Managing Your Organization’s Records

Citation

Reid, C.D. (2000), "Managing Your Organization’s Records", Library Review, Vol. 49 No. 7, pp. 351-360. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2000.49.7.351.7

The Successful LIS Professional series

Records management was first acknowledged as a distinct discipline in the early nineteenth century. It arose in response to the growing amount of information and documents being produced, used and stored in organisations. Increasingly, as organisations have grown and diversified in their activities, it has become more and more necessary to control the production, storage and destruction of records. New information technologies have added new dimensions to the challenge of controlling records effectively and efficiently. Although in the late twentieth century we were being told we were entering the age of the paperless office, these new technologies – computers, photocopiers, fax machines and the Internet – have resulted in a dramatic increase in paper‐based documents and also electronic documents. Records management, whose aim is the “systematic and consistent control of all records throughout their lifecycle” is therefore faced with even more challenges. Documents need to be positively managed from the time of their initial creation through to when they are destroyed regardless of how long or short this time span may be.

This book aims to present an “overview of what managing records means, the key issues and best practice.” This it does in three distinct sections covering records and records management, managing records and managing your organisation’s records. It follows a logical and structured format and in a very easy‐to‐read and approachable manner. Having explained exactly what is meant by a record, and their importance to the organisation, the author tackles filing systems and how to design a system that works; implementing a records retention policy; identifying and protecting vital organisational records; and storage issues.

Six organisations are used as case studies throughout the book: an architectural practice, a pharmaceutical company, a management consultancy, a charity, a local authority, and a university. Hence, most organisational types are catered for. The author uses these examples, together with exercises, to illustrate practically the points she is trying to make. She also uses lots of questions to make you think: “If the fire bell rang NOW, would you take any records with you as you rushed to the fire escape?”.

This is an introductory guide. However, the book concludes with a guide to further reading: books on the theory and practice of records management, key journals, the most important British and international standards, and Web sites. The whole layout of the text, together with the tone in which it is written, makes this a very useful “how to do it” book. It is primarily aimed at library and information services staff “who have responsibilities for records, but no formal training”. However, it should also serve as a useful tool for administrators and students of records management. With on average 10 per cent of staff time being spent looking for records and information, the costs to an organisation of not managing its records are potentially enormous. This volume deserves wide circulation.