Informations en français: JIA 2024 : Le CERDOTOLA offre une formation sur l’IA et la gestion des archives

The IFLA Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Centre, hosted at the Centre International de Recherche et de Documentation sur les Traditions et les Langues Africaines (CERDOTOLA) has been active in helping equip Cameroonian memory workers navigate challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies.

Workshop participants
Photo credit: CERDOTOLA

In June 2024, the Oral Resources Laboratory (LRO) of CERDOTOLA, located in Yaoundé, Cameroon, hosted a training on the Theme: “ Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Archives Management in Cameroon: Contribution, Challenges and Prospects ”.

This activity, which was part of the celebration of International Archives Day (IAD) 2024, was an opportunity to discuss the opportunities of AI in document management, as well as the conditions for ethical and achievable implementation. Participants shared different perspectives and discussed new challenges facing library and archive professionals in light of these technologies.

International Archives Day is a global day established by the initiative of the International Council on Archives to raise awareness and promote the work of archivists. On 9 June of each year, archivists from around the world are invited to speak about the profession and promote their work.

Participants in the workshop
Photo credit: CERDOTOLA

In light of the theme of IAW 2024, #CyberArchives, the PAC Centre Cameroon took the opportunity to recognise the many opportunities, and challenges, that AI brings to the field of information management and heritage preservation.

They offered Cameroonian professionals a training session to strengthen the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage, in accordance with the mandate of CERDOTOLA and of their role as an IFLA PAC Centre.

Professor Charles Binam Bikoi, welcomed the participants to the CERDOTOLA Oral Resources Laboratory:

” As guardians of history, you have the responsibility to preserve the past while obviously preparing the future for future generations… Faced with the growing risk of loss of this memory, CERDOTOLA has made a commitment to raise awareness and regularly train professionals to better equip yourself with the techniques of preservation and conservation of documentary heritage for future generations…

However, it is crucial not to lose sight of the challenges of integrating AI into your field, namely data quality, privacy, security, ethics which remain concerns that you must approach with seriousness and rigor .”

About the Workshop

  • Module 1 – an introduction to Artificial Intelligence, basics and core technology of AI
  • Module 2 – discussion on AI in archive management, with the contribution of blockchain in the archiving of massive digital data, digitisation, natural language processing and content analysis, automatic classification, advanced search and access to documents, preservation and conservation as well as network analysis.
  • Module 3 – deep dive into the challenges of integrating AI into archives
  • Module 4 – exploration of the opportunities offered by AI for archives.

Under the direction of PAC Centre coordinator, Mr Norbert Tangmo, the participants approached different tools and explored how they can be used to help organise vast archive collections. Participants emerged better equipped to be major players in the construction of a powerful Africa through its cultural heritage, its sustainability and the accessibility of all its documentary heritage.

The 40 participants included librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and staff from the information services of embassies and institutes of higher education, as well as interns.

Participants gladly affirmed that the objectives of the training were largely achieved:

  • contribute as an IFLA PAC center, but also as a cultural institution which focuses its dynamics on preservation and conservation for the renaissance of Africa.
  • support SDG target 11.4 of the UN Agenda 2030, which calls on member states to strengthen their efforts to protect and safeguard cultural heritage.

Equipped with theoretical skills and equipped to face the challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI), participants will be able to improve the management and preservation of heritage archives while making them more accessible and better protected.


Since January 2016, CERDOTOLA has been the IFLA PAC Center for French-speaking Africa, focussing on oral traditions. This workshop is one in a series offered to address key themes for African memory workers. In 2023, the PAC Centre organised “the contribution of sound, oral and radio archives to the history of Africa”, and a training session on “the issues of preservation and conservation of archives for a present Africa”.

Link to more information (in French): https://cerdotola.org/2024/06/16/jia-2024-le-cerdotola-offre-une-formation-sur-lia-et-la-gestion-des-archives/7625

Video link: https://youtu.be/qUhVDmgvR8o