Community archives, a phenomenon that developed out of the 1960s – 1970s civil rights and social justice movements, came to the attention of Western archival academia in the 1990s. Discussion of the phenomenon focused on relationships between the mainstream archives and the community practitioners and a range of subjects in archival studies. Despite the growth of the community archives movement in the context of post-colonial countries in the West, literature suggests that this particular concept has not been hitherto recognised by communities in Thailand. Therefore, this thesis seeks to examine this concept via the Western literature as the basis for further investigation of the community-based heritage activities of the four case studies in the North-eastern (Isan) communities in order to examine the commonalities and differences between the findings from the Western literature and the field research, to identify whether the theoretical and practical models of Western community archives are helpful and applicable to the Thai community heritage activities. The research used qualitative methodologies with a case study approach, including semi-structured interviews, observation, and photographic recording to gain data from the field research. Eighteen interviewees were recruited based on their relevant roles in the communities, including religious and spiritual leaders, members of communities that led or participated in heritage activities, an individual collector, and organisation founders, as well as visitors to the repositories and the audience at community public events. Discussion of research findings is divided into the three main themes that emerged from the field data: motivation, provenance and sustainability. The main conclusions drawn from this research are that, first, the Thai communities focus on saving their heritage from devaluation and neglect rather than trying to fill a perceived gap in mainstream collections, a motivation often found in the relationship between mainstream and community archives suggested by the Western literature. Second, members of communities relied heavily on their leaders and the study revealed the risk to the community archives of over-dependency on individuals; and, despite the evidence that community members had positive views on volunteering, the cooperation from volunteers was primarily driven by the dedication and commitment of the leaders. Third, tangible and intangible heritage in Thai community archives are intertwined and both form important elements in community memory and identity, which the community sees as valuable to preserve and pass on to future generations. Fourth, community archives that are accepted by the Thai community as being a good representation of their heritage tend to be established in community spaces, with the exception of a formal organisation where the space is separated from the communities being represented which, as a consequence, became rather disadvantageous for the organisation. Fifth, ethnic provenance plays a significant part in heritage documentation in Thai communities, especially in the Isan region, where there is a diversity of ethnicity and the majority share similar cultures across the borders with neighbouring countries. Lastly, community archiving practices in Thailand are shown to be affected by their cultural context. This research argues that there are sufficient commonalities between the Western literature and the research findings for each to inform the other. At the same time, the findings from the four case studies have offered some alternative perspectives which can further develop mainstream (and Western) professionals’ understanding of the range, variety and meaning of archival practices in a community context. It is possible to understand the Thai case studies as ‘community archives’ but care should be taken not to assume that they share all the same features as Western examples of the genre. Moreover, particular resonances in literature dealing with less ‘Westernised’ examples have been suggested by Western scholarship; nevertheless, it should be re-emphasised that care should be taken not to create an artificial binary of ‘Western’ and ‘non-Western’ community archives.

In einem im März 2015 in Berlin aufgezeichneten Gespräch beschäftigen sich die Ko-Direktorin des Arsenal Berlin und die Medienwissenschaftlerin Barbara Büscher mit Aspekten des mehrjährigen Projekts „Living Archive“ und dessen Fortführung „Visionary Archive“, das im Mai 2015 abgeschlossen wurde. Aus den Erfahrungen konkreter und interdisziplinärer Archivarbeit ergeben sich neue Perspektiven auf die Institution des Archivs einerseits, auf die Gedächtniskultur im Sinne eines meist hegemonial definierten Kulturbegriffs andererseits.

Das seit dem Jahr 2013 entwickelte Virtuelle Kartenforum 2.0 bietet Nutzern einen standardisierten, offenen und dienstebasierten Zugriff auf das georeferenzierte Altkartenmaterial der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB) an. Mithilfe verschiedener Werkzeuge kann der Nutzer in dem Portal Altkarten raumzeitlich recherchieren, visualisieren und in sein lokales GIS einbinden. Außerdem bietet das Portal Crowdsourcing-Werkzeuge für die Georeferenzierung von Altkarten an. Der Beitrag diskutiert insbesondere die raumzeitlichen Recherche- und Visualisierungsmöglichkeiten des Virtuellen Kartenforums. Zunächst wird die Systemarchitektur kurz vorgestellt und wesentliche Standards und Diensteschnittstellen für den Datenaustausch werden erläutert. Im Anschluss geht der Beitrag auf Aspekte der Implementierung mit freier und quelloffener Software ein. Abschließend stellt der Artikel das darauf aufsetzende Webportal vor.

The study investigates the establishment and development of the Kimberley Africana Library and its mother institution, the Kimberley Public Library within the broader social, economical and political environment in which they took place. The history of these institutions is inextricable until 1984 when the public and Africana sections of the Library were separated and the Kimberley Africana Library was opened to the public in 1986. It was the exceptional collections of Africana and rare books which distinguished the Kimberley Public Library and the main factor which bound the history of these two institutions. The Kimberley Public Library and its progeny the Kimberley Africana Library are the products of a new industrialised era which came about after the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. They emanated from an environment which produced the new wealth of the country, an almost uncharted region which was relatively new to the established British colonies. In order to place the origins of and motivation for the establishment of the Kimberley Public Library and the Kimberley Africana Library in perspective, it is necessary in this study also to include an overview of the development of the diamond mining industry in Kimberley. This development, peculiar as it was to Kimberley, gave rise to the type of social and cultural milieu in which the Public Library was founded by the immigrants to this area. Also included in the study is a brief survey of the development of the library movement in South Africa and the role played by the Kimberley Public Library in the growth of this movement and in the expansion of public library services to the people of the country. The history of the Kimberley Public/Africana Library which covers a period of more than a century is divided into three distinct periods, namely that which deals with the institution as a Subscription Library from 1882 until 1960 and, from 1961 as a free library under the jurisdiction of the Kimberley Municipality and affiliated to the Cape Provincial Library Service. The third period concerns the dichotomisation of the Kimberley Public Library and the establishment of the Kimberley Africana Library in 1986 to house the Library’s renowned collection of Africana and rare books. This section also deals with the period after 1994 when the Kimberley Libraries functioned under the new political dispensation in South Africa. Emphasis is laid on the formation, nature and scope of the Africana Collection which was the raison d’etre for the establishment of the Kimberley Africana Library and the most significant of the items in the collection are broadly described. The study concludes with an assessment of the challenges the Kimberley Africana Library faces and suggests ways and means of resolving these. An Appendix entitled The Founders and the Builders is added in order to elaborate on the exceptional contributions of several prominent Committee members and Librarians who controlled and managed these institutions from their inception in 1882 until 2008. / Information Science / M. Inf. (Information Science)

The study investigates the establishment and development of the Kimberley Africana Library and its mother institution, the Kimberley Public Library within the broader social, economical and political environment in which they took place. The history of these institutions is inextricable until 1984 when the public and Africana sections of the Library were separated and the Kimberley Africana Library was opened to the public in 1986. It was the exceptional collections of Africana and rare books which distinguished the Kimberley Public Library and the main factor which bound the history of these two institutions. The Kimberley Public Library and its progeny the Kimberley Africana Library are the products of a new industrialised era which came about after the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. They emanated from an environment which produced the new wealth of the country, an almost uncharted region which was relatively new to the established British colonies. In order to place the origins of and motivation for the establishment of the Kimberley Public Library and the Kimberley Africana Library in perspective, it is necessary in this study also to include an overview of the development of the diamond mining industry in Kimberley. This development, peculiar as it was to Kimberley, gave rise to the type of social and cultural milieu in which the Public Library was founded by the immigrants to this area. Also included in the study is a brief survey of the development of the library movement in South Africa and the role played by the Kimberley Public Library in the growth of this movement and in the expansion of public library services to the people of the country. The history of the Kimberley Public/Africana Library which covers a period of more than a century is divided into three distinct periods, namely that which deals with the institution as a Subscription Library from 1882 until 1960 and, from 1961 as a free library under the jurisdiction of the Kimberley Municipality and affiliated to the Cape Provincial Library Service. The third period concerns the dichotomisation of the Kimberley Public Library and the establishment of the Kimberley Africana Library in 1986 to house the Library’s renowned collection of Africana and rare books. This section also deals with the period after 1994 when the Kimberley Libraries functioned under the new political dispensation in South Africa. Emphasis is laid on the formation, nature and scope of the Africana Collection which was the raison d’etre for the establishment of the Kimberley Africana Library and the most significant of the items in the collection are broadly described. The study concludes with an assessment of the challenges the Kimberley Africana Library faces and suggests ways and means of resolving these. An Appendix entitled The Founders and the Builders is added in order to elaborate on the exceptional contributions of several prominent Committee members and Librarians who controlled and managed these institutions from their inception in 1882 until 2008. / Information Science / M. Inf. (Information Science)