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The purpose of the paper is to present empirical research findings regarding the management of electronic records in selected ESARBICA member countries. It presents background information about ESARBICA and the current state of electronic records management in the region. The challenges posed by electronic records as reported in the literature and the capacity building initiatives and guidelines developed by archival institutions, professional organizations and universities for effective management of electronic records are presented. It proposes suggestions for further research.

The paper is based on a review of literature on electronic records and empirical studies dealing with management of electronic records in the ESARBICA region. The review of empirical research findings is based on selected countries in the ESARBICA region.

The empirical research findings indicate most countries in the ESARBICA region lack capacity and face various challenges in managing electronic records. These relate to: lack of policy and legislation, standardization, authenticity, capacity building, physical infrastructure and lack of awareness among recordkeeping professionals and government authorities on electronic records management issues.

Although ESARBICA consists of 12 countries, the empirical research findings were limited to five countries (South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Kenya) and selected Sub‐Saharan Africa countries. Further research will be conducted to establish the current state of electronic records management in the remaining seven ESARBICA member countries namely: Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Zanzibar.

It is hoped that the paper will provide useful information and data to educators and trainers, researchers, students, practitioners, policy makers, civil society, and international development partners who have an interest regarding the challenges posed by electronic records and e‐government and governance strategy in ESARBICA region and Africa in general.

This paper supplements previous studies undertaken in the ESARBICA region regarding the management of electronic records. The empirical research findings would be of significance to record and archives management scholars/educators/consultants/researchers and students undertaking studies in management of records, including management of electronic records within and outside Africa.

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.

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.

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.

This article seeks to answer one basic question: “Are archival institutions in the Eastern and Southern African region developing, stagnating or receding backwards?”

This article reviews the state of archives and records management in the Eastern and Southern African region. It argues that many archival services in the region have gone through a period of retardation and are in dire need of revitalization.

The article indicates that the challenges of managing electronic records are enormous and that unless measures are taken the region stands to lose much of its valuable historical and cultural heritage.

The article suggests various ways of revitalizing archival services in the Eastern and Southern African region.

In this article the author explores current practice in managing personnel records within the context of government in East and Southern African countries. Such records are mostly in paper form and are vast in number. The results of observation, discussion and a survey are shared. Conclusions and recommendations are made about the future management of personnel records particularly in the context of possible future freedom of information and privacy legislation.

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.

Government entities often implement automated records management systems, often without a clear governing framework to facilitate such automation. This study aims to explore the role played by information architecture (IA) in records automation in Botswana and propose a guiding framework in the context of e-government.

This qualitative study uses a focused literature review to study the importance of IA in records automation in e-government.

Without proper IA, information organization including retrieval/access to records becomes difficult. Practically, this would practically and negatively affect process automation in e-government solutions.

The proposed framework can guide e-government record automation in Botswana. However, its limitation lies in the fact that it has not been tested, thereby limiting its practicality until tested empirically.

The proposed framework can be used to inform record automation management processes in the realm of Botswana’s e-government project.

The proposed framework contributes to the body of knowledge on the automation of records and e-government in Botswana specifically and Africa in general.

This article looks at the need to manage public sector records as evidence and as a means of controlling how government resources are used, as well as a vital source of information for empowering the people of Africa. The author examines the role of records and of record keeping within the context of three distinct domains – business, accountability and culture – and the contribution of records managers and archivists to the process of democratic governance.

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.