Garaba, Francis2025-09-242025-09-242015Aluka. 2000-2010. Timbuktu manuscripts. Available: http://www.aluka.org/action/showCompilationPage?doi=10.5555/AL.CH.COMPILATI ON.COLLECTION-MAJOR.TIMMAN& Accessed 30 May 2015. Big Media Publishers. 2009. New home for ancient texts in Timbuktu. Available: http://www.southafrica.info/africa/timbuktu-project.html Last Accessed 12 July 2012. Cloonan, M. C. 2007. The moral imperative to preserve. Library Trends 55 (3):746-755. Diallo, A. 2012. Timbuktu: the beginning of new era in Africa’s quest for its past. CODESRIA Bulletin 1 & 2:53-54. Forde, H. and Rhys-Lewis, J. 2007. Preserving archives. London: Facet Publishing. Hunter, G. S. 2000. Preserving digital information: a how-to-do-it manual. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. International Council on Archives. 2005. Archive buildings in a tropical climate and with low resources. Available: http://www.ica.org/10798/studies-and-case-studies/ica-study-n17-archive-buildings-in-a-tropical-climate-and-with-low-resources.html Accessed 20 March 2015 Jeppie, S. 2008. Re/discovering Timbuktu. In: Jeppie, S. and Diagne, S. B. (eds). The meanings of Timbuktu. Cape Town: HSRC Press in association with CODESRIA. pp. 1-17. Marks, S. 2012. Do not let our archives turn to dust. Available: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-06-28-do-not-let-our-archives-turn-to-dust. Accessed 3 June 2015. Mazrui, A. A. 1985. African archives and the oral tradition. The Courier (2):13-15. Mnjama, N. 2005. Archival landscape in Eastern and Southern Africa. Library Management 26 (8/9): 457 – 470. Murambiwa, I. 2012. Archiving to the last archivist standing: the National Archives of Zimbabwe under sanctions. Comma 1:59-66. Ngoepe, M. 2011. Is archives and records management profession in South Africa cursed? ESARBICA Newsletter 23:2-3. Available: http://www.esarbica.org/ESARBICA23.pdf Last Accessed 3 June 2012. Ngulube, P. 2002. Preservation reformatting strategies in Africa. African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science 12 (2):117-132. Ngulube, P. 2005. Environmental monitoring and control at National Archives and Libraries in Eastern and Southern Africa. Libri 55:154-168. Patel, K. 2012. Timbuktu: SA’s uncertainty as rebels move in. Available: http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-05-08-timbuktu-sas-uncertainty-as-rebels-move-in Last Accessed 11 July 2012. The Archival Platform. 2014. State of the Archives: an analysis of South Africa’s national archival system. Available: http://www.archivalplatform.org/news/entry/state_of_the_archives_/ Accessed 25 May 2015. The South Africa Mali Project. 2004. Available: http://www.sa-maliproject.co.za/Timbuktu/sa_mali_work.htmL Last Accessed 11 July 2012. Syson, L. 2012. Mali: Timbuktu heritage may be threatened, UNESCO says. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17596831 Last Accessed 12 July 2012.https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/5520Timbuktu’s literary patrimony has survived the ravages of mankind and environmental threats since time immemorial and this coupled by the fact that the manuscripts are a veritable treasure trove of knowledge explains why the interest has been phenomenal on the global stage. This “tin-trunk literacy” once in official depositories is now finding its way into the basements of individual households where it had previously been housed for centuries. The cycle of archiving and re-archiving at private or personal level as evidenced in Mali points to the need to depoliticise the archive. The fact that the Timbuktu manuscripts have survived for centuries in those household basements, in storerooms and garages for example, is a strong African archival tradition that deserves special commendation considering that modern archives are mainly Western in conception. The lesson for Africa is that natural ventilation remains the best solution to preserve our collections and in the construction of future archival buildings this needs to be observed to avoid artificial methods of preservation which are unsustainable. International collaboration efforts whilst welcome, should take cognisance of this strong archival tradition when planning rescue efforts with regards to infrastructure. Another fundamental lesson is that Africans should be able to take control of the digitization of their own intellectual heritage to counter cultural pillaging. On the other hand, the efforts made by the South African Government to preserve this Timbuktu heritage are applaudable but the deplorable state of its archives at private, state and provincial levels raises eyebrows as it appears this was political expediency with the so-called African Renaissance concept.enAttribution 3.0 Unportedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Articlehttp://conference.ifla.org/ifla81open accessPreservationTimbuktu manuscriptsarchival buildingDead Sea Scrollsdigitization