Abstract:
Indigenous Knowledge Preservation (IKP) ensures that documents at-risk are kept in good
condition for posterity in Cultural Heritage Institutions (CHIs) such as libraries, archives and
museums. Reports, however, indicate that IKP in CHIs were ineffective. Studies have addressed
IKP from procedural, cultural and social perspectives, without adequate attention to the policies,
institutional environment and technology use for IKP, especially across different CHIs in Nigeria.
This study, therefore, investigated collection development policies, institutional environment,
technology use and IKP in CHIs in southern Nigeria.
The Socio-technical and Cultural Historical Activity theories provided the framework, while the
survey design of the correlational type was adopted. A two-stage sampling procedure was adopted
to choose CHIs, specifically special libraries, federal university libraries, the National Library of
Nigeria, the National Archives, and the National Museum branches across southern Nigeria
(South-west, South-south and South-east). The CHIs in two states each were selected through
balloting, thus, all 27 libraries, six archives and nine museums, made up of 289 librarians, 29
archivists and 36 museum curators were enumerated. The instruments used were Institutional
Environment (r=0.94) and Technology Use for Preservation (r=0.93) scales, and observation
checklist. Key informant interviews were conducted each with 18 Heads of libraries, three
archivists and nine museum curators from the 42 institutions. Quantitative data were analysed
using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05
level of significance, while qualitative data were content-analysed.
The respondents’ age was 42.7±8.75, while years of work experience spanned 1-10 years (53.7%),
11-20 years (27.6%), 21-30 years (11.3%), and 31-40 years (7.4%). The regulatory (X ̅= 2.91),
organisational (𝑋̅ = 2.80), sociological 𝑋̅ =2.65) and physical environment (𝑋̅ =2.75) for the
preservation of IK resources in CHIs was favourable as against the threshold of 2.50. There were
positive significant relationships between collection development policies (r=.51), institutional
environment (r=.58) and technology use (r=.75) and IKP. There were positive significant
relationships between collection development policies and institutional environment (r=.45), and
technology use (r=.43) and IKP. The collection development policies and institutional
environment jointly predicted IKP (F(2;325) =112.96; Adj R2=0.41), accounting for 41.0% of its
variance. The collection development policies did not have guidelines for IKP in written,
electronic or other formats in the CHIs. Periodic evaluation of policies was inadequate, the
environment was not conducive for electronic preservation, and staff were not sufficiently trained.
In addition, there was inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, and shortage of preservation staff.
Collection development policies, institutional environment and technology use influenced
indigenous knowledge preservation among custodians of cultural heritage in southern Nigeria.
There should be proper documentation of collection development policies for indigenous
knowledge preservation, while technology use and institutional environment should be monitored.
More creative and sustainable sources of funding should be vigorously pursued by different
stakeholders.
