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Future as the
Responsibilities of archivist now result of
and in the future as the result of COVID–19

COVID – 19; Case of ICA-SUV

Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma 39
Department of Information Science,
University of South Africa – Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria, South Africa Received 12 June 2020
Revised 13 July 2020
12 August 2020
Accepted 23 August 2020

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies for the preservation of archival
materials in the International Council on Archives Section on University and Research Institution Archives
(ICA SUV) by the members and to make recommendations for the digital archival preservation to continue its
accessibility during the national lockdown because of COVID–19.
Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on the survey conducted on the ICA SUV
members during the national lockdown. The study used a survey research methodology through e-mails as
data collection instruments.
Findings – The key findings revealed that most of the sections on university and research institution
archives lack digitization preservation strategies and most of their records are not accessible online, as most
of their collections are still preserved manually through the paper-based system; furthermore, archivists are
not fully trained on digital management. The paper recommends universities to develop preservation
strategies to migrate records from the paper-based system to electronic records management system.
Research limitations/implications – The population of the study comprised ICA SUV members, who
responded to the survey. Therefore, the sample size and geographical spread were inadequate for
generalization of the findings. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that accessibility of the archives was
dependent on the quality of digitized archives.
Practical implications – This study demonstrates that the development of a preservation strategy
enhances access to archival materials during the national lockdown because of COVID–19.
Social implications – This paper highlights the plight of university archives and reiterates the need for
urgent digitization of their archives of universities all over the world.
Originality/value – To the best of author’s knowledge, this paper appears to be the first to review the
responsibilities of archivists now and in the future as the result of COVID–19. This study is confirmed to be on the
positive side of COVID–19 and change the archive sector by adapting to information communication technology.
Keywords Archives, ICA, Records management, Covid 19, Archives management, Universities archives
Paper type Research paper

Introduction and background information

Strategies for the preservation of digital records are essential to ensure continued access
to archival material now and in the future because of the national lockdown because of
COVID–19. It is therefore essential for archivists to ensure that archival materials remain
accessible during national lockdown because of COVID–19. Archivists need to ensure
authenticity, reliability and long-term accessibility of permanent electronic records for
current and subsequent users (Cloonan and Sanett, 2002; Netshakhuma, 2019f, 2020b). Digital Library Perspectives
However, there are gaps in the preservation strategy to enable access to archival material by Vol. 37 No. 1, 2021
pp. 39-53
the International Council on Archives (Section on University and Research Institution © Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
Archives) (ICA SUV) members. DOI 10.1108/DLP-06-2020-0050
DLP The ICA SUV was established when 41 archivists from 13 countries attended the
37,1 meeting of the provincial section in 1992 in Montreal. Marjorie Barritt was appointed as
Chair in 1993. The section’s article was approved at the International Council on Archives
General Assembly (ICA SUV, 2009). The goal of ICA SUV is to promote communication
cooperation between archivists in the universities and institutions, to gather and
disseminate information about the creation and administration of archives in these
40 institutions about policies and procedures and role of the archives in relations to the host
institutions and society at large, to assist in the development and strengthening of archives
through conferences, publications and consultations and to cooperate with other bodies such
as International Council on archives.
The institutions that were not taking measures to develop a preservation strategy
to preserve archival materials were left out in accessing archival material during the
COVID–19 as the result of the national lockdown applied all over the world.
The outbreak of COVID–19 is declared a global pandemic by the World Health
Organization, which led to various countries to initiate national lockdown. The
coronavirus has affected all continents on the levels of infections that also affect the
provision of information. Globalization and increasingly interconnected economies
mean most countries will be affected by COVID–19. The global effort such as national
lockdown was initiated to break the chain of virus transmission. Despite that, the
pandemic affects the livelihood of individuals; national lockdown for COVID–19
has affected disseminated archives materials throughout the world, especially
organizations that still relied on the manual system to provide information. The
COVID–19 emergency has also shown an unprecedented level of interaction and
information sharing among scientists. The reliability, accuracy and relevant
information is dependent on how such records are collected and preserved by archivists
(Netshakhuma, 2019g, 2019h). This reflects the high speed at which information can be
delivered to end-users. The provision of information plays a role that could be provided
by archivist and archival institutions that preserve records related to previous major
outbreak pandemics such as the Spanish flu and Ebola health information system
(Impellizzeri et al., 2020). The pandemic outbreak provided opportunities for archivists
to network with health officials, collect data and share information that can be used to
better inform the community about the COVID–19. The national lockdown highlights
the need for the role of archivists to change to include digital archiving to provide
information remotely all over the world. There are lessons learned form past pandemic
on preservation of archival materials. COVID–19 could be a catalyst for developing
robotics systems that can be rapidly deployed with remote access by experts and
essential service providers without the need of traveling to front lines.
Various countries imposed national lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
To contain the spread of COVID–19 and keep infections at a manageable level, many
countries have instituted lockdown (Frost et al., 2020; Shenoy et al., 2020). The purpose
of the national lockdown is to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus, so that
the government can take a multi-prong strategy to prevent the spread of the virus
(Muchaonyerwa (2014); Vaishya et al., 2020). National lockdown implied that business
activities such as visiting physical archives were closed to both staff and researchers
to limit the spread of the COVID–19. Countries imposed rules and regulations that
denied staff and visitors to access archival materials during the national lockdown.
During the national lockdown, some users require archival materials to decide on
health issues.
Problem statement Future as the
Archival institutions without a preservation strategy are having the challenges of keeping result of
their services active for their users virtually during the national lockdown as the result of
COVID–19. Because of the pandemic outbreak, archivists have been engaging in new work
COVID–19
practices to achieve accessibility of archives from their home offices. During this pandemic
outbreak, a key challenge is a lack of qualified staff to swab patients and process test
samples in case of the medical process; however, the provision of information was
inaccessible (Yang et al., 2019). The experiences with the Ebola outbreak identified a broad 41
spectrum of use cases, but funding for multidisciplinary research, in partnership with
agencies and industry, to meet these use cases remains limited. Now, the impact of national
lockdown because of COVID–19 may drive further research in the development of a
preservation strategy to address the risks of providing access to information. However,
without sustained research efforts, information systems will, once again, not be ready for the
future pandemic outbreak. And there can be no doubt that specialist skills and
understanding – ensuring the retention of evidence for the upholding of rights – are
required; it is this function, which needs, explicitly, to be reclaimed (Procter, 2017).
It is against this backdrop that the present study is being undertaken to examine the
strategies for the preservation of archival materials in the ICA SUV by the members and to
make recommendations for the preservation of continued accessibility of archival materials
during the COVID–19. The current paper modifies and extends the earlier papers by
Netshakhuma (2019b, 2019c, 2019d, 2019a, 2016) to a larger group of archivists, using
updated data that captures the greater interdependence in the world archives and in
particular, the rise of information communication technology which led to the role of
archivists to incorporate archivists.

Purpose and objectives of the study

The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies for the preservation of archival
materials in the ICA SUV by the members and to make recommendations for the
preservation of continued accessibility of archives materials during the COVID–19. The
specific objectives were to:
 identify the strategies that the ICA SUV can apply to preserve archival materials;
 investigate the provision of access to archival materials during the national
lockdown because of COVID–19 by the ICA SUV members; and
 suggest recommendations for the preservation of records.

The following research guided the study based on the objective of the study:
 What are the strategies the ICA SUV members apply to preserve archival materials?
 How ICA SUV institutions provide access to archival materials during the national
lockdown as the result of the spread of the COVID–19?

Research methodology
This study applied a qualitative research approach and adopted a multiple case study
design to answer the research questions. The study was carried out on selected members of
ICA SUV from various universities all over the world who responded to the survey. The
survey’s purpose was to understand whether archivists and records managers developed a
preservation strategy during national lockdown as the result of the COVID–19 pandemic, to
provide access to archival material. The survey was conducted through the email sent to
DLP ICA SUV members to respond to the questions to identify the strategies the ICA SUV is
37,1 using to preserve archival materials and establish how ICA SUV institutions provide access
to archival materials during the COVID–19 lockdown initiated by various governments all
over the world. Ten Archivists from South Africa at the University of Witwatersrand, Spain
at the Hocken Collections Collections, Czechosovakia at the University of Valladolid, New
Zealand at University of Otago, and Poland at the University of Posnan. The method for
42 collecting survey data was based on self-reporting, which can contribute to limitations in
that the population sample may exaggerate bias. However, responses to the survey were
common to eliminate bias. The selection of these institutions was because of geographical
spread even though it covered a small sample. It was assumed that what was obtained from
each of the participants would be used to give judgment to other institutions in the world.
The survey attempted to draw a recent picture of the conditions in which archives operate
by assessing responsibilities of archivists now and after COVID–19. This paper summarizes
the results of the surveys based on the objectives of the study. The ten participants
responded to the survey. Both surveys made use of total population sampling. The surveys
were conducted in May 2020. The number of questions, however, still made it possible to
assess the role of archives during the lockdown as the result of the COVID–19 pandemic.

Literature review
The literature was reviewed based on strategies for the preservation of archival materials
and access to information.

Strategies for the preservation of archival materials

The pandemic disaster and the development of digital technologies are changing the
traditional role of archives from custodians of physical collections to creators of online
information resources. The benefit of long term preservation of archival materials requires
shift from a paper based filing system to electronic records management system. Faced with
fast-changing technologies, archivists will have to become champions of change and
embrace the concept of digital preservation of information (Liebetrau, 2005). Myburgh (2005)
argued that changes in the archival environment have necessitated changes because of the
development of information technology alludes to this statement.
The review of the literature shows that most of the archival material is heavily used for
research purposes; hence, there is a need to embark on a digitization programme to prevent
archival materials from wear and tear (Garaba, 2016; Netshakhuma, 2019j). The effectiveness of
archivists is determined by the way society records, uses, stores, preserves and disposes of
records (Abankwah, 2011).
The review of the literature shows that archivists lack preservation strategy to preserve
most of the archival materials. The neglect of archives by most of the ICA SUV members
may be because of a lack of awareness on the preservation of archival materials in most
universities (Garaba, 2016; Lihoma, 2008). Hence, awareness is critical to ensure archivists
are well informed and adequately equipped to meet the challenges of ensuring the
accessibility of archives during this digital age (Katuu, 2015). For example, in Malawi,
archives management systems in the public service are poor because of a lack of
preservation strategy to ensure adequate mechanisms to control the flow of records, limited
skills on the preservation of archival materials, limited space, budget, equipment and
materials, and this has consequently lead to loss of vital records. Because of limited space
owing to lack of an appropriate structure for the national archives, non-current government
records are supposed to be transferred to the national archives for public access. The survey
conducted by Schina and Wells (2002) alluded that backlog in processing archival records
and limited budget was a challenge faced by most universities from developed countries Future as the
such as the USA, Canada and the UK. The success of an archive management programme result of
depends on the existence of the preservation strategy of archival materials (Netshakhuma,
2019i).
COVID–19
Garaba (2007) indicated that the training of archivists needs to be prioritized because of
electronic development, as professionals need to keep pace with changing technologies. This
is because the processing of digital materials requires professional archivists. This
statement is alluded by Kumar and Bansal (2014), who stated that the International Council 43
of Archives and its Eastern and Southern African Regional Branch maintain that staff
competencies, skills and tools are required to manage e-records.
It appears that most of the institutions used paper-based records systems such as file plans
and findings aid to preserve archival materials. Hence, the management of digital records is a
special subject area that deserves more details. In this study, digital preservation refers to the
materials that are created originally in digital as well as those converted from legacy
documents and artifacts. The study conducted by Garaba (2018) at the University of Kwazulu-
Natal found that university archives are restrained to the traditional role of focusing on
archival custody, and Netshakhuma (2019a) observed that one cannot successfully preserve
records if they are not created, managed, stored and transferred properly. This finding is
contrary to the study conducted by Zalewska (2015) in Poland, who found that the university of
the Maritime of Szczecin archive keeps recordings correctly and accurately. The archival
materials of the university are kept in a paper-based and electronic format. This means that the
system of filing is paper-based. The Maritime University archives are housed in three rooms
equipped with wooden and compact bookcases.
The study conducted by Mkuwira (2015) found that lack of purposely built
infrastructure, limited funding and understaffing were affecting the preservation of archival
materials in the National Archives of Malawi. It appears that limited funding in most of the
African countries limited the state to acquire archival materials to preserve archival
materials.
The proportion of information on the electronic system is increasing exponentially, and
technology is changing the way institutions conduct their business and thus altering the nature
of archives being created, disseminated and preserved (Harris and Van der Merwe, 2009;
Asogwa, 2013). The advancement of technology implied that the role of the archivist of
preserving archives should change to include digitization of archival materials (Netshakhuma,
2018; Netshakhuma, 2019e). The study conducted by Segaetsho and Mnjama (2012) indicated
that the challenge of archival services is to facilitate access to archives materials under their
care so that they are accessible for education and research purposes.
However, the preservation of archival materials in universities, especially in Africa,
has not received adequate attention such as standardization on the provision of
information that requires archivists to adhere to archival management principles
(Ramokate, 2006, p. 85; Mkuwira, 2015). This implied that there is a need for proper
preservation of archival materials that can guarantee the survival of archival materials
for enduring value. Hence, managing records in an electronic environment are not only
a challenge but also a strategic issue for universities in Africa (Asogwa, 2013). He
further indicated that the organization is to conduct the following to view records as the
strategic issue:
 assess e-records management readiness to identify where they are;
 develop a roadmap that would assess where archival materials were stored;
 access the risk management strategy of the institutions;
DLP  appraisal of the physical archives and streamline the classification to meet
37,1 international standards and advance plans to digitize these records to the electronic
environment;
 develop, implement and maintain a codified set of archives management policies;
and
 popularize the archival digitization project by creating awareness from staff,
44 faculties, departments and the entire community of records management.

Stout (1995) reported that universities in the USA did not develop a strategy to manage
electronic records that implied that initiatives were to build to preserve manual records
instead of concentrating on the management of electronic records. The study conducted by
Chaterera (2015) in public institutions of Zimbabwe found that the use of Web 2.0
technologies is in the infancy stage. While the study conducted by Pereira (2018) at the
Eduardo Mondlane University (EMU) found that most of the archives materials were not
accessible because of factors such as backlogs of the processed archives, lack of finding aids
and poor physical conditions negatively affecting semi-current records than current records
in restricting the public’s access to information. Some EMU units were unable to access
records of administrative and enduring value because of the lack of preservation strategy.
However, the university developed a database to manage access to archival materials.
Archivists are challenged to adopt information communication technology to manage
archival materials in their custody (Wamukoya, 2015). The issue of providing online access
to university archives in Africa deserves attention, as most of the archives are preserved
manually (Netshakhuma, 2019a). The development of information communication
technologies brought a need for the archival profession to engage in the rigorous analysis
and encoded archival description demanded by the archival specific information systems,
but on the other, it also led to a need for greater standardization of information (Benn, 2019).
It is particularly essential for the engagement of archivists with information communication
technologies to acknowledge this focus and how it placed them on the outside of another
project of systematization going on at the same time, that of information systems to preserve
archival materials.
The review of the literature showed that in the mid-1960s in the UK, archivists did not
develop conceptual principles of information communication technology or with how
meaning was being represented, structured and manipulated through information
communication technology. In some ways, then, the story of the UK archivists’ involvement
with computers up to the mid-1980s let down a lack of engagement with various
stakeholders. In our, perhaps, understandable focus on the systematization of practice,
archivists have failed to engage with information communication technology that,
understands how they represent, structure and create meaning. This raises a question, but it
is one that cannot be answered here in a retrospective that ends in the mid-1980s. Are
archivists more or less engaged with computers now than they were in the 1960s? The
answer to that question will shape the future of archival automation for the next 50 years
and beyond.
Numerous archival institutions around the world develop preservation strategies that
enable researchers to access archival material from all over the world (Molefe and
Schellnack-Kelly, 2019). These findings confirm the assertions made by Sulej (2009), who
indicated that archives should become accessible worldwide and get involved in
documenting local, national and international history. This implied the changes in the role of
academic archives from the traditional keeper of university history and its development to
an establishment that serves the community at large, both locally and internationally,
offering access of archival materials to any member of the public. This expertise was Future as the
directed toward supporting historical research, but from the final decades of the 20th result of
century, the speed of social, political and technological change began to radically modify the
COVID–19
understanding of the archival contribution to the public good (Procter, 2017).
In a poor economic climate, it is more essential for archive services to articulate value to
fight for scarce resources. To ensure, that in the long-term, archives are in a position to meet
societal demands for upholding the paradigm of rights currently deemed to have social
value. The study conducted by Young (2012) found that the Loyola University of Chicago
45
used fewer resources to plan for the storage of a congressional archive. However, the
collection management policy was developed to provide guidelines on the management of
resources. This implied that essential records were identified, preserved and made available
to various stakeholders.
Archivist’s priority was to ensure that digital assets are preserved and accessible by
various stakeholders (Prater, 2019). New technologies encouraged mass digitization to
enhance access to archival materials (Procter, 2017). The transparent communication of
reliable scientific data among scientists is central to reducing uncertainty and facilitating
robust risk assessments (Collins et al., 2020). The effective communication between
scientists and policymakers is key to the formulation of evidence-based management
strategies.
Preservation of archival materials, however, is new territory, especially to rank-and-file
information technologists who count the archives as only one of the many constituencies
they serve. Most information communication technology shops strive to standardize
processes and infrastructure for all their users, to increase efficiency, reduce duplication of
effort and free up time and resources to improve their suite of services and introduce new
ones (Procter, 2017).
The preservation and provision of access to primary source materials have the potential
to enable public awareness and participation in public health procedures, grounded in
historical lessons learned. Advancements in information communication technology led to
changes in society, and this is true for archives management. Technology has led to a
rethinking of archival concepts, practices and methods and the role that archival institutions
play in contemporary societies (Moats, 2018) .
Archivists in several democratic countries in central and southeastern Europe function
today under intense political pressure, with inadequate and unpredictable funding and
constant scrutiny and distrust (Gilliland, 2018). Despite the potential loss of institutional
memory and possible large-scale disruption to a large number of people, many governments
have been reluctant to invest sufficiently in their archival management system, let alone
public health systems in less developed countries where many infectious diseases are likely
to increase.

Provision of access to archival materials during the national lockdown

Access to information is enshrined as a pillar of a democratic society (Moran, 2016). Online
access to archival materials has become an essential requirement, especially for generation
users who follow and take advantage of technological innovations (Senturk, 2014; Kumar
and Bansal, 2014). The study conducted by Gilliland (2013) found that most institutions lack
support to design archival access systems and services that can simultaneously address
local, national and transactional considerations. Archival materials no longer need to be
inaccessible because of lack of retrieval systems (Cheng and Cheung, 2013). This statement
is alluded to by Muchaonyerwa and Khayundi (2014) on the study conducted in the Office of
DLP the Premier of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa who found a lack of infrastructure
37,1 to ensure that digital records remained accessible.
The role of archive service was thus closely associated with the provision of archival
materials, serving the needs of education and research (Horton, 2006; Netshakhuma, 2020c).
The review of the literature shows that most of the institutions still used a manual-filing
system that prolongs access to information. For example, Garaba (2016) on the research at
46 the Lutheran Theological Institute Library found that because the institution relied on a
manual-filing system, most of the records could not be accessible. This means that the
adoption of electronic records management systems improves access to archival materials.
Garaba’s study recommended organizations to implement digitization strategy to ensure
that archival materials are accessible to various stakeholders. Furthermore, organizations
raised awareness of records management. The study conducted by Magama (2018)
indicated that most of the organizations in Zimbabwe were operating without access
policies, digital records disaster management plans and guidelines. An access policy is
essential in all preservation efforts because it is developed with sensitivity to striking a
balance between the rights to access information. Hence, access to quality information
resources and services are factors in any archival services. The ICA SUV members need to
increase investment in the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage as a
matter of disaster risk reduction.

Data analysis
This research used verbatim as a form of data analysis. Data was categorized according to
the objectives of the study.

Data presentations, discussions and findings

Data was presented according to the objectives of the study. The results of the survey are
summarized in this section.

Preservation strategies of records management before COVID–19

The purpose of this objective was to investigate the availability of preservation strategy by
ICA SUV members. The findings presented are related to the availability of strategies to
preserve archival materials. As part of the study, the respondents were asked to identify the
strategies their institutions are using to preserve records during the COVID–19. The
participants’ responses were grouped according to the universities that develop preservation
strategies to mitigate any disaster. Such categories of respondents are as follows:
“Plan is in place to document web archiving webpages and social media”.
“Developed standards to manage records and archives during the disaster”.
“Governance framework to migrate to electronic records management system is in place”.
A majority of respondents who answered the question indicated that their archives were
arranged according to the archival arrangements and description standards adopted by
their institutions. The study revealed that there were limited archivists who develop and
implement archives and records management programmes. These findings are in line with
what is spelled in by Netshakhuma (2019b), who indicated that developing records
management strategies prepared the organization to implement archives and records
management programmes. Hence, there is a need to develop an electronic records system to
be managed by putting in place adequate infrastructure (Muchaonyerwa and Khayundi,
2014). The use of technology has enabled institutions to create databases that handle huge
amounts of data online.
 Many of the respondents to the question of the preservation strategies provided Future as the
comments as to why the institutions do not develop strategies in place. Some of the result of
respondents stated that their organizations have not put in place the strategies before the
COVID–19
national lockdown for COVID–19. Universities’ archivists identified the challenges
encountered in implementing information communication technology activities in their
archives. The challenges identified largely echoed the findings from archives staff and are
outlined and discussed as follows. The select comments include the following: 47
“Archives are not a priority. Therefore, the university does not provide sponsorship for
archives and heritage staff”.
“Lack of preservation strategies to migrate from paper-based to electronic records
management filing”.
“Inadequate finances to support development activities of archives”.
“Records and archives were not valued as the assets of the institutions hence there was
no need to develop a strategy”.
From these findings, it is evident that archivists showed that some of the universities did
not develop a strategy to manage both manual and electronic records. Procedures were not
developed by some of the universities to process archival materials from various sources.
Preservation of archival materials constitutes a challenge on university archives. These
challenges seem to be overwhelming because of lack of a strategy and a general lack of
awareness and appreciation of the importance of archival materials. Findings also reveal
that a lack of financial resources is the challenge to develop strategies. The challenge of
funding archives in universities seems to be intractable given the low priority accorded to
the activity by the universities. Without funds, the infrastructure, for instance, the
University Archive or Records Center cannot be established as alluded to by Nyathi and
Dewah (2017). Adequate funding is essential to enable university archives to offer quality
service to users (Nabutto and Hoskins, 2019).

Provision of access to archival materials during the national lockdown

The purpose of this objective was to investigate the level of accessibility of archival
materials during national lockdown because of COVID–19. The findings presented are
related to the issue, which indicate the availability of records in their institutions. The
participants were asked as to whether the organizations establish how they provide access
to archival materials during the national lockdown as the results of the COVID–19.
The interview was related to questions about the accessibility of archival materials. The
participants were asked as to whether they access archival materials during the national
lockdown and they answered as follows:
“Czech archives closed for public access during the national lockdown because of lack of
Electronic records management system”.
“No access to physical records, these are records preserved in a paper-based format”.
“Most of the archival materials were not accessible because of lack of national strategy”.
Interviews data revealed that most of the archives were filed on paper-based formed,
which implied that most of the archival materials was not accessible online during the
national lockdown because of COVID–19. The fact that there is a national lockdown implied
that staff could not visit offices to perform work activities. This implied that most of the
universities lack a strategy to preserve archival materials. Three respondents indicated that
they do not have a policy in place that includes electronic records. Some of the universities
had adopted manual systems to manage all types of records. The archives management
system was not fully effective for archives management purposes.
DLP Some of the respondents when they were asked as to whether they access archival
37,1 materials during the national lockdown because of COVID–19 responded as follows:
“Their institutions have access to the network i.e. respond to researcher inquiries, work
on the cataloging of digitised collections, or other work, such as feeding data to our
databases”.
“Working with VPN connections”.
48 “we have culminated the 2.0 version of our metadata scheme, we worked online”.
“At AMU Archive staff have been working remotely since the start of national
lockdowns”.
“Developed SharePoint Platform to access archival materials in their archives”.
“Several blog posts that had been written but not published so they were published”.
“Geotagging locations on an online database that provides access to many of our
digitised photographs”.
Based on the results, most of the universities developed a preservation strategy to enable
their institutions to access archival materials. Chaputula and Mutula (2018) stated that
universities’ archives are increasingly offering services through an online system to enable
access to archival materials. The use of online service to provide archival services has the
potential to enhance access to archival services beyond the normal opening hours and hence
can assist to overcome the obstacles of time and space and bring convenience to archives
users. This would also assist to provide access to e-resources by those who do not have
access to institutional computer facilities, thereby helping to erase the challenge of computer
shortage, which is common in many archives of universities from developing countries. This
showed that some of the universities developed a system to preserve archival materials. A
majority of institutions make records available through the website. Ross (2006) indicated
that digital preservation processes ensure accessible, authentic and reliable evidence to the
future. This means that archivists should be advanced in archives and records management
skills and act as an advocate for digital preservation activities and maintenance of digital
records. Having staff in place capable of successfully managing the papers may well be the
deciding factor in whether or not to accept them. Having trained archives professionals on
staff is essential to getting the project developed.

Recommendations
The strategies for preservation of records in some ICA SUV institutions are compromising
the long-term preservation of archival materials. The infrastructure and the resources in
departments were not adequate to sustain long-term preservation strategies and show that a
thorough cost-benefit analysis and digital readiness assessments were not done before the
department started preserving digital records.
Because most of the archival institutions are still handling manual archives
materials, it is recommended for institutions to develop a strategy to prepare for the
archival materials to be digitized to be made available to various stakeholders
worldwide. This implied that universities should migrate from manual-filing to
electronic-filing systems to full electronic archiving management systems in assisting
archivists to provide timely and effective access to records. On the other hand, the
quality of archival management service depends on, among other, quality of archives
material that is authentic, reliable, trustworthy, unaltered, not erased or changed,
retrievable, usable and accurate. Molefe and Schellnack-Kelly (2019) indicated that
more efforts need to be made to open up the archival collections to current and new
users of the archives through digitization of the collection.
Conclusion Future as the
In a period of ongoing global uncertainty, this paper has provided an early evidence-based result of
reflection on how COVID–19 might influence the accessibility of archival materials based on
the current data collection taking place across the ICA SUV members. Effective archives
COVID–19
management programme requires the ICA SUV institutions to introduce an electronic
records management system because of a pandemic threat of COVID–19. The COVID–19
challenges require organizations to work in a digital environment, with new tools and
different work approach. Physical records should be digitized and made available online.
49
There should be a system or mechanism for internal review to determine which records are
suitable to be digitized. Archives if properly managed are important assets that assist
organizations in meeting their goals.
This study is confined to the positive side of COVID–19 and changes in the archival
sector by adapting to information communication technology. The study revealed that most
of the university archives were not managing records because of lack of policies, inability to
effectively apply the electronic records management system to the management of
university records, inability to explore other models to effectively manage digital records
and insufficient budget. The findings confirm the importance of the development of
preservation strategies to enhance access to information.
This article is important for various reasons, including providing a benchmark resource
for the ICA SUV members and the rest of the world, as well as being the basis of
establishing a digital programme.

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53
About the author
Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma is a Deputy Director Records and Archives at the University of
Mpumalanga in South Africa. Prior to this position, Mr Netshakhuma worked for the South Africa
Public Service for 12 years as Deputy Manager Information and Records Management, SANPArks as
the records Manager and the African National Congress as the archivists. Mr Netshakhuma holds BA
(History and Political Studies), BTech (Archival Studies), BPhil (Honors) Information and Knowledge
Management, Post Diploma in Records and Archives Management, Postgraduate Diploma in
Heritage and Museum Studies, Advance Certificate in Records and Archives Management, Masters
of Information Science from the University of South Africa and he is currently enrolled for doctoral
programme in archives and records management at UNISA. He served as the Advisory committee
member of UNISA Center for Applied Communication (Records and Archives Management). He is
currently a Deputy Chairperson of the South Africa Higher Education Records Management Forum.
He also served as the Advisor (Reference Group for the Mpumalanga Records Management Forum).
Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma can be contacted at: sidney.netshakhuma@ump.ac.za

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