Page 23 - Professorial Lecture - Prof Nengomasha

cloud computing, AI, IoT, blockchain start with the private sector, hence there
is a lot that the public service can learn from the private sector. Solutions for
managing digital records come from the private sector, some of whom do not
understand records management in line with standards and compliance issues
as much as the public sector does.
There is a need for a practical research/development agenda or framework to
help the records management community and related information professions
concerned with the changes brought about by ICTs in information management
and provision. This framework could be used to address issues, share solutions,
and generally approach pressing records and information management issues
in general in a holistic and systematic way.
8.5 Professional Associations

Having discipline specific associations for the library science, and the records and
archives management disciplines is not a bad thing, What is counterproductive
is competing against each other. If there was ever a time for the disciplines which
make up information science such as librarianship, knowledge management,
records and archives management to come together as one in the quest to
enhance information management, is now. Digital transformation has brought
more similarities than differences, driving the different disciplines to converge into
the information science profession. Its members are expecting their associations
to lead the profession in these rapidly changing times. The recommendation from
this is that the different disciplines should embrace convergence for enhanced
collaboration and problems solving.

8.6 Stakeholder Collaboration
The solutions to the challenges hindering the transformation of records and
archives management elaborated on in this paper, call for collaborations
amongst several stakeholders: the public service with the private sector,
academics with professional associations, records keeping and IT staff, and
records keeping staff and action officers. This collaboration is illustrated in figure
2 below. The various pairs or groups of stakeholders highlight specific reasons
for collaboration. However, by association collaboration should be seen to be
much broader bringing together all the stakeholders.

Figure 2: Stakeholders’ Collaboration for transformation of records and archives
management

Transformation of Records & Archives Management in the Public Service of Namibia 23