THEME
Introduction to census archiving
- Session 3 -
Presented by
Komi KOLAGBE
Chef Section Archivage pour le Quatrième RGPH
TOGO
Plan
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Introduction
What census archiving is?
Purpose of archiving and its benefits
Developing an institutional strategy for
archiving and organizational considerations
Requirements for archiving in terms of
resources
Legal framework
Technological infrastructure and technical
capabilities
Conclusion
Introduction
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.
What census archiving is?
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.
Purpose of archiving and its benefits
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
Purpose of archiving and its
benefits(next)
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.
Developing an institutional strategy for
archiving and organizational considerations
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.
Developing an institutional strategy for archiving and
organizational considerations(next)
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
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Developing an institutional strategy for archiving and
organizational considerations(next)
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:
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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
Developing an institutional strategy for archiving and
organizational considerations(next)
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
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Developing an institutional strategy for archiving and
organizational considerations(end)
 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
Requirements for archiving in terms of
resources
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.
Requirements for archiving in terms of
resources(next)
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.
Requirements for archiving in terms
of resources(end)
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.
Legal framework
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.
Legal framework(next)
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.
Technological infrastructure and
technical capabilities
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:
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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
Technological infrastructure and
technical capabilities(display photos)
Conclusion
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.