Examining archives management practices and service delivery in Mpigi district local government in Uganda

Abstract

Archives are the memory of an institution giving its employees an awareness of the true history and knowledge of their rights and obligations from past operations. Archives are important resources for local governments as vehicles of communication and interaction. When archives are poorly managed, local governments such as counties and cities will find it difficult to account for past operations, raising the challenge of effective record-keeping. Thus, through the use of a case study research design, this paper reports findings of a study that examined the practices involved in managing archives in Mpigi District Local Government (MDLG) in Uganda. Its population was comprised of MDLG staff, of whom 17 were purposively sampled. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews, observation and document analysis. Data was analysed using interpretative methods and aimed at understanding the respondents’ subjective experiences and their interpretation of the archives management practices around them. The study found that MDLG created and kept archives in both paper and digital formats but lacked an archives management policy; was hampered by an inadequate budgetary allocation to support archival activities; and suffered from a shortage of archivists to guide archives management practices. The study recommended the development of an archives policy to enable the district to manage the archives according to archives management practices; the recruitment of professional archivist personnel to improve the practices; the training of all district staff in handling archives as end users; and that the district to digitise the archives. This study builds on the knowledge of archives management practices in general, and in particular in MDLG.