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National Archivist laments lack of storage space
The National Archives should not be expected to take in new material if the problem of lack of storage space for documents is not tackled, National Archivist Charles Farrugia has warned in the 2010 annual report of the National Archives.
8 April 2011, 12:00am
James Debono
James Debono
1 min read
Noting that the problem of lack of space is present in the National Archives’ three premises in Rabat, Mdina and Gozo, Farrugia is calling for a permanent solution in the form of a new state-of-the-art building to house all the national archives,m, adding that “the time when adding a storehouse to the repositories was considered a remedy is no longer feasible.”
He warns that further additions to the present infrastructure will simply result in more fragmentation of services and financial pressures.
“Malta has to cater for the documents of the coming three or four decades,” he said.
Housing all archives in one building will also be advantageous in terms of energy efficiency, security, parking and providing adequate services to the public.
According to the report the National Archives only has 13 employees and the department “is constantly insisting with the Ministry of Finance to increase the annual allocation of funds” which amounts to €280,000.
The National Archives possesses the largest archival collections in the Malta, spanning from the arrival of the Order of Saint John in 1530 up to the current day.
James Debono is MaltaToday's chief reporter on environment, planning and land use issues, ...
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This is our history which should be preserved for future generations.
One must make sure that not only a new building housing all the documents in one place is built without delay, but that it will have the greatest possible protection against earthquakes, fire and other disasters that may happen.
I also suggest that a digital copy be made of all documents and even a hard copy.
Digital data should be available to those who need it.
