Assessment of paper records storage and retrieval practices at Jinja Municipal registry

Abstract

This document is a dissertation under the topic “Assessment of paper record storage and retrieval practices” at Jinja Municipal Council registry. The major purpose of the study was to assess the paper record storage and retrieval practices at Jinja municipal council registry. The four (4) research objectives of the study included identifying and documenting the existing paper records maintained at Jinja Municipal council registry, assessing the paper records storage and retrieval arrangements, finding out the challenges faced by storage and retrieval of paper records and also suggesting the possible solutions to the problems faced in the storage and retrieval of paper records at Jinja municipal council registry. A sample size of six respondents was selected using purposive sampling technique involving, two Records officer, three Assistant record officers and one record clerk basically because they were fully involved in the paper records storage and retrieval. The study adopted a qualitative approach, interview and observation methods were applied for data collection. These methods were simultaneously used for quality of data collected. Data was analyzed and presented qualitatively. Reliability was used to improve on the quality of data presented. Findings of the study revealed that Jinja municipal council uses record storage equipment such as drawers, boxes, open shelves, computers, and metallic lockable cabinets. The findings of the study also revealed out that inadequate staff, Misplacement of files, inadequate funding, and lack of enough storage space are some of the challenges facing paper record storage and retrieval practices at Jinja municipal council. Some of the recommendations suggested by the researcher and respondents to improve the paper record storage and retrieval situation at Jinja municipal council included training of staffs, making backup copies to avoid loss of information. The study therefore was concluded by calling for a well laid and implemented records management system.