Lessons from Lesotho
‘It’s in our hands as librarians, as archivists and library directors […] It’s in your hands.’ This was the call to action issued by Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, University Librarian at the National University of Lesotho, at the latest meeting of the Cambridge Archivists Group (CAG), a joint event held with Cambridge University Libraries on 2 April 2025. Dr Mbambo-Thata gave a talk to over 50 CAG members and colleagues from the wider Cambridge library community on the subject of ‘Preserving knowledge for future generations’.
Dr Mbambo-Thata began her talk by introducing Lesotho, a beautiful mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa. In 2024, Lesotho celebrated 200 years of nationhood, commemorating the act in 1824 by Morena Moshoeshoe I in uniting the Basotho clans at Thaba Bosiu. As part of the national commemorations, a bicentennial conference was held in August 2024 at Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village in the shadow of the mountain of the same name. The conference was jointly organised by the National University of Lesotho, the University of the Free State, the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme and the Moshoeshoe Institute for Peace and Leadership, on the theme of ‘Celebrating the preservation of Lesotho’s documentary heritage’.
Dr Mbambo-Thata discussed the main outcome of the conference, the drawing up of the Thaba Bosiu Declaration, a collective attempt by delegates to commit to the principles of preservation at a strategic level. She touched on some of these commitments concerning climate change, the repatriation of African knowledge and the allocation of resources to carry out this work. The preservation of cultural heritage and institutions of memory is particularly pertinent in Lesotho where at least 65% of the population is under the age of 35.
The second half of the talk focused on Dr Mbambo-Thata’s main preoccupation beyond organising the 2024 conference, that of preserving African knowledge in digital spaces. She introduced her work to date with the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP). The EAP works to digitise pre-1950 archival collections at imminent risk of destruction, physical deterioration or neglect. The programme is also committed to providing training for preservation and digitisation at a local level. The National University of Lesotho serves as the Africa Hub for the EAP.
She also described her work with Africa Commons, a platform for born-digital and digitised materials relating to the African continent, set up especially to support institutions which lack the infrastructure to host digital material. There are many digital collections across the world containing African material, but these remain largely inaccessible in Africa itself. Africa Commons is actively working to make it easier for Africans to access their own cultural heritage. A similar initiative, African Journals Online, hosts open access journals to support and promote access to African research.
Dr Mbambo-Thata concluded by stressing the need for collaboration in these efforts. She likened the task ahead to that of eating an elephant in small bites. That is, picking small chunks to tackle at a time, working together to avoid duplication of effort and learning lessons from each chunk going forward.
We are very grateful to Buhle for her time, for her words of wisdom and for bringing a small piece of Lesotho to Cambridge.