Archiving is done whenever people lived. Maldives history shows that Maldivians archived during 1100 A.D. Since 1942, government documents are being officially archived.
National Archives of Maldives is a public legal entity established under the Archives Act (16/2011) on 19th January 2012. Its main mandate is to archive national official documents, photos, videos, charts and information -- formulating archiving and public records management policies.
It was first parented initially by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Ministry of Transport and Communication and later under the Ministry of Finance & Treasury up to 17the November 2017. Presently the National Archives of Maldives is administered under the Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage - Mrs. Yumna Maumoon.
Milestones Achieved
- An action-plan from 2014-2018 has been implemented and the second action plan is being executed.
- National document management policy is being drafted incorporation with the stake holders.
- Public records disposal regulation formulated -- schedule to dispose public records; documents, photo, video and charts is being planned.
- Digitalization project: Robotic book scanner, photo scanner, A3 scanner are bought and are used in the operation.
- Rolling file racks are installed for the storage.
Statistics
- There are estimated 601,514,240 public record documents in different storage facilities under different institutes that needs to be digitalized and disposed.
- Some of the documents have been preserved but need more technical conservation and preservation practices.
- Number of documents are checked and disposed each year.
- There are over 7,000,000 digital records in GEMS.
Ongoing Works
- Organization structure is being revised to strengthen the institution.
- Documentation research and publication.
- Public records awareness program.
- Public records digitalization project.