The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, has invested “heavily” in the storing of historical records as it seeks to comply with international standards, principal Sir Hilary Beckles has said.
He did not reveal the level of investment when he delivered the welcoming remarks at the International Council on Archives Section on University and Research Institution Archives 2013 conference at the 3Ws Oval. The conference discussed The New Age Archivist: Managing Archives In A Digital World.
Sir Hilary also announced that the university was working “aggressively to secure the archives of CARICOM. And so the campus university would host the archives of the Caribbean integration from federation through to CARICOM”.
He said: “This campus [Cave Hill] has invested very heavily in ensuring that we are compliant with some of your highest standards.
“We have invested also in the technologies because we recognize that in your transition to the digital age at this campus we wanted to make sure to stay the course. And in fact, in some areas, step ahead and provide some leadership.”
Noting that advocacy and access to information were important to various aspects of development, Sir Hilary said the way to deliver this was to make information available “to as large an audience as possible and simplify the process of accessing the information”.
“The university has a role to play in making archives accessible, linking archives to community consciousness and enabling the archives to speak,”?he added. “We want you to do what you have always done. This is to be highly visible in the public space.
“The stereotype of an archive as a remote place for historians and other professionals, we believe those days are over. Archivists ought to be in the present, they ought to be activists, you ought to be accessible, you ought to be in the public space as the public media.” (MM)