Preservation of government records in Botswana

Abstract

This study aimed at establishing the state of preservation management of government records in Botswana. Of interest was finding out what preservation activities and conditions are maintained at records creating government organisations. The study used a survey methodology. The study population consisted of 34 administration officers supervising records management and 8 records managers purposively selected for interviews. Stratified simple random sampling was used to select the 76 questionnaire respondents who are records management unit operational officers. Personal observations were done to substantiate data collected from respondents.  The findings revealed that, although, the surveyed institutions demonstrated reasonable commitment to preservation, they do not uniformly respond to preservation management. In conclusion, the study recommends the development of preservation policies and procedures which would form the standard procedures for preservation of records in public sector record keeping.