RELOOKING ACCESS AND REFERENCE SERVICES OFFERED BY THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF ZIMBABWE’S RESEARCH AND PUBLIC ARCHIVES SECTION

Abstract

National archival institutions world-wide are legally mandated to make archival materials in their custody available to researchers through the provision of access and reference services. Often, the access and reference services offered by some archival institutions, such as the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) are insufficient to meet increasing user needs and demands as well as changes in technology. Employing a qualitative research approach and a survey research design, where the data was collected using interviews and document reviews, the study examined the access and reference services offered by NAZ. The study revealed that NAZ was largely using outdated access and reference services, while some reference archivists lacked knowledge of archival collections and access skills. Thus, the study recommends that NAZ should update its staff skills, and revamp its access and reference services to bring them in line with the latest trends in technology and changing user needs and demands.