IASA-BAAC 2026 Conference

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11:00am EEST

Archives as a Witness: A Case of National Social Security Fund-Uganda

Tuesday October 20, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Four years ago the National Social Security Fund of Uganda faced a parliamentary probe. This probe requested for archives dating back in the 80s, fortunately, the Fund had digitised its records dating the late 1970s and all the records and archives were available within the required time. This amazed the probe, because like most institutions in developing countries, there is a poor culture of records keeping and moreso challenges of resources to digitise their records. To us, when we digitised our archives was focus was for preservation and future, little did we know, that our archives would become the much needed witness we needed. In this presentation, we share our digital transformation journey, how the decision to digitise saved us and is now contributing to the strategic direction of the organisation, the challenges and some of the emerging technologies we are adopting to meet the demands of our users and clients.

Speakers

Winny Nekesa Akullo

Records Manager, National Social Security Fund - Uganda

Winny Nekesa Akullo is a Records and Information Management professional at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) with expertise in institutional records governance, archives management, and digital transformation. Her work focuses on strengthening records systems, ensuring regulatory... Read More →

Shaban Bwayo

Tead Leader - Records, National Social Security Fund - Uganda

Shaban Bwayo is a records management professional for over 10 years. He is currently a Tead leader - records at the National Social Security Fund. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Records and Archival Management at Makerere University

Tuesday October 20, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Long Presentation, In Person

Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

12:00pm EEST

Voices That Won’t Be Erased: Archiving Nairobi’s Gen Z Maandamano

Tuesday October 20, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

In 2024, Nairobi’s streets pulsed with the energy of the Maandamano Gen Z protests — a youth-led wave of civic expression that transformed public spaces into arenas of resistance, identity, and democratic engagement. Mobile phones became lifelines of memory, capturing videos, photographs, voice notes, and live streams that documented a generation demanding to be heard. During this period, the Directorate of Records and Archives Management working alongside the Governor’s Media team at Nairobi City County Government took on the critical responsibility of documenting and preserving these moments. Their work focused on safeguarding voices often excluded from official narratives through the structured archiving of digital and audiovisual content.

This paper recounts the process of capturing Nairobi’s protest memory to addressing complex issues of authenticity, consent, and safety. It highlights the ethical responsibility of archival practices, recognizing that archives are not neutral but active spaces where inclusion, exclusion, and meaning are shaped. Using a narrative approach, the paper examines how protest footage, interviews, and citizen recordings were appraised and preserved. It explores the challenges of verifying content, protecting contributors, and ensuring fair representation, particularly for young voices that are frequently absent from formal archives.

In moments of civic tension, archives serve as spaces of truth-telling and accountability, bridging generations and preserving collective memory. This case demonstrates the vital role of local archival practice in protecting identity, authenticity, and historical memory during periods of social transformation.

Speakers

SUSAN KIBAARA

DEPUTY DIRECTOR RECORDS AND ARCHIVES MANAGEMENT, NAIROBI CITY COUNTY MANAGEMENT

Susan Wambui Kibaara is the Deputy Director of County Records and Archives Management at the Nairobi City County Government, where she leads all records management functions. She is responsible for policy development, staff supervision, budget planning, training, and ensuring compliance... Read More →

Tuesday October 20, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

global Y
Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

1:30pm EEST

Digital Preservation and Conservation of the Audiovisual Collections in Archives in South Africa In Times Peace and War

Tuesday October 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Globally, archives exist to preserve rare and archival collection of enduring nature. Audiovisual (AV) recordings specifically need to be preserved from factors such as water, fire, temperature and humidity which have a potentiality to destroy them permanently. Wars also pose threat as fragile and rare AV recordings can be destroyed in archives during the war. As the world is in digital era, traditional archives need to adapt to the era to ensure long term preservation and optimal accessibility of the archival audiovisual collection even post wars. Digital preservation of audiovisual heritage in archives is of utmost important to protect their originality, authenticity and uniqueness. Adequate digital storage facilities, outside replication centres and data security are essential to ensure protection of the AV collections. The purpose of this study was to investigate digital preservation of AV collections to ensure that the archival collections are still accessible post wars. The study adopted the qualitative research approach. To collect in-depth data, seven AV archivists were interviewed virtually. Interview schedule was used to collect data. The findings indicated that all archives in South Africa are busy digitising their AV heritage. The findings indicate that there is a backlog in the digitisation of millions of AV recordings. More budget is also essential for the archives to buy requisite state-of-the-art equipment to digitise AV collections. With adequate budget, more qualified archivists can be employed to accelerate digitisation. The study recommended cloud storage of the digitised AV collections so that they are accessible post wars.

Speakers

Samuel Maredi Mojapelo

Full Professor, University of South Africa

Samuel Maredi Mojapelo (PhD) is the Professor in the Department of Information Science, University of South Africa (Unisa). He worked as a teacher in Limpopo province for 22 years. After that, he joined the Gauteng Department of Basic Education in 2008 as a Senior Education Specialist... Read More →

Tuesday October 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Long Presentation, In Person

global Y
Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

2:30pm EEST

Future-Proofing AV Archives in Europe during Uncertain Times

Tuesday October 20, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Which risks and threats are AV archives facing in the current geopolitical moment? And how can AV archives learn from global best practices for contending with climate risk, political instability and military conflict? These concerns have been central in a recent collaborative project with the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision (NISV) for which more than 25 AV archivists from 15 European countries were interviewed in 2025. The resulting report, “Future-Proofing the AV Archive: Pathways to Resilient Heritage in Uncertain Times,” draws attention to the precautions that archives are currently taking against diverse risks and threats, and outlines the potential to further improve their disaster preparedness.

This presentation will first identify examples of how AV archives in Europe are currently learning from their peers about maintaining archival services in the context of war (e.g. Ukraine’s Suspilne broadcaster) and from the emergency response/recovery protocols developed by institutions exposed to severe storms, floods, bushfires, and earthquakes (e.g. across the Asia-Pacific region). It will then outline how – in collaboration with NISV – we together developed an interactive digital story “Heritage under threat” that uses the Dutch history of radio archivists protecting at-risk collections during German military occupation (1940-45) in order to frame the topic of threats faced by AV archives today. The presentation will end with a critical reflection on how such digital formats can be used to engage the broader public and archive professionals in the ‘story’ of AV archives as well as the critical need to protect AV collections in uncertain times.

Speakers

Carolyn Birdsall

Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Carolyn Birdsall is Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam. Her publications include Nazi Soundscapes (2012) and Radiophilia (2023), as well as “Listening to the Archive” (2019, co-ed. V. Tkaczyk) and “Historical Traces of European Radio Archives” (2022, co-ed. E. Harrison). Along with leading the funded research projects TRACE (2019-2024) and AV-DATA (2024-2-26), she previously served as Vice-C... Read More →

Tuesday October 20, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

3:30pm EEST

Collecting Conflict: An Australian Perspective

Tuesday October 20, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a shrine, a museum and an archive, committed to telling Australia’s continuing story of service, sacrifice and military history.

Within the archive, the audiovisual collection holds over one hundred thousand items, in all formats, that record the Australian experience of and connection to war and conflict throughout the 20th and 21st centuries – from pre-Federation colonial wars to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Since its inception in the middle of the First World War, the AWM has been collecting stories and recordings of war from front lines, war zones and military bases across the world, as well as from the Australian home front and community. Through a retrospective of the AWM collection and its acquisition and collection development history, this paper will explore the many different means of collecting before, during and after a conflict, and how this has changed over time.

It will also consider the practical and ethical considerations of collecting, working with, sharing and displaying such content, with particular focus on recent AWM exhibitions – Operation Kudu: supporting Ukraine and Action! Film & War.

Speakers

Sarah Kershaw

Senior Curator, Australian War Memorial

Sarah Kershaw is Senior Curator of Photographs, Film and Sound at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. She is the lead curator of the current exhibition Operation Kudu: supporting Ukraine, co-curator of the upcoming Action! Film & War, and has been involved in the development o... Read More →

Tuesday October 20, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

4:00pm EEST

IASA Ambassadors Committee Meeting

Tuesday October 20, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

The IASA Ambassadors was conceived in 2018 as a flexible platform for informal information exchange, networking, and knowledge-sharing. The program seeks to decenter traditional hierarchies by fostering connections between large, well-resourced institutions and smaller cultural and community-based archives. IASA Ambassadors aims to forge informal network building - between archivists who may be working as “lone arrangers” in the developing world, and colleagues in large scale archives throughout the globe. In doing so, it aligns with broader efforts to redistribute authority, amplify underrepresented voices, and recognize the value of localized knowledge within a global archival ecosystem.

In this meeting, open to all members willing to take part, we will discuss the Ambassador Committee role as a relational and transformative practice. Rather than viewing outreach solely as dissemination, we will work searching for reciprocal processes of engagement that enables transnational knowledge circulation and collaborative meaning-making.

Speakers

Ambassadors Committee

Chair, IASA committee

IASA Ambassadors
A IASA Ambassador is a IASA Member who represents IASA on a community, national or exceptionally, a regional level (e.g., Latin America or Southern African).There may be more than one Ambassador in any one country. Once approved by the IASA Executive Board, Ambassadors will be listed... Read More →

Tuesday October 20, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Committee Meeting, Hybrid