Examination of Archival Public Programming Initiatives at the Limpopo Provincial Archives

Abstract

The South African legislation, the National Archives and Records Service Act (Act no 43 of 1996), underscores the fact that public archives should focus its public programming endeavours around activities designed to reach out to less privileged sectors of the society. Any public archive must find effective ways to inform its public about the role of archives and why it is important. This study examined the public programming initiatives in the Limpopo Provincial Archives. Logic model was utilised as a framework in this study, to examine the effectiveness of archival public programming initiatives with intentions to measure their effectiveness in expanding the usage of Limpopo Provincial Archives. This study employed the mixed methods research approach, informed by pragmatic paradigm, using both quantitative and qualitative research tool to collect data. Limpopo province community members and archivists employed at the Limpopo Provincial Archives were the unit of analysis and sources of information. The key results of this study suggest that public programming in the Limpopo Provincial Archives had not translated to increase in the usage of archival holdings. Furthermore, public programming in Limpopo Provincial Archives is hampered by inadequate funds, government red tapes, Web 2.0 absence and lack of training. This study recommends that Limpopo Provincial Archives come up with ground breaking public programming initiatives that would engage and generate interest of the community and also explore other digital forms of communication. Also, Limpopo Provincial Archives should collaborate with partners like museums, libraries, private sectors and other stakeholders in taking archives to the people, which would lead to the pooling of resources.