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National Documentation Services

National Documentation Services
National Documentation Services

The National Documentation and Information Retrieval Service (NDS)

Background of The National Documentation and Information Retrieval Service (NDS) was formerly the Central Government Search and Legal Deposit Library whose mandate was to meet the information needs of civil servants. Its name changed to National Documentation and Information Retrieval Service with the amendment of the Public Archives Act (CAP 19 of the laws of Kenya) in 1991. This amendment created it as a division of the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service.

The Act mandates the NDS to:
  • Acquire two (2) copies of published and unpublished documents or reports produced by State Corporations, Government Departments or Ministries. These include; The Government Printer, the Central Bureau of Statistics among others.
  • Process, organize and provide access to all documents received
  • Publish and circulate to all major libraries and documentation link centres an accessions list after every six months, of all government publications acquired.
  • Establish documentation link centres in the entire public service to coordinate the acquisition and preservation of reports and other generally circulated documents.