Regulations for Use of Archival Materials

The National Archives (NA) Center is Abu Dhabi’s leading documentation and research entity. The Center is tasked with collecting and translating information and documents that it later stores for the public to view (“Abudhabi E-government”, 2016). By doing so, the Archive aims to store original information relating to the social life, history, culture, and politics of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Arabian Peninsula as a whole. The NA has set various missions, visions, objectives, and policies that allow it to run smoothly despite all the challenges it faces. With the aid of the archive donations it receives, it successfully achieves its goals that include documentation and translation of information that aim at preserving the heritage, culture, politics, and social life in the Arabian Peninsula.

National Archives Center

The UAE’s first president, Zayed bin Sultan, founded the NA in 1968. It was previously referred to as Center for Documentation and Research (CDR) before it was changed into the National Center for Documentation and Research (NCDR) in 2008 (“Abudhabi E-government”, 2016). It is located in Abu Dhabi at the Abu Dhabi National Hotel building. Consequently, in 2014, through the Federal Decree No. (1), the Center’s name was changed to the National Archives. Notably, its reputation continues to grow, following its adoption of state-of-the-art technologies that support its documentation objectives.

Archives Department

The Center’s core mission is to provide policymakers and the public with information that is reliable and trustworthy by preserving people’s culture and heritage to promote civic spirit and in turn, the national identity (National Archives, 2016). To achieve its mission, the National Archives publishes research and historical books that serve as valuable reference materials (Pennington, 2014). Its vision is to provide quality, reliable, and distinctive archival, documentation, and research service. Noteworthy, its objectives include creating a contemporary archiving system through its team spirit, excellence, trust, confidentiality, and accessibility values (“Abudhabi E-government”, 2016). The Center aims at developing specialized personnel to manage electronic and manual archiving.

The Archives Department’s scope of business is the collection of government photographs, historical manuscripts, and documents of the UAE and GCC (National Archives, 2016). According to the NA (2016), the Archives Department is divided into the Government Archives section, the Historical Archives section, Restoration and Preservation section, the Digital Archives section, and the Presidential Archives section. Pennington (2014) suggests that the employees working in these branches handle and manage a central file section and work to safeguard different Center’s materials. The Historical Archives section collects all foreign and local archive documents that have relation to the UAE (Pennington, 2014). It comprises of the Arabic Archives Unit, the Multimedia Unit, and the Foreign Archives Unit. The Restoration and Preservation Unit handle the protection, maintenance, and security of documents, photographs, and rare books while following international standards (Abu Dhabi e-government, 2017). The Digital Archives section photocopies and transforms the documents into a digital form (National Archives, 2016). The Government Section is responsible for organizing local and federal governments’ archives. It also collects historical documents and organizes destruction procedures (Abu Dhabi e-government, 2017). The Presidential Section deals with the preservation of photographs, historical documents, and video films that concern the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan and his successor, Sheikh Khalifa bin. In addition, the unit records other state officials and rulers at international and local scale.

Legal Processes

The NA chief legal officer is the General Counsel whose primary function is to represent the Center with court cases and giving legal aid to it. The General Counsel comprises of a Senior Counsel, Litigation Director, Council on Procurement Initiatives, and four attorneys (“Abudhabi E-government”, 2016). They carry out legal research and respond to questions directed to the Center.

Policies Regarding Retrieving and Accessing Material in the Archives Center

Pennington (2014) argues that the NA integrates systems to ensure the safety of the files and documents. These systems include the implementations of security measures to ensure that the information assets are not at any given time under risk or threat, be it an internal or external risk (Pennington, 2014). The NA sets mechanisms, rules, procedures and transferring standards, and measures to move files from government entities to the Center to preserve the document for an extended period (Abu Dhabi e-government, 2017). The process involves all governmental authorities to apply the paper transferring procedures by the retention schedule.

Donation and Ownership Legalities

The NA is state run under the UAE government. Nonetheless, the Center accepts donations from the public, families, and private institutions in or out of the country surrendering ownership of the document to the National Archives Center (Pennington, 2014). The NA receives reports from private and individual entities by legal procedures with the condition that the papers have domestic and historical value (“Abudhabi E-government”, 2016). Other bodies that affiliate and donate to the NA include the Arab Regional Branch of International Council on Archives (ARABICA) and the Arab Historians Association among others. The donations made are in the form of documents, money, computers, and even voluntary services. Moreover, the NA organizes campaigns in order to urge people to donate to the Center (Pennington, 2014).

In 2008, the UAE president, HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, issued Law No. (7) that designated the Center as the “official National Archives of the UAE” (Pennington, 2014). The law protects the Center, as it recognizes the organization and its right to collect and keep archives to promote and maintain cultural heritage (Pennington, 2014).

How It Works

The Positive Aspects of the National Archives Center

The National Archives Center preserves the culture and heritage of the UAE. It promotes transparency and good governance of the region through manuscripts and documentation of the Arabian Peninsula’s social life, history, culture, and politics (National Archives, 2016). The information and documents kept in the NA provide students and scholars with a wide variety of publications that assist them in their studies and research on issues concerning the history and heritage of the Arabian Peninsula.

Challenges

NA faces challenges, including the inability to recover documents and information uploaded on the website. Moreover, the Center has a difficult time keeping up with the ever advancing and improving technologies used in the software. Another challenge is that of bypassing the protection system of the website, as it requires a certain procedure to be followed to access data and information that is to be protected by the NA (National Archives, 2016). Furthermore, these websites contain non-indexed information making it necessary to indicate the inappropriate materials.

Recommendations

Arguably, the National Archives Center should continue advancing its technologies and security features, including alarm systems and firewalls, to protect it from digital and physical theft (Pennington, 2014). Their acquisition will allow the Center to be able to preserve the culture and heritage of the Emirates and the Arabian Peninsula as a whole. Moreover, the Center can organize meetings and campaigns to encourage people to donate to it (National Archives, 2016). By educating the public on the benefits of donating, the NA will consolidate enough materials to ensure its continuity allowing it to achieve and complete its mission and vision successfully.

Conclusion

The government-run National Archives Center is a crucial institution in the UAE. It aims at preserving the history and heritage of political, social, and cultural life of the Arabian Peninsula. The NA’s Archives Department works to collect important manuscripts and information from royal families, the government, and the public and to digitize the content for viewing. It has several sub-branches each with their set of duties. The NA implements security systems to protect its documents from any threat. The students and researchers use the documents kept in the NA in their investigations. Notably, the Center faces some challenges, including inability to recover information uploaded in the website, lack in using advanced technologies and protection system, and non-indexed content that makes it difficult to identify the inappropriate materials. Therefore, the Center should improve the technologies and its security measures as well as organize meetings to urge people to donate to it.