Ethiopian Study is an area study. "Area study" is a field of study that falls within the scope ofrna group of studies which are multi-disciplinary in nature. The Manuscript and DocumentationrnCenter is one of the major units under the Library at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies thatrnprovide important historical information to researchers of area study, to students, staff, foreignrnscholars, etc. The materials reflect the cultural heritage of the Ethiopian people. The collectionrnconstitutes at the Center unpublished materials of various types, parchments, photographs,rnslides, postcards, microfilms/fiches etc.rnrnThe Center has information handling and provision problems due to mainly the unique type ofrncollection and the existing manual system of preparing finding aids to this unique collection.rnIt is believed that a computer based information system can help a lot in solving the problemsrnof Manuscript and Documentation Center. In particular, by enhancing the accessibility of thernmanuscript and archival collection to users through providing indexes, query searching,rnselective searching by field or key word, and allowing multiple access.rnrnTo this end the existing system was analyzed based on extensive interviews conducted withrnthe staff, document analysis and personal observation. User groups were identified and theirrnrequirements were surveyed using questionnaire. Based on the findings, a system wasrndesigned using an object oriented approach. Finally, a prototype was developed using BASErnfor Windows in order to implement the proposed database solution, test it and draw arnrecommendations for improvement. Among the problems identified in the existing system are the lack of properly organizedrnfinding aids, poor organization or management of the collection, poor housing, no systematicrnrecording of in-house collection management (i.e. accession, exhibition and restoration), lackrnof trained manpower and problem of security.