International Congress 2012 News
The ICA 2012 Congress – a developing country’s perspective
Date Added:26 June 2012
Records management has underpinned the successes great civilizations through time. The importance of the record management and archiving profession to drive modern societies into a perfect future cannot be over emphasised. However, it appears this profession is taken for granted in many societies, particularly in developing countries.
For instance, archivists, librarians and GLAM professionals seem to be given low status in some areas because of lack of interest on the part of key players particularly in some developing country contexts. For example, a Ghanaian archivist revealed to this writer that in some Ghanaian institutions, “management punish recalcitrant staff by sending them to the records department of that institution.... Old records materials are kept in basements and under stairways” (a Ghanaian archivist). This perception towards records management can be serious as effective record keeping seems to have led developments in advanced countries, and developing countries need it to improve too. Yet, recorded information and archiving activities appear to be given little interest in some developing countries.
One way to change this perception across contexts seems to be effective sensitisation and education by using international conferences as a purposeful channel of communication. ICA conferences bring professionals, stakeholders and all key players together to share ideas and experiences. People can learn from success stories and improve on archiving and record management in their specific contexts. The upcoming Brisbane ICA congress seems to promise even more. The socio-cultural and geographical system of the venue, the theme for discussion and the expected participants and speakers all together make the congress unique and timely.
Australia itself has been at the forefront of records management activities internationally. Apart from the wonderful weather, Brisbane has important places of records management interests that participants can visit. The conference theme suggests that it is about time key players, particularly in some developing countries, change the‘climate’ of poor perception about records management and embrace proper archival practices with passion. This way, proper development is likely to be achieved especially for developing countries. It will be a great miss indeed for anyone to have a reason not to be part of the discussions on matters regarding records management and archival interests at the Brisbane congress in August.
Eric Boamah (Ghana), Flying Reporter for the 2012 International Congress
Eric’s views about good recordkeeping and development will be raised in a number of sessions including a presentation of the PARBICA “Recordkeeping for good governance toolkit”. Spot them and update your own congress programme!