An archival system for Kampala International University’s western campus

Abstract

The study aimed at designing an archival system for the Kampala International University-Western campus (KIU-WC). The objectives of the study were to; examine the archival methods used, establish the requirements needed to design and develop an archival system, design and develop an archival system for Kampala International University-Western campus. The study employed a case study design while adopting a qualitative research approach to collect data from the respondents. Interview, observation and document review methods were used to collect data from the respondents. The researcher purposively selected 17 archival users (staff) and 4 records officers and 3 administrators at KIU-WC who participated in the study. The study revealed that the current system used at KIU-WC is manual and highly dependent on paper based documents. Inadequate archival records and funding in the records centre were the major challenges faced with the current archival system. Majority of the respondents requested for a system which is easy to use. Increasing the records centre funding was suggested to solve the challenges affecting the archival system at KIU-WC. The study concluded that digitisation of the archival records, use of an archival system, increasing the records centre funding, acquisition of the electronic archival records, a user friendly archival system, provision of all the necessary requirements to design the system, training of the records officers and users, on the use of ICTs, and setting up a records centre committee would improve the archival system at KIU-WC. The study recommended that this archival system should be adopted by the librarians in order to easy access and retrieval of archival records, digitise all the documents, purchase more ICTs, increase the funding, get more electronic archival records, train both the users and staff on the use of computers, engaging users in decision, increasing the budget for the records centre and proper maintenance of ICTs in the records centre.