This paper will introduce the new online catalogue of the National Archives of Madagascar (https://archives-africa.org/catalogues/) created at the request of its director, Sahondra Sylvie Andriamihamina Ravoniharoson, by a project funded by King’s College London (King’s Together: “Finding Africa: exploring the potential of a continent’s archives”). This project has been supported by the Ecole nationale des Chartes (France) and the French Embassy in Madagascar.
This website aims at (1) increasing the visibility of Madagascar’s archives through a fully indexed and cross-searchable catalogue; (2) testing new lightweight approaches to cataloguing in difficult physical environments and the presentation of catalogues on mobile devices, addressing sensitivity concerns such as how different places are described across time; (3) creating a new scholarly network linking archivists and scholars of Africa in Africa and Europe.
The presenter will introduce the technology behind the Malagasy online catalogue. The new website is modelled on AIM25, a database of archives and manuscript collections from many of London's higher education institutions, learned societies, cultural organisations and City livery companies.
He will subsequently explain the archival challenges behind the cataloguing project in Madagascar. The country has a particularly rich history and the National Archives of Madagascar hold extremely diverse documents ranging from the 19th century when Madagascar was an independent kingdom to the late 20th century.
Finally, the presenter will show how the new website can be an excellent resource for policy makers. By stressing the potential of archives in Madagascar and in Africa, this new catalogue can be an invaluable tool for African governments.