AO: The sentiments articulated below echo what my ongoing fieldwork has also revealed, particularly surprising given that I have been engaging with researchers in Kenya. Even amongst local and foreign researchers based in Nairobi, KNA is not seen as a go-to resource. During my visits to the archives, the majority of users appear to be Kenyans from media and think tank organizations.
...the archives remain largely unknown and vastly underutilized by the majority of the Kenyan public. Staff members state that few of the thousands of people passing by the KNA each day have any idea of what the archives are or what they can offer. Indeed, on explaining that they do research at the KNA, the authors have been asked by countless Kenyans, "Where are the archives? What do they do there? Who can use them?" Even students from the University of Nairobi, located scant blocks from the KNA, rarely use the archives' resources. Unfortunately, there are very limited resources for outreach and publicity, restricting the staff's best efforts to market the KNA.
