Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists. ICA Study 16. International Council on Archives

Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists. ICA Study 16. International Council on Archives

Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists. ICA Study 16. International Council on Archives.Available free at www.ica.org/biblio.php?pdocid=285

Keywords: Records management, Archives

This is the final published version of the International Council on Archives’ Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists, which was launched at the 15th ICA Congress in Vienna, August 2004. It is the work of the ICA Committee on Current Records in an Electronic Environment from 2000 to 2004, chaired by Andrew McDonald, co-ordinated by Kimberly Barata and comprising many leading names in the field. It builds on the earlier (1997) study Guide for Managing Electronic Records from an Archival Perspective, a significant publication at the time, which examined principles and proposed policies and strategies for addressing the challenges.

The new publication builds on these principles but is more practical, focusing on “how to” manage electronic records of all types created in electronic office systems or networked environments. This means records “born digital” or digitised as part of a business process, not those digitised for better access and preservation purposes. It is important to note that the authors state they have not undertaken any new research in compiling the workbook, they have “drawn on a wide range of standards, model requirements, handbooks, guidelines, and other publications” which they commend to readers. Appropriately, terminology, definitions and much more are taken from ISO 15489.

Following the introductory chapter and one covering concepts and definitions, the workbook comprises four main interrelated and interdependent chapters which “translate” the four principles established in the earlier guide.

The first of these is about influencing records creators and organisations in order to begin managing electronic records at the earliest possible time – the repositioning of archivists and records managers. Its content provides a useful checklist of issues to be addressed in developing and then implementing a strategic vision for recordkeeping. Suggestions for raising the profile of recordkeeping are provided, the importance and nature of working partnerships with others is stressed and there are interesting sections of developing appropriate skill sets and assessing what your records or archives function and staff are ready to attempt.

The next chapter considers implementing recordkeeping the requirements and, not surprisingly, adopts the DIRKS methodology encapsulated in ISO 15489. Each step, with the exception for some reason of the final post-implementation review, is considered within the context of new information systems being planned or existing systems needing to be preserved and the focus is specifically on archival concerns. As a result, archival appraisal and preservation feature strongly in this chapter.

The third of the four main chapters is about long-term preservation, not just permanent preservation. Long-term is defined as “being longer than the lifetime of the system (hardware and software), which created the records – typically five years at current rates of technical change”, and so is very much every records professional’s domain and concern. In addressing the preservation requirements, i.e. authentic, complete, accessible, understandable, processable and usable records, different approaches are considered. These include preservation within the creating system, migration and bitstream preservation, and the role of metadata is explored. Skills are touched upon.

The final chapter focuses on access, which “may be regarded as the ultimate objective of recordkeeping.” Both short-term and long-term access are considered. The latter examines the access and cost implications of four approaches to preservation, from maintenance within the creating system to storage in a software-independent format, such as XML with a DTD to document the data structure, for import into a records or information system for access and retrieval purposes. Having explored user needs and service levels, very much within the context of an archive or custodial institution, the chapter concludes that these two issues, together with costs, must be weighed up, and not just the technological and organisational issues.

One very useful and practical feature of the workbook is the readiness assessment. At the end of each of the four main chapters there is a list of questions that could form a checklist for assessment, development or planning purposes, perhaps even to structure a positioning paper for senior management. And another useful feature is the annotated bibliography of further reading in Annex B, which provides a small number of selected resources relevant to each chapter in the workbook.

Overall, the workbook, whilst descriptive at times, provides a useful analysis of a wide range of existing best practice guidance and tools which can be used at the tactical, rather than micro-operational level, to begin to address the “how to” of managing electronic records. It is a welcome addition to the literature and follow-up to the ICA’s earlier study, now eight years old. Readers should not allow the occasional “motherhood and apple pie” statement, such as “passive, or deferred, records management leads only to irrelevance”, to irritate – why would they be reading the workbook if they did not agree with this? Nor should they be deterred by the title if they do not describe themselves as archivists, since the intended audience is both records managers and archivists. And, whilst the content is particularly relevant for national archives, it should also (as the authors hope) be very useful to a broader audience in all sectors.

Julie McLeodNorthumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK