The effects of climate change in preserving the past and enhancing the future of legal deposit in South Africa.
Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNISA
Abstract
With the current problems of global warming and climate change, preservationists are
applying green construction principles to depositories and archival facilities (Henry
2008:3; Kim2008; Nsibirwa 20 12:73).Collections stewards, architects and engineers face
design challenges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop an adaptive response
to climate trends (Henry 2008:3).A2012 study by Nsibirwa (2012) of the preservation of,
and access to, legal deposit materials found that climate change can affect the buildings
that are the most important source of security to the materials stored in them.
One of the objectives of the doctoral study on which the article is based, was to find out
what activities and strategies are used to preserve the materials, as well as to provide a way
forward in the preservation of South Africa's cultural heritage. The units of analysis in
this study were four legal deposit libraries and three official publications depositories. In
this study the population comprised a total of 17members of staff: three heads of libraries
and 14 librarians. The survey of legal depositories found that preservation activities are
generally underdeveloped as a result of various factors, including insufficientfunding. Yet,
there is a greater need than ever for preservation, since predictions are that temperatures,
rising seas, rainfall and flooding will continue to increase due to climate change and global warming. These conditions will lead to a shift in approaches to preservation, including
looking at what poses the greatest threat when it comes to climate change. The study
found that depositories may need to revert to some ancient as well as new sustainable
approaches to offset the effects of climate change. The article puts forward a number of
practical solutions to ensure that the environment in which materials are kept, is suitable.
Description
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Citation
Nsibirwa, Z., Hoskins, R., Stilwell, C. 2013. The effects of climate change in preserving the past and enhancing the future of legal deposit in South Africa. Mousaion 31 (2) pp. 115-134.