Introduction to census archiving - Session 3 -

THEME

Presented byKomi KOLAGBE

Chef Section Archivage pour le Quatrième RGPHTOGO

IntroductionWhat census archiving is?Purpose of archiving and its benefitsDeveloping an institutional strategy for

archiving and organizational considerationsRequirements for archiving in terms of

resourcesLegal frameworkTechnological infrastructure and technical

capabilitiesConclusion

The archiving of Census in the world is an important context for the organization and conduct of studies on data series. This seminar provides an opportunity for professionals in the field to share their experiences and ideas to define a standard for the activity that occurs a lot in the treatment and management of information.Our presentation will launch the groundwork for discussions on topics of concern.Thus, it will discuss the goals and benefits of archiving a census, techniques and resources to deploy and adopt appropriate strategies to adopt.

Archives are all documents that justify their conservation for historical or administrative interest, regardless of their natures, their dates of creation, form, or medium. They are created or received by an individual or corporation, public or private organization as part of its activities.The archiving of a census is therefore to collect, to retain all documents related to the process and guarantee their future operation.

The primary purpose of this activity is to prevent loss of useful information to stakeholders in the process, professionals and the general public.Document retention and the creation of archives are made in the public interest

for management purposes the purposes of scientific research the purposes of justification of the rights of

people the purposes to save the national heritage

In the case of a census, archiving is involved in managing of the current process and future.

It allows the preservation of microdata, processes for their implementation (plan for the collection, analysis plan, etc.) and it is also involved in their broadcasts.

The archiving strategy extends to all stages of a census: From the preparation of the project during its implementation and to dissemination of results.

In totality, the archiving strategy identifies the sources of information, documents to collect, store and distribute. The strategy also defines the means of data collection, the duration of retention of documents collected under the laws of the country and their access policy.

In Togo, when RGPH4, the Central Bureau of the Census (BCR) has an Archiving Section within its Data Processing Division. This section supported by four Archivists and a librarian, was in charge of implementing a plan of archiving.

Once equipped, the staff involved in archiving of census data should not lose sight of the organization to implement. Even if there is an automated data backup, archivists must:

  Collect and classify Identify documents validated and those

temporary Identify the documents for publication Make available and ready to broadcast any useful

data

The documentation files for archiving can also take time, therefore, the staff of the archive can be divided roles. Specifically to obtain letters, legal texts, validated manuals and documents of land, etc…The archive plan and the organization can be summarized in these points:

Constitution of a team of archivists for centralization, harmonization, and data security

Regular collection of files of members of the Census Central Office (BCR)

Sorting and gradual integration into the software Toolkit

Study of problems and taking into account the recommendations of the pilot RGPH

Identification of documents to archive after enumeration of the population

Acquisition of the list of enumeration area(ZD), design books and a computer application for receiving and monitoring ZD during treatment

Development of a Discharge of receipt assigned to each field supervisor

Layout of rooms and archive preparation of receiving equipment

Recruitment and training of support staff at the reception

Establishment of an addressing plan to classify the questionnaires and other documents

Organisation team of archivists day and night to assist codification and data entry

Support for the clearance of input data Microdata Documentation Completion of the integration of data into

Toolkit Support for the operation and publication of

interim and final results of Census Design and implementation of a project to scan

all the household questionnaires

In terms of collecting census data, the establishment of a computerized and centralized backup of data is an asset to the team of archivists.

In addition to the staff, protected computers, scanners, hard drives, printers are used in data archiving. Staff has received training in Toolkit.

As Togo, has opted for a census with paper questionnaires that must be coded and entered using CSPro, archivists are regularly asked.

The Section of Archiving, asked other additional equipment for the reception of documents in the field.

These are 120 wooden shelves in which are stored the archive boxes containing household questionnaires, records, markers, pens, rulers, glue, adhesive tape, scissors, file straps and other office equipment.

Mapping census and the census pilot helped refine the estimates of equipment needed. It has, for example, allow to consider the amount of paper to collect and layout of rooms archives.

Archiving still considers the privacy and information protection against unauthorized access.

Archiving still guaranteeds the protection of the anonymity and privacy as the names of respondents are missed and not involved in the processing or data analysis of the household, or the addresses and phone numbers are not taken into account by the household questionnaires.

Togo has no text defining the term of mandatory retention of paper questionnaires, and therefore, the questionnaires will be retained as long as possible against wear. In the digital age, the projects rather expensive of document scanning can be considered to ensure their conservation.As micro data, they are obtained after data validation cleared and is kept on the most common digital media.As archiving is a pre-release to broadcast, it is necessary to have a privacy policy and a specific policy of data dissemination into any National Institute of Statistics.

During data process in Togo, the organization and infrastructure were in place for the management of about 7000 enumeration area (ZD). The great difficulties may be related to:

the lack of space and time (or staff) during reception of documents of land

the difficulties of classification of all documents necessary field to office work after the enumeration of population (Household questionnaires, ZD books, Fact sheets, ZD maps modified or not)

the daily management of the questionnaires during treatment

the collection, documentation and preparation for dissemination in the absence of a dissemination policy

We will say, in summary that the deployed system for archiving a census generally corresponds to the method of collection and treatment adopted. Archiving and distribution are facilitated with tools such as Toolkit, Redatam / IMIS.

 Nevertheless, it should have an automated backup system to collect data, a strategy for the identification of validated data and a dissemination strategy and dissemination of data.

 Thank you.