MAHIKENG MAIL-MAHIKENG: Members of the public, researchers and government officials seeking archived material from the North West Provincial Archives will no longer have to travel distances to find information they require, thanks to a new system adopted by the Provincial Archives unit, an arm of the Department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation (ACSR).
The system allows users to access information from anywhere in the world, from their laptops or cellular phones – online. The system is called Access to Memory (AtoM).
Senior archivists from ACSR recently received training on AtoM from a team of National Archivists, Thulisile Lemekoana (Deputy Director: Records Management and Information Systems) and Nontembeko Matika (Assistant Director: Client Services).
“Records captured on AToM and published on the website will then ensure easy access by the community,” said ACSR spokesperson, Shuping Sebolecwe. “They will no longer need to travel to the repository to access the archives material, this will reduce costs on travel and time.”
Part of the mandate of ACSR is to preserve public and non-public records with enduring value and of provincial significance for use by the public and the state. The North West Provincial Archives and Records Services is the custodian of the North West provincial heritage.
“For that reason, we must ensure accessibility to the knowledge and the heritage of the province. The training and execution of the work is a major step for the North West, as it puts us on par with national and international practices. The exercise of the National Archivists is also helping us comply with relevant legislations.”
Members of the community can access the information from the National Archives website. Data captured in AtoM is published on the National Archives website. That is where people can access and learn about the decisions and activities of previous governments, for example. Archival material will be updated constantly.
“To date 23 items are captured and published online under the National Archives and Records Services of South Africa. The Records are civil cases of the former Supreme Court of Bophuthatswana.
