in East and Southern Africa in the area of e‐records management. However, it provides a generic model that can be replicated in similar research elsewhere.

This study aims to investigate the management of electronic records (e-records) in public universities in Malawi.

This study adopted a case study research design that made use of predominantly qualitative research methods. Data was collected at three study sites, namely, Mzuzu University, Malawi University of Science and Technology and the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. A purposive sample of three officers per institution (and nine in total) comprising executive officers, deputy university registrar, records clerk, information and communication technology (ICT) directors and ICT manager was attained. The researcher personally conducted the interviews with the research subjects with the aid of interview guides. Observations were also done, whose findings were recorded in the observation protocols. The data collected was transcribed in MS Word, coded and analysed thematically.

This study concluded that e-records are at high risk in public universities in Malawi. Irrespective of this situation, this study found that there were some areas for e-records to potentially thrive in public universities in Malawi.

This study covers three of the six public universities in Malawi. Although public universities in Malawi have similar governance structures, there are some noticeable differences that distinguish one institution from the other. It is, therefore, possible that findings made in this study may not completely represent the prevailing situation in all public universities.

Studies of this nature have not been done before in public universities in Malawi. It is, therefore, hoped that besides filling the existing knowledge gap, its findings will contribute to policy and practical interventions that will lead to efficiency of the universities involved.

This study aims to find out how the e-records management subject has been researched and tackled by researchers in the Eastern and Southern African Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA).

This research paper applied a bibliometric survey, where a quantitative survey of the literature pertaining to the study of e-records management in the ESARBICA region, covering the period from 2000 to 2016, was conducted applying bibliometric methods. The survey aimed at providing descriptive data that cast a spotlight on the features and development of the e-records management base literature in the ESARBICA region.

The research data display a lamentable outlook in the contribution to the electronic records management body of knowledge from the ESARBICA region. Few research articles from professionals in the records and archives management are being published. These figures call for increased investments in electronic records management research by institutions in ESARBICA, as management of electronic content has become the centre of political and socio-economic development. Follow-up studies need to be done to counter limitations placed on this research paper. The findings show that there is under production of research publications in the ESARBICA region. The region only contributed 2 per cent of the total world output in the period under review and in the study of electronic records management from journals indexed by Scopus.

A bibliometric study places researchers at the mercy of analysing incomplete information due to limitations of resources. The variance in use of terminology (key words) by authors in published research articles may entail some being left out in an analysis of articles the same subject matter. As much as due diligence was placed on using Boolean search methods to counter such limitations they are unavoidable. An interpretation of bibliometric or citation analysis research is subjective as some analysts may label results incomplete or unreliable; hence, this paper finds itself in the same predicament. Inability to access the Thompson Reuters Web of Science database left the authors with Scopus as the only option, as Google Scholar was overlooked due to difficulties of having to rely on third-party software for analysing its indexed content that are mostly inaccurate and or ambiguous.

The findings of this study help uncover areas in e-records management, which have been researched over the years, and identify the prominent e-records management researchers in the ESARBICA region.

A number of bibliometric studies have been conducted; however, none has been conducted to establish e-records management research trends in the ESRABICA region.

The purpose of this paper is to indicate that, with the proliferation of information communication technologies (ICT), electronic records are being generated in many public sector organisations in Africa, which has resulted in many challenges hitherto never experienced by archivists and records managers.

The paper reviews literature on ICT, records management and e‐governance and the challenges faced by archivists and records managers particularly in developing countries as they deal with records generated by ICT.

The paper shows that, while many governments have systems and procedures for managing paper‐based records, the same cannot be said for electronic records and other digital images.

The paper demonstrates that, without proper planning and adoption of various methods, e‐records created using modern ICT are likely to become inaccessible in the future, thus compromising the ability to remain accountable to the citizens.

The paper shows that, while various e‐records readiness tools are available in the West, none of them addresses e‐records readiness issues in Africa where systems and procedures for managing records both paper and electronic are inadequate. The article provides a simple tool for assessing a country's e‐readiness for the adoption of e‐records in an e‐government environment.

This study examined the state of digital records management in Nigerian university libraries. It investigated the extent university libraries have captured/created, utilized, planned, organized and developed the skills of librarians, etc. for effective management of electronic records.

Descriptive survey design was adopted. The area of the study was Nigeria. The population of the study was 231 academic librarians and senior technical and administrative staff drawn from 12 federal university libraries. Data were collected and analyzed using questionnaire, checklist and version 20 of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Information obtained through oral interviews was analyzed qualitatively and incorporated in the discussions. The analytical framework was the Readiness Assessment Guide developed by the International Records Management Trust/World Bank in 2004. The criterion of judgment was that any item or statement of the research instruments that obtains a mean value of 2.50+ was rated high, and low if less than 2.50.

The results revealed that ICT facilities were available in Nigerian federal university libraries but the manner and extent of utilization, planning, organizing, re-skilling the staff, budgetary provisions and adoption of international best practices, etc. for e-records was low. Adequate funding, steady power supply, full internet services and adoption of global best practices for e-records management were some of the recommendations.

This study has established that the status of ICT facilities and current digital records management in Nigerian university libraries have not been properly managed and therefore are likely to become vulnerable or inaccessible for future transactions.

The gap in the literature about the dart of empirical studies on the status of e-RM in Nigerian university libraries has been bridged.

The purpose of this study was to survey the level of readiness of three universities in Nigeria towards managing their digital records by assessing the e-records frameworks, infrastructures, and structural facilities that are available.

The population of the study was 30 staff of the Registry Department in three Nigerian universities. Questionnaires, oral interviews, and check list were used during data collection. Data were analyzed using frequency tables, simple percentages, and bar charts.

The paper found that universities in Nigeria are not ready to manage electronic records due to weak legislative and organizational frameworks. The paper recommends creation of awareness about e-records management, training of records personnel, adoption of hybrid records management and periodic auditing, provision of sustainable framework and infrastructure, among other things in Nigerian universities.

This study was carried out on only three out of more than 20 federal universities in Nigeria. Therefore, the sample size and geographical spread was inadequate for generalization of the findings.

The paper demonstrates that, without proper planning and adoption of various international standards for records management, e-records created using modern technologies are likely to be inaccessible in Nigerian universities in future and consequently, the ability to remain accountable to the citizens will be compromised.

The study exposed the simple tools and strategies for assessing a university's readiness before embarking on electronic records management in a digital age. The paper will serve as a catalyst to further discussion and research into e-records and archives management in Nigeria. It will lead to other records management initiatives in the library, archives and information management.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the adoption and use of electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) in the public service in Namibia and Zimbabwe with the aim of establishing barriers and enablers, and best practices which each country could adopt from the other.

This multi-case study was informed by an interpretivist paradigm. Qualitative in nature, the study applied face-to-face interviews as the data collection method, supplemented by documents analysis. The study population was Namibia and Zimbabwe’s public sectors with units of analysis, being the governments’ ministries, offices and agencies which have implemented EDRMS.

The paper provides the state of EDRMS implementation in Namibia and Zimbabwe. It establishes how the two countries have implemented EDRMS and factors that have contributed to the success/failure of the implementation in both countries.

The paper is a response to the need for further research studies on the implementation of EDRMS in various countries.

The purpose of this study is to assess whether the implementation of the electronic Court Records Management System (CRMS) at the Gaborone Magisterial District, Botswana, brought improvements in the delivery of justice as expected in the management of case file records.

Principally, a quantitative approach utilizing a research survey design, supplemented by a qualitative approach was used in this study.

The CRMS implementation led to improvements in case file management at the Gaborone Magisterial District; case files were successfully captured into the system; retrieval of case files became easier; and incidents of lost and misplaced case files went down significantly. Challenges included shortcomings related to the security of digital case files, digital records preservation and disposition, records appraisal, training, inadequate bandwidth and shortage of computers, as well as inadequate archives and records management standards and guidelines.

The findings of the study are limited to the case study and cannot be generalized to other organizations.

The findings should aid future implementation of court records management systems in the judiciary specifically and the public sector in general in Africa. Lessons learnt can enable the avoidance of pitfalls experienced in the implementation of CRMS by other courts.

This paper provides empirical evidence from an original study.

This paper aims to discuss how the originality, authenticity, reliability and genuineness of legal records found at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) are maintained. Provenance issues and their implications in diplomatics are also discussed. It notes that the status quo at the NAZ favours the diplomatic archiving of paper records, while electronic records are neglected.

The paper uses a qualitative research approach. The data will mainly be collected using document analysis augmented by observations from the NAZ. Literature in regard to the Court Legal system of Zimbabwe will be reviewed and this even includes newspaper articles. Academic research papers on the archiving of electronic records in the less developed nations and developed nations will be reviewed also.

The qualitative research approach revealed that the electronic national heritage of Zimbabwe is being lost mainly due to the archaic legislation which is silent on the management of electronic records. The results show again the violation of the sanctity of provenance principles in some selected cases. It was also found that the government is now producing both paper and electronic records, but the National Archives is only archiving paper records, the result of this being the incompleteness of records, thereby negatively affecting their diplomatics.

Whereas a lot has been published about the management of electronic records in the developing world, this paper does not try to duplicate that but tries to bring a new dimension into this by showing how the diplomatics of these records is affected.

This study aims to review and understand the state of records management practices in Malawi, focusing on both public and private sector organisations.

The hermeneutic framework underpinned a qualitative review of the study phenomenon. The inclusion and exclusion criterion for the literature was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis methodology. Fifteen documents met the eligibility criteria and informed the study findings. The literature comprised of journal articles, dissertations at both master and doctoral levels, and conference papers.

The study found that records are created, captured and maintained both in print and electronic formats. It also confirmed that different types of organisations (public, private, academia and civil society) recognise the need for proper records management practices. However, effective and efficient records management is besieged by numerous obstacles, including lack of funding, absence of records management policy, standards and procedures at both institutional and national levels, poor records classification systems and a lack of top management support. Most importantly, the review shows that the majority of studies in Malawi have focused on academia, with little attention to other equally fundamental areas such as agriculture, trade, tourism, transport and energy. Thus, this situation calls for more empirical studies of records management practices in those sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first kind of review to be done at a national level, so the findings provide significant insights for policymakers and research practitioners on records management research trends to date in Malawi.