Recognition of
the Importance of Archives in Society
By
Abu, Alilu
Library Unit of
Network Programmes
The Universal Declaration on Archives as adopted by
the 36th Session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO on 10th November 2011 defines
archives to include all recorded decisions, actions and memories in all formats
including paper, digital, and audio visual.
Accordingly archives has historically been distinct
as a range of physical artifacts, an accumulation of historical records that
have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation on grounds of their
enduring cultural, historical, or evidentiary value.. Archives in their
universal acceptance contain primary source documents that have accumulated
over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to
show the function of that person or organization. In a simple term, Archives are records of value that have been
selected for permanent preservation.
Archives are, of course, not merely dumping grounds
for old materials. Much effort had been made to ensure that the materials are
cared for, properly organized and accessible to the researchers and the
society.
Today it seems strange to researchers of kinds that
anyone should question the necessity for collecting materials from the past and
organizing them so that we in contemporary times may use them in our society.
The past is always relevant to the present, informing our views, answering our
questions and pointing us in the right direction. At the same time,
contemporary insights let us reacquaint ourselves with past documentation and
see in it, for the first time as it were, implications up till now unseen or
unappreciated. Archives are an essential means of examining the past.
According to studies (66.6%) of the searchers used
archives for research purpose, 33.3% for informational purpose while 11.1% and
5.5% used them for litigation and administrative purposes respectively.
In this scenario therefore, the uses of archives
cannot be overemphasized, among the importunes are to ensure that the records
of today are preserved for the future generations. In so doing, people can then
use the records to study the life, ideas and thoughts of their original
creators.
They also serve as society collective memory as they
provide the evidence of the past and promote accountability and transparency of
past actions.
In our society of today, archives help the people to
understand their history and the roles of particular individuals, organizations
and movement. Knowledge of the past creates a better future.
Apart from helping to foster and promote a sense of
community and identity, archives safeguard the rights of individuals within the
democratic society and provide a vehicle by which to measure government
accountability through maintaining vital compares.
Among others, archives ensure that historically
significant records are systematically described and wherever possible made
available for a variety of research uses; including teaching purposes, building
plans, publications television and radio programmes and plays as well as legal
proceedings.
Again understanding and awareness of archives among
the general public and key decision-makers can be comprehended from the UNESCO Declaration
which emphasizes the key role of archives in administrative transparency and
democratic accountability, as well as the preservation of collective social
memory.
It is with these facts of the importance of archives
that we can proudly say amalgamation documents were kept untouched since
hundred years ago.
While we celebrate our centenary as a nation, we
must not forget to preserve the entire documents that relate to activities as a
nation for future generations.
Therefore we call on President Goodluck Jonathan to
take his transformation programmes into our National Archival policy in order
to bring about administrative transparency and democratic accountability, as
well as the preservation of collective social memory for the generations to
come.
Normally we should not think that an archive is the
material itself but perhaps this material will change our innovations and
reorientations for better nation
The challenge now is to use the effort to recognize
the importance of archives to maximum effects that they create , so that we
shake off outdated perceptions of their roles and finally to make them take
their rightful place as a major player at heart of public administration and
the center of social memory in our society.
The commentary was broadcast on 24/4/14
