Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh
Bilkis begum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Head of the Dept. of Library and Information Science, Lalmatia Girls College, Lalmatia,
MOHAMMADPUR, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh. e-mail:bilkisbegum2013@gmail.com
Mamun MOSTOFA, Sk.
Lecturer, Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000,
Bangladesh. e-mail:sk_mostofa@yahoo.com
Muh/^mmad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000,
Bangladesh.
e-mail: mezbah2000@yahoo.com (Corresponding author)
Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh
ABSTBA^CT
This study focuses the trends of ARM education in Bangladesh. Identifies institutions involved, determines the weaknesses and strengths. The paper discussed the role of ARM professionals in the electronic environment and structured questionnaire (forty two respondents) was preferred to other applicable methods. Findings indicate, the interest of professionals in pursuit of ARM is at stake as there is little scope to support them due to the unawareness and little attention from the concerned authority and policy makers for the development of ARM. Importance of ARM discussed which could convince the policy makers to integrate ARM courses in the mainstream. It concludes the future of archives in the digital environment is in the hands of archives and the proposed model. Therefore, there is a need for mass awareness raising and campaign programs as well as archives literacy in Bangladesh. Further in-depth research is needed to back these marginally significant findings.
Key words: archives and records management, Bangladesh National Archives, archival education, archives literacy, electronic environment
Lo sviluppo di una nuova disciplina accademica sugli archivi e sulla gestione documentale (Archives
and Records Management - ARM) in Bangladesh
SINTESI
Questo studio si concentra sulle tendenze della formazione ARM in Bangladesh. Identifica le istituzioni coin-volte, determina i punti di forza e le debolezze. L'articolo discute il ruolo dei professionisti del ramo nell'am-biente elettronico, ed un questionario strutturato (quarantadue intervistati) e stato preferito ad altri metodi applicabili. I risultati indicano che l'interesse dei professionisti nel perseguimento dell'ARM e installo e che c'e poco margine di manovra per sostenerli a causa dell'inconsapevolezza e poca attenzione delle autorita interessa-te e responsabili delle politiche per lo sviluppo dell'ARM. L'importanza dell'ARM potrebbe convincere i re-sponsabili delle decisioni ad integrare corsi ARM nel curriculum. Si conclude che il futuro degli archivi in ambiente digitale e nelle mani degli archivi e del modello proposto. Quindi, c'e un'esigenza di elevare la consapevolezza di massa e di una campagna di alfabetizzazione archivistica in Bangladesh. C'e necessita di ulte-riori approfondite ricerche per supportare questi risultati significativi.
Parole chiave: archivi e gestione documentale, Archivio nazionale del Bangladesh, formazione archivistica, al-fabetizzazione archivistica, ambiente digitale
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
Razvoj novega akademskega študija arhivistike in dokumentologije v Bangladešu
IZVLEČEK
Študija se osredotoča na trende izobraževanja na področju arhivistike in dokumentologije v Bangladešu. Opredeljuje institucije, ki sodelujejo pri omenjenem izobraževanju ter njegove slabosti in prednosti. Prispevek obravnava vlogo strokovnjakov s področja arhivistike in dokumentologije v elektronskem okolju. Kot raziskovalna metoda je bil uporabljen strukturiran vprašalni, na katerega je odgovorilo 42 anketirancev. Ugotovitve kažejo, da je med strokovnjaki zanimanje za pridobitev izobrazbe s področja arhivistike in dokumentologije majhno, saj je zaradi nevednosti in majhnega zanimanja oblasti in pristojnih organov za arhivistiko in dokumentologijo, le malo možnosti za ustrezno podporo. Pomembne so diskusije glede arhivistike in dokumentologije, na osnovi katerih bi bilo mogoče prepričati ustrezne službe za pripravo ustreznih programov izobraževanja s področja arhivistike in dokumentologije. Kot zaključek lahko sklenemo, da je prihodnost arhivov v digitalnem okolju v rokah arhivov in predlaganega modela. Zato v Bangladešu obstaja potreba po dvigu masovne ozaveščenosti, ustrezni programski kampanji kot tudi arhivski pismenosti. Da bi bilo mogoče podpreti te pomembne ugotovitve, bodo potrebne nadaljnje poglobljene raziskave.
Ključne besede: arhivi in upravljanje z dokumentarnim gradivom, Bangladeški nacionalni arhiv, arhivsko izobraževanje, arhivska pismenost, elektronsko okolje.
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1	Introduction
The history of Archives in the Indo-Bangladesh Sub-Continent is an old one. Even in the days of the Muslim Sultans and Emperors official records were preserved in a central place. These were known as Mohafezkhanas (Archives). In Bangladesh, Archives is a center of official documents which use to receive, preserve and disseminate for its legitimate successors. After the partition of India in 1947, the National Archives of Pakistan was established in Karachi in 1951. The National Archives of Bangladesh (BNA) was established in 1973 at Dhaka under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. The Government has promulgated a National Archives Ordinance in 1983 in order to provide for the establishment of National Archives and for the collection, preservation, maintenance and administration of permanent records and archives of the Government. Now the National Archives is under the Ministry of Culture of Bangladesh. Every day, millions of documents are created in the public sector. But the records received by archives are frequently found in vulnerable conditions and in poor physical state. This can threaten the Governments agencies' capacity to keep the document for future use. So in the present situation, Archives and Records Management (ARM) is necessary for good governance, national reconstruction, cultural reason and personal interest etc. in a developing country like Bangladesh.
2	Objectives of the study
The rationale of this study is to present a clear picture of ARM education in Bangladesh for developing a new academic discipline. Moreover, the study also recognizes other objectives such as: identify the present scenario of bNA and ARM education in Bangladesh, verify the ARm training and research, weaknesses, strengths, role of ARM professionals in the electronic environment, suggestions with a proposed model for the sustainable development of ARM systems of digital environment in Bangladesh.
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
3	Methodology
The study is based on a comprehensive review of literature, computation of secondary information, and treatment of primary data collected by field visits to different archival institutions. This is the result of meticulous literature search, not only of published materials but also of unpublished sources, archival reports and documents available. This study also employed a survey by a structured questionnaire (55 questionnaires distributed and 42 received) to colect data within the scope of the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.
4	A brief description of The Bangladesh National Archives (BNA)
4.1	Early leadership: Dr. K.M. Karim was the first director of the National Archives of Bangladesh during its establishment in 1972. His administration was particularly commended for the recovery and reorganization of the records in the different districts in Bangladesh. However, with the enactment of the Public Archives Ordinance in 1983, provision was made for the position of a Director who shall be appointed by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may determine.
4.2	Collections of BNA: The National Archives and the National Library in Bangladesh have inherited and collected a vast amount of documents, records and books within a short span of 30 years. The total collection of documents and records in the national archives is about 80,000 (eighty thousands) volumes. Most of these have been collected from Bangladesh Secretariat Record Rooms and various districts of the country. Thousands of district records dating from 1780s are available at the National Archives. BNA has collected a good number of Dhaka Divisional Commissioner's Records, Collectorate Records and Sylhet Proceedings. The major collection areas of BNA are shown in the following table:
Table-1: Collections of BNA
Serial No.	Major Collections Area	Total Amount
1.	Government and semi-government documents	2.50 Core pages
2.	Private collections	1,00000 Pages
3.	Bangla, English, Persian and other foreign language books and rare books,	10,500 Pages
4	Newspapers	4,500 Pages
5	Manuscripts	6,500 Pages
6	Others (Map, photo etc.)	6,000 Pages
Source: Bangladesh National Archives 2014
4.3 Collaboration with national and international organizations
The National Archives of Bangladesh is an institutional member of many international organizations. At international level, BNA is a member of International Council on Archives (ICA). It is also a member of the South and West Asian Regional Branch of International Council of Archives (SWAR-BICA).
5 ARM education in Bangladesh
The concept is almost absent in higher academic institutions and many professionals do not know the meaning of ARM in Bangladesh. Government like Canada, USA, EU, India, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Australia etc. have been supporting and encouraging the teaching of ARM in different academic institutions. But, unfortunately in Bangladesh, there is little awareness about
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
the concept of ARM. In the recent decades, the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) has played a vital role in archival education in Bangladesh. Nearly twenty years ago, most archival education programmes were based in the area of history. This arose in a part because of the similarities in functions between these two disciplines. Although History departments of various universities offered a course on archives, there are many benefits for studying archival theory and practice through the lens of library and information science discipline. Each of these disciplines can provide a disciplinary home for archival studies, which would be enriched by the variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. Every area offers a diverse prospective career path for the students. In Bangladesh, no universities or institutions offered archives and records management programme at diploma, graduate and post graduate level. Department of Information Science and Library Management at various universities of Bangladesh have a compulsory course at diploma, graduate and post graduate level which contained 13 credits.
6	ARM Training in Bangladesh
In February 2010, a significant event took place in the history of archival development of Bangladesh. A training program was arranged by BARmS (Bangladesh Archives and Record Management Society) in association with The Directorate of Archives and Libraries at the newly built Archives Building at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. The training program was a success as it was attended by several foreign archivists from the Netherlands, Malaysia and Norway. Besides, local experts and people relevant to the platform of ARM were also present at the training. In January 2014, another training program was organized by BARMS under the title of "Training on Records Management, Conservation, and Preservation". Prothom Alo (a leading national daily) and Friends of Archives Bangladesh (FAB) also arranged a two-day exclusive training programme on 29th January, 2014. The main focus of the programme was to train the professionals and non-professionals to manage and preserve institutional and digital records.
7	ARM Workshop in Bangladesh
One-day workshops on ARM were held in the seven Divisions of Bangladesh (Barisal, Chitta-gong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet) in 2012. About 30 participants from record creating agencies from government, semi-government, non-government institutions and business houses took part in the workshops. The content of the workshop were Records; definition, kinds of records, classification of records, creation, use, closing and maintenance of files, and others relevant topics. Another workshop was held in October 2013 on ARM in Bangladesh and its contribution to national development. The workshop was jointly organized by Bangladesh National Museum and BARMS.
8	ARM Research in Bangladesh (Bangla and English Language)
Research and publications are integral part of academic world. Publication of excellent research articles and books assists students and professionals to learn more. The history of ARM publication is not up to the mark in Bangladesh. There is no regular journal dedicated to archival studies. Only a small number of books on archives are published. This area is in urgent need for enrichment. Library schools, professional's archivists and associations should come forward for improving this sector to keep professionals up-to-date about developments of ARM. The following figure shows the present status of ARM publications in Bangladesh in the period 2005-2013.
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
Figure-1: ARM research
Source: Rahman, A. (2013)
9 Weaknesses of ARM education in Bangladesh
ARM in Bangladesh has a number of drawbacks. The problems and weaknesses are found in the study are enumerated below:
9.1	National IT policy: Non-appearance of ARM policy in the national ICT policy is not encouraging for various organizations and institutions that deal with archives. The government's inaction has left a vacuum in which no rules, procedures, or standards have been laid down for the deployment of e-resources in the country.
9.2	Attitude problem: Most of the administrative staff thinks that if automation occurs in the archives of Bangladesh, they will have no manual works and will lose their job. As a result, they try to resist the digitization endeavor.
9.3	Administrative procedure: Acquisition of equipment and materials in the Archives is slow. Actually, it takes quite a long time in most of the government organizations in Bangladesh to acquire a single material due to lengthy administrative procedures.
9.4	Lack of cooperation: Cooperation among the archival institutions and cooperative spirit among the archives personnel is inadequate.
9.5	International cooperation: Scarcity of international cooperation is another obstacle for developing ARM education in Bangladesh.
9.6	Public awareness: People of Bangladesh have no much idea about archives. So, lack of public awareness is a significant barrier f^r developing ARM in Bangladesh.
9.7	Archives Literacy and Campaign: Archives literacy is the basic ability to understand and use of resources in archives which has inadequate campaign in Bangladesh.
9.8	Professional knowledge: Many staff does not have any professional knowledge. They cannot maintain the system properly. So, they are incapable of performing their duty in the sector ofARM.
9.9	Proper education and training: Proper education and training programs are required for archival development. Though a few training programs are held in Bangladesh on ARM and
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
relevant issues, it is not sufficient for ARM development in Bangladesh.
9.10 Modern technology: Modern tools and technology is the key for collecting and preserving
archival materials. But modern technology also is not being utilized properly to develop ARM.
The concerned authorities need to consider the above problems to formulate plans and policies regarding the development of ARM in Bangladesh.
10	Strengths
Being concerned with the sub-standard state of Archives and Records Management in Bangladesh, in order to extend assistance for the preservation of historical records on a long-term basis, a group of historians, researchers, high government officials, journalists, archivists, librarians, university teachers and cultural activists established a voluntary society called 'Bangladesh Archives and Records Management Society'(BARMS) in February 2009. The principal aim of this society is to provide all kinds of public and private records and documents, the most vital sources of the country's history and heritage. The society also aims to take measures and hold seminars, workshop, and training programs to make concerned people aware of the need for proper record management and long term preservation of records as sources of national history. Recently, a new law is approved (draft) by the Government of Bangladesh for the development of ARM in Bangladesh. In this law, BNA are responsible for conducting programme on ARM education, research, internship, professional course and to build up capacity for the professionals. Schools of Islamic History and Culture, History and Information Science and Library Management of Dhaka University are going to take initiatives for opening new courses. Recently, the National Museum of Bangladesh (NMB) has declared the introduction of a short course for ARM education. As the archival profession seeks a wider role in the field of information science, there is a need to prepare students for careers in a rapidly changing world which requires multidisciplinary education, greater emphasis on core archival knowledge, and fully articulated graduate programs combining structured course sequences with practical experience and sophisticated research projects. The present study has identified some job areas for the students of this field in Bangladesh, which are: Record officer at Right to Information Programme, National Archives of Bangladesh, film archives, TV channels archives, Newspaper archives, Manuscripts archives, Record administration at district level, District Record office etc. The Government of Bangladesh should take proper steps to ensure the fulfillment of these posts for the benefit of ARM development.
11	The prospects of ARM in Bangladesh
The future of ARM in Bangladesh depends upon the National Archives of Bangladesh, the Department of Information Science and Library Management, and also organizations like BARMS, "riends of Archives (FAB) as the nation looks up for leadership. The gains of the past may be harnessed if the problems, which have slowed down the development of the institutions, could be addressed properly. The importance of archival administration and records management is little appreciated among policy makers, administrators and bureaucrats in Bangladesh. The National Archives of Bangladesh must demonstrate the value and relevance of archives to the society. By so doing, it will command the appreciation and respect of the society. In the area of preservation, a lot has to be done in the near future, as preservation is an important issue in archives. According to Mackenzie (1996), preservation "contributes to the physical well-being of collections". The continuing preservation of these cultural heritage, most of which have existed for several decades, is a challenge faced by the National Archives of Bangladesh in the foreseeable future. The effects of long years of existence and the complication of managing archival materials in the tropical environment are already manifesting on the materials. Dilapidated conservation equipment and facilities need to be repaired and new ones need to be installed for meeting the challenges of modern conservation programme. Conservation and repair workshops should be resuscitated and invigorated. Archives should be protected against latent and inherent hazards. A digitization programme must be introduced not only to salvage endangered archives but also to promote wider access.
12	Role of ARM professionals in the electronic environment
A structured questionnaire was sent by mail to the ARM professionals to know the role of the professionals on electronic environment. The study identified the following aspects of the professionals
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
in the electronic environment against the feedback of the questionnaires (some selected options were furnished in the questionnaire and select only one option among them):
12.1	Awareness programme: Among the respondents, 33% reported that initiative for massive awareness raising campaign as well as archives literacy programme for ARM at local, regional and national level in needed of Bangladesh.
12.2	Digitization: To digitize the huge collection is a gigantic task. So, priority-based digitization should be done by the professionals. More valuable and import archives should be digitized first and then gradually, other materials should be brought under digitization. ^is suggestion was given by the 20.39% of the ARM professionals.
12.3	User interface: Self explanatory user interface is the prerequisite for successful digital archiving. Nearly 12.61% of the respondents opined that the website of BNA should be simple, visible, and interactive and there should be summary of the records that do not have table of contents to examine whether the record is important enough to go through or not.
12.4	Backup system: More than 15% of the professionals said that ARM professionals should ensure appropriate backup system of the digitized resources. Besides, there should be alternative copies of resources to ensure continuous availability and to safeguard them from any damages.
12.5	Seminars, meetings, and symposia: Only 10.30% said that more seminars, meetings, and symposia on ARM should be organized. ^ey also mentioned about the importance of organizing programs like training-the trainer (TTT) for the professionals.
12.6	National ARM policy: ^e need for designing the national ARM policy, standards, guidelines and curricula, etc. for ARM development was suggested by 7% of the professionals.
12.7	Training programmes: Adequate training programmes should be arranged for increasing competency of the professionals which was stressed by 5.40% of the ARM professionals. ^ey also opined that, special and relevant training programs should be arranged for IT administrative personnel. ARM professionals should acquire the skills of exploring new technologies for increasing productivity.
12.8	Offline and online stores: National Archives of Bangladesh (NAB) possesses huge resources. After the proper categorization, non-priority contents are supposed to be archived and stored in offline or near offline stores. Important resources should be stored in online or near online store.
12.9	Employ checker function: ARM professional's needs to use a checker function to validate the assigned metadata in the workflow functions of Web Based Archiving System.
12.10	Use of scanning interface: Open access archive activities of NAB resources starts from digitizing resources in the system cycle. Scanning interface is used to scan documents for uploading. Various audio and video files are uploadedin their native format.
^e above mentioned responsibilities should be performed by the ARM professionals in the electronic environment in Bangladesh.
13 Suggestions for the improvement of ARM education in Bangladesh
^e present study proposed some suggestions in order to promote the ARM education in Bangladesh. ^ese are:
13.1	Manpower: To cope with the existing situations, adequate manpower is required for development of ARM in Bangladesh. ^e first and foremost prerequisite of this is to formulate a national policy of ARM education which should clearly spell out for future needs of the society.
13.2	Formulation of courses of studies: Formulation of courses of studies should be made with due considerations to the needs of our society on the one hand and emphasis on more progressive curricula on the other.
13.3	Publicity: ^e National Archives of Bangladesh and different institutions that are working for ARM in Bangladesh are little known and rarely appreciated. ^e top authority of these institutions should take steps to undertake more publicity of these institutions.
13.4	Establishing new divisions: New divisions should be established at the NAB in order to ensure better preservation of some of the records which have been maintained, e.g. films, maps, and newspaper archives.
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
13.5	Budget: To make ARM education more widespread in Bangladesh, budgetary support is of utmost importance. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh needs to provide sufficient funds for the activities of these institutions, which are working for preserving the heritage of the nation.
13.6	Collaboration: For effective management of records in different sectors, there must be collaboration between the national archives of Bangladesh and different national and international organizations who are working for the development of ARM in Bangladesh.
13.7	New academic discipline: Archival education in our country demands both quality and quantity. In order to have qualitative education, we should have a number of departments of archival education in several universities. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Bangladesh. So, policy makers should take initiatives for establishing new academic discipline.
13.8	Introducing ARM education program: The authority may introduce ARM education at different academic organization like Public Administration Training Centre (PATC), National Academy for Education Management (NAEM), teachers' training college, etc. Moreover, standard course module or syllabus should prepare for Bangladesh. Time has come to integrate ARM course in different curricula of school, college and university in Bangladesh. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh, with the assistance from library and information professionals, should embark it on the national programme for ARM.
13.9	International cooperation and networking: International Cooperation should be built up in order to improve the digital preservation and conservation activities through training program in cooperation with similar institutions of other developed or developing countries like International Institute for Archival Science-IIAS and others.
13.10	Archives profession: The administrators and policy makers should emphasize the importance of archives profession. Therefore, any negative attitude prevailing among the policy makers regarding the importance of ARM need to be removed and the concerned authority should ensure necessary administrative and financial support.
13.11	Awareness campaign and archives literacy: Creation of campaign and marketing strategies of archives should be integrated in the various national academic institutions of Bangladesh. Archives literacy and awareness campaign cannot be developed in isolation. Government and non-government organizations, corporate bodies should come forward to support the trainings, campaigns and awareness building activities of archives at different levels. Philanthropists, social workers, patrons of education should also join hands in this endeavor.
The above suggestions would provide a more comprehensive backdrop for future planning and the development ofARM in Bangladesh.
14 Proposed Model for ARM education in Bangladesh
Based on the objectives and findings, the study proposes a model for sustainable development for ARM in Bangladesh. For proper implementation of the model, there should be more extensive collaboration among the concerned bodies to ensure ARM development in a holistic manner. At the same time, the establishment of partnership for ARM development at national level should also be stressed. The detailed model is given below:
14.1	Focal Point (FP): The following factors have been considered in determining the Bangladesh National Archives (BNA) as Focal Point (FP) which are: government organization, richness of collection/resources, availability of infrastructural facility and manpower, ARM functions are performed by BNA and the fact that, it is leading organization for ARM development in Bangladesh.
14.2	Organizations: At the initial stage, the following five Organizations/Associations may join for ARM development in Bangladesh, such as:
•	Bangladesh National Archives (BNA)
•	Bangladesh National Museum (BNM)
•	Bangladesh Archives and Record Management Society (BARMS)
•	Friends of Archives Bangladesh (FAB)
•	Department of Information Science and Library Management (ISLM), history of
•	University of Dhaka.
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
Where BNA will work as focal point and others will work as nodes.
14.3 Functions: ^e main functions of the FP will be to act as the coordinating centre of the organizations. Other functions which will be included are:
•	Awareness campaign of the concept of ARM throughout the country.
•	Providing policy, guidelines, consultancy, and planning to the government or any other agency associated with the organizations.
•	Coordinating and monitoring other organizations.
•	Publication of journals, newsletters and other information bulletins regarding ARM in Bangladesh.
•	Promotion of communication among the organizations.
^e interaction among the nodes or associate organizations of the proposed model will be directed and non- directed. It is proposed that each node of the model will have access to any of the nodes of the model directly or through the FP. ^e model:
Figure-2: ARM development Model
15 Conclusion
In order to put the profession of archivists on a strong fitting, dynamic leadership is required. The library schools, professional's archivists and other professional organizations should work hand in hand to improve the situation. Appropriate courses of studies must be introduced to train manpower for the sake of proper management and building up leadership quality of ARM professionals. Moreover, a vigorous archival movement by the different organizations of Bangladesh may create a congenial atmosphere for sustainable development of the field of ARM in Bangladesh. ^e challenges are massive, as the National Archives of Bangladesh must dictate the pace for records management and archives administration in Bangladesh. ^e government of Bangladesh must give the various organizations the necessary budgetary and administrative support to promote and expand facilities for acquisition, processing and archiving. The institution should give due attention to record management in the public and private sectors to make sure sustainable growth and good governance in Bangladesh.
Bilkis BEGUM - Mamun MOSTOFA - Muhammad MEZBAH-UL-ISLAM: Developing a New Academic Discipline of Archives and Records Management (ARM) in Bangladesh, 119-128
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Website of Government of People Republic of Bangladesh (2014). Retrieved on 25. 02. 2014 from http:// www.nanl.gov.bd
summa^ry
The history of Archives in the Indo-Bangladesh Sub-Continent is an old one. Even in the days of the Muslim Sultans and Emperors official records were preserved in a central place. These were known as Mohafez^khanas (Archives). One of the key factors in meeting both the challenges and addressing the issues relating to strategic Archives and Records Management (ARM) is the provision of education and/or training for employees. The purpose of this study is to give a clear picture of ARM education, training, and research programmes in a deve-oping country like Bangladesh. It identifies educational institutions involved, determines the weaknesses and strengths of ARM education in Bangladesh. The paper discussed the role of ARM professionals in the electronic environment. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, computation of secondary information and treatment of primary data collected. The result of meticulous literature search and employed a survey by a structured questionnaire (55 questionnaires distributed and 42 received). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Findings indicate that the interest of professionals in pursuit of ARM education is at stake as there is little scope to support them due to the unawareness and little attention from the concerned authority and policy makers for the development of ARM. The paper upholds the importance of ARM education that could convince the policy makers to integrate ARM courses in the mainstream graduate and under graduate programmes. The study concludes, the future of archives in the digital environment is in the hands of professionals and recommended suggestions with a proposed model for the sustainable development of ARM systems in Bangladesh. Therefore, there is a need for mass awareness raising and campaign programmes as well as archives literacy about ARM in Bangladesh. Further in-depth research is needed to back these marginally significant findings. In order to put the profession of archivists on a strong fitting, dynamic leadership is required. The library schools, professional's archivists and other professional organizations should work hand in hand to improve the situation. Appropriate courses of studies must be introduced to train manpower for the sake of proper management and building up leadership quality of ARM professionals. Moreover, a vigorous archival movement by the different organizations of Bangladesh may create a congenial atmosphere for sustainable development of the field of ARM in Bangladesh. This paper will be of interest to all professionals who face challenges and providing services with limited resources to their target group.
Typology: 1.04 Professional article Submitting date: 12.12.2014 Acceptance date: 07.02.2014