Posted on October 8, 2009

It seems astonishing but, up until the First International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives (ICADLA-1) which took place in the United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1-3 July 2009, there has never been a continent-wide discussion on policy frameworks and notions of partnerships in relation to the digitization of African heritage and resources or dialogue on a way forward for the development of a digitization agenda.

The aim of this first historic conference, which was the brainchild of the University of Witwatersrand Library, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Library and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), was to concentrate on policy rather than on narrow technical issues and to engage in the larger questions which frame digitization projects, such as national policies and processes around heritage, political identities, contested archives, the commodification of the Archive and the Archive as shaper of national histories.

There were 200 participants from all over Africa representing librarians, archivists, curators, information management specialists, documentalists, academics and professionals from universities, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations, and other international and national organizations. The participants were from Ethiopia, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Senegal, Kenya, Lesotho, Sudan, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, The Netherlands, India and the USA.

In the first session the issue of the urgent need to putting knowledge production, governance and management on the African development agenda was discussed and debated while the second session focused on the need to develop policies, strategies and capacity building efforts to enhance the digital future of Africa while at the same time recognizing the endemic technological and intellectual challenges. Existing African digitization initiatives were also presented.

Discussions at the conference revealed that policy makers in Africa are facing enormous challenges emanating from the demand for access to their resources via digitization and that this has become especially pressing because, thus far, there has been virtually no policy attention or development. The lack of policy frameworks and guidelines at national level and at Institutional level has particular resonance for any planned collaborative initiatives.

It is clearly becoming vital that policy makers shift their attention from discussions about technology per se, to a new model which also includes the purpose of digital projects, what is being digitized and why, how the digital information will be used, by whom it will be used, and how will it be made accessible. Policymakers need to devise dynamic strategies that: build local capacity; provide guidelines and mechanisms for extra-regional relationships; facilitate strategic alliances; ensure that digitisation projects contribute to the preservation and protection of our physical materials; and develop common positions and prioritise regional discussions, interactions and perspectives on these issues so as to: ensure coordination; develop stronger regional knowledge sharing and understanding; build on existing linkages and share lessons learned.

Consequently, at the conference there was stimulating debate around key issues such as:

  • Advocacy

  • Open Access

  • Open Source

  • Production vs. Skills Development

  • Long-term sustainability over time of the end resource and the digitised components, including the on-going need to build and support the infrastructure for digitisation projects

  • Intellectual Property

  • Costs (for the entire life-cycle of the project)

  • Mass digitisation v s cherry picking.

As opposed to digitizing whole collections, African digitization projects are often more selective both for financial and political reasons. Often projects that involve cherry-picking: impact negatively on the Institutions of origin; do not service their research and collection policies and priorities; and land up costing them money to use and sustain these items (a case of the carrot becoming the stick).

The Conference came out with a Declaration and Recommendations on Knowledge for Development in Africa and the Digitization of African Knowledge and Heritage. One of the key recommendations was that an African Digital Library and Archives Programme should be established and that the programme should spearhead the formulation of comprehensive policies, strategic framework and a road map for digital libraries and archives on the African continent.

The Conference was made possible with generous support from IFLA-ALP (Action for Development through Libraries Programme), the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Swedish International Development Agency.

For more information on the Conference, as well as the Programme, Speeches, Conference Papers, etc. can be accessed at http://www.uneca.org/icadla1/index.htm

Michele Pickover is Curator of Manuscripts in Historical Papers at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She is also a past chairperson of the National Committee of the South African Society of Archivists a member of the Governing Committee of the Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA). Michele is has a special interest in the notion of digital projects for countries in the South.

Historical Papers is a premier research site and a hub of research activity. It is renowned internationally, is the largest non-state Archive in Southern Africa and is uniquely positioned within the South African heritage sector. Historical Papers is housed in the William Cullen Library, which is the main archival research resource on campus. The archives held in custody for the wider community within Historical Papers are vast and unparalleled in their breadth and depth and provide a unique, and often fragile, archival record.