Use of Public Programming Strategies in Promoting Access to Documentary Heritage at Zimbabwe National Archives

Abstract

Archival institutions have a potential to transform the socioeconomic and political development of a people. It is therefore critical for them to be visible and accessible. To this effect, public programming emerges as a critical archival function performed by archivists to enhance the visibility and utilisation of archives. Through a grounded theory research approach, this study established that the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) performs a plethora of public programming activities to improve the visibility of the institution in the public domain. The potential of public programming activities to improve the utilisation of the archives at NAZ was found wanting as the institution lacked a planned schedule of outreach activities. This explains why visits to the research room were dwindling, hence the need for archivists to be proactive in reaching out to the people. The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate public programming as the cornerstone to achieving better recognition and subsequent use of documentary heritage.