- Title
- Managing personal archives in specialised repositories: a case study of Phillip Valentine Tobias collection(s) at the University of the Witwatersrand
- Creator
- Marima, Elizabeth Nakai
- Subject
- Archives management
- Subject
- Institutional repositories
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- M LIS
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11473
- Identifier
- vital:39075
- Description
- Personal archives are noncurrent records created by individuals that are selected and kept for their enduring value. They are a record of the past and stand as evidence of what transpired. They make part of repository holdings together with public archives in organisational repositories. Public archives document transactions, statutes, procedures, and regulations. Personal archives contain the documentation of individual lives, emotions, values, experiences and human personality. They seek to reflect the character of the individual who created them. Management of personal archives in repositories refers to their acquisition, collection, arrangement, description, preservation, conservation, creation if access and use. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the managing of personal archives in specialized repositories: A case study of Phillip Valentine Tobias Collection(s) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The study sought to investigate the legal framework that regulates managing of personal archives and the experiences, perceptions and expectations of people managing the personal archives. Furthermore, the study sought to identify strategies of improving the management of personal archives at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The study was motivated by the archival theory that conceptualizes grouping of records together for their content and contextual value as evidence with the aim of restating the past. The theory further defines personal archives as records of continued value created by an individual which accumulated naturally, impartially and without prejudice in order to accurately witness the past. The study used a qualitative methodology and was guided by the interpretivist research paradigm. Data was collected using open-ended questions to conduct semi-structured interviews. To complement data, a document analysis, focus group and casual observation were also used. The site of study was University of the Witwatersrand. The total population constituted 41 staff members working in six special repositories with the Phillip Tobias collections at University of the Witwatersrand. The sample size was 25 staff members working in three special repositories. The qualitative data was reported verbartim and the Constant Comparative method was used for data analysis. The findings indicated challenges to the archival theory as the contextual grouping of personal archives was distorted. The study also showed that the archives were xv mismanaged due to framework irregularities, lack of top management support and limited resources. The major resources that were limited were infrastructure, archival ICT systems, human resources and training needs. From the interviews, the research identified strategies of improving the management of personal archives. The study recommended that the university benchmark for archival support strategies and to also engage in existence justification initiatives to harness top management’s attention towards the archive. Out of the identified strategies, the study suggested a tailor made strategy, which combined aspects of each strategy in order to avoid associated challenges.
- Format
- 184 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Department of Library & Information Science
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Marima_201819170_Library and Information Science Dissertation.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |