X-posted from H-West-Africa

Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:40 -0500
From: "Ibra Sene" <ISene@wooster.edu>

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From Zacharia Nchinda's last posting, I still do not get a clear sense
of why he thinks that "some of the archival workers do not know the
value of time." It is absolutely not my intention to over-amplifying
his statement, but frankly it left me wondering if we do justice to the
sacrifices that archivists, librarians, and people like them, in many
African countries, often endure in trying to provide us with the
resources that we need for our work. Ironically, Mr. Nchinda himself
recognizes that "[g]enerally, they will try to provide what you are
looking for."

I think that if we don't consider the larger picture of this issue, we
could not understand the very difficult conditions in which these people
work, and would not be able to fully appreciate their very precious
service. I cannot deny that we are always frustrated to some degree by
the procedures we have to follow when we visit archives and libraries.
However, this does not happen only in Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra
Leone and other African countries. The last time I did research at the
Bibliotheque Nationale de France (site Francois Mitterrand), I remember
spending everyday  an awful lot of time between the opening of the
library and when I would get the first document I requested. Also, the
situation that Mr. Nchinda describes in Cameroon, to some extent, is
similar to what I used to see at the Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer,
in Aix-en-Provence, France. Should this be a valid reason not to
recognize the invaluable efforts that librarians and archivists put in
to serve us? For me the answer to this question is absolutely no. I
think that we should try to be a little more understanding here. The
truth of the matter is that, most of the time, the real defining factors
of the quality of the service they provide are way beyond their control.
First and foremost, archival services in many African countries are
plagued by the scarcity of their budgets, which does not allow them to
acquire the right equipment for their operation, and/or hire sufficient
and well trained staff. Also, as we all know, archives are not like
books and journals, which one could find at many different locations
around the world. Therefore, for security reasons, the handling of such
unique documents requires special care, which may affect the way in
which user/scholars access them. Finally, I believe that we the users of
these archives are part of the problem, whether we admit it or not. Many
of these archival centers have a policy that requires scholars to
deposit one copy of their publications. Yet, based on the many complains
I have heard from archivists, I can safely suggest that scholars often
don't comply with this moral obligation.

Ibra Sene
The College of Wooster

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