Innovative provision of archival services at the National Archives of Zimbabwe during and post Covid-19 era

Abstract

The COVID-19 era brought many changes that negatively impacted service delivery to archival institutions in developing countries during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to investigate the innovative practices that the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) embarked on in order to continue delivering service to its clientele. The study used a qualitative research methodology and employed a case study design. Data were gathered through face-to-face in-depth interviews with the NAZ management and selected archivists who were purposively sampled. There were 10 participants. The findings indicate that the NAZ traditional systems on service delivery were rendered inaccessible by the lockdown restrictions in the absence of virtual access. Instead of closing down, the NAZ embarked on innovative ways to bring services to the people through digitisation, virtual access, online enquiries and community archiving. The NAZ introduced an online payment system to facilitate ISBN issuance. These support services enabled partnerships and collaborations for service delivery. From the lessons learnt, the study concluded that the NAZ encountered challenges, and the pandemic triggered a sense of urgency in the formulation of policies that promoted remote service delivery even during lockdowns. The study recommended that archival institutions should be prepared to deal with disruptive tendencies of pandemics and access to archival material should not be disrupted by any disaster. Digitisation should be prioritised in archival institutions to avoid disruption of service delivery to its valued customers.