Limpopo Provincial Archives Public Programming Initiatives from 2015 to 2020

Abstract

Public archival repositories house records of value to society. Even though such records are essential, these institutions remain largely unknown and underutilised. For this reason, public programming initiatives have become a necessary function in public archives. The Limpopo Provincial Archives was officially opened in 2015, but recent records show that only a few people engage with the records at this repository. The repository has conducted various public programming initiatives to raise awareness about the archives since its establishment. However, since 2015 there has been no effort to evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives. This study, therefore, aimed to assess the effectiveness of these public programming initiatives at this repository starting from 2015 up to 2020. A mixed-method approach to data collection was applied to gain information to address the objectives of this study. Participants in the study included 14 archivists and 100 community members. The study’s findings revealed that though the archivists had engaged in various public programming initiatives, more people did not engage with the archives. Challenges such as budget constraints and government red tape further complicated the archivists’ efforts. The study recommends measures such as collaboration, perfecting advocacy skills, and soft power to strengthen the repository’s public programming strategy.