Keeping our story: Preservation of audio visual archives in Ghana

Abstract

To find out the state and challenges of preserving audio visual archives in Ghana.The study was qualitative. In depth interviews were used to obtain data used for analysis. Data used for analysis were obtained from eight (8) respondents comprising of staff of the AV archives in the University of Ghana Library System and the J.H Nketia AV archives in Ghana. Data obtained have been analyzed and presented under major themes. A key finding of the study was that although there was a fair degree of operational direction for the preservation of AV collections, both units studied were faced with a number of challenges as far the effective and efficient preservation of collections held were concerned.This study contributes to the extent to which AV archives are preserved in Ghana. It serves as a wakeup call to management of AV archives who do not consider good preservation practices high on their agenda to rethink their positions.Finally, this study will fill the gap in the literature as the search for literature on preservation of AV archives produced very little in terms of relevance in the context of AV archives in Ghana.It informs the government and appropriate institutions on how to provide conducive environment for Audio visual collections to help safeguard our past memories