Research Issues in Australian Approaches to Policy Development

Drawing on his experience at the Australian Archives in policy development on electronic records and recordkeeping for the Australian Federal Government sector the author argues for greater emphasis on the implementation side of electronic records management. The author questions whether more research is a priority over implementation. The author also argues that if archival institutions wish to be taken seriously by their clients they need to pay greater attention to getting their own organisations in order. He suggests the way to do this is by improving internal recordkeeping practices and systems and developing a resource and skills base suitable for the delivery of electronic recordkeeping policies and services to clients.     

加拿大联邦政府电子文件管理策略分析

文章首先介绍了加拿大图书档案馆(LAC)在联邦政府电子文件管理中的职责、与政府信息主管部门的关系;然后,从政府机构内电子文件保管、LAC接收保存电子文件两个相承接的角度,分析LAC在履行作为政府机构电子文件永久保存地的职责中遇到的困难和挑战,以及采取的应对思路和对策。     

Digital Longevity: Policies on Electronic Records in the Netherlands

In an attempt to solve the current and future problems in electronic recordkeeping the Dutch government, namely the Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Culture, established a nation wide program: Digital Longevity (Digitale Duurzaamheid). The program is run by a bureau, staffed by consultants from the ministry of the Interior, the National Archives, and a province. By various means the bureau creates awareness at the political and senior management levels, develops policies for electronic recordkeeping, and supports implementation. The program contributes to the developing of theories in the area, supports research, and cooperates in education and training. Via pilot projects the consultants keep in touch with record creating organizations. As an opus magnum the program works on a generic design of a recordkeeping system, including a structured definition of recordkeeping functional requirements.     

People,records and power: what archives can learn from WikiLeaks 1

The 2012 International Council on Archives congress theme of ‘Trust. Archives Supporting Good Governance and Accountability’ invited exploration of the nexus between recordkeeping and holding powerful people and organisations to account. By comparing the formation, management and use of a set of records under currently accepted frameworks for recordkeeping in Australia with the formation, management and use of the WikiLeaks Cablegate archive, we can examine how effectively archives and recordkeeping professionals today are meeting their stated goal of upholding accountability, while ensuring the creation of an inclusive societal memory. By analysing these two cases from the point of view of recordkeeping activities supporting appraisal, access, use, trust and authenticity, it is then possible to draw conclusions about lessons that recordkeepers should be learning from WikiLeaks and the changing nature of information generally, if we are to remain relevant and useful as a profession.     

The historian activist and the Gift to the Nation project: preserving the records of the Australian Red Cross

ABSTRACT

In 2014, as part of their centenary celebrations, the Australian Red Cross initiated a project in which it transferred archives to various national, state and territory institutions across Australia including the University of Melbourne Archives and the State Library of New South Wales. The transfer of this voluminous (but not complete) collection built on earlier transfers of archives to the State Library of South Australia and the Australian War Memorial. This paper charts the origins of the plan to donate the records to public repositories. It interrogates the societal provenance of those collections, recognising that the pluralising of records is an historical process, in which the agency of archivists, historians and administrators must be understood. An investigation of Red Cross records in Australia exposes that process in its contingency, inertia and, ultimately, enthusiasm. The paper also reveals the challenges faced by voluntary organisations in preserving their records, and how historians and archivists both can benefit from assisting such organisations. Finally, this paper argues that the ‘Gift to the Nation’ project, with its national and international significance, reflects a shift in our understanding of the First World War to a transnational paradigm that recognises the important role of voluntary organisations.     

Records Management Research Sponsored by the US Army and the Department of Defense

This paper is a synopsis of results achieved in addressing research questions and issues in the management of electronic records. The formulation of records management theory within the context of set theory is briefly described. Steps toward establishing functional requirements for electronic recordkeeping are summarized. The use of software prototyping to develop software techniques for classifying, profiling, and records disposition is described. New research issues and approaches to their resolution are proposed. The methods used in this research suggest the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing issues in the management of electronic records.     

The legacy: British Mandate record management system in Israel

The British civil administration of the Mandate (1920–1948) introduced the recordkeeping system used by British government. The main tool was the Central Registry. Filing was by series, each series including case files, correspondents’ files and subject files. After Independence, government agencies, courts and local authorities continued the recordkeeping systems and methods adopted during the Mandate period. Even today, many features of recordkeeping in Israel bear witness to their British origin.

文件连续体理论核心术语解析—— 兼论我国档案学语境下的误读

20世纪90年代,以弗兰克·阿普沃德为代表的澳大利亚连续体理论者吸收安东尼·吉登斯的结构化理论思想,正式提出多维、动态、宏观的文件连续体理论,这使得从实践中总结出的连续体方法进一步升华为具有时空结构的概念模型。它已经超出了官方文档管理实践的范围,高度概括了人类社会中的一切records管理行为。因此,文件连续体模型中文件保管形式轴上对应四个维度的坐标(Archival)document、Record(s)、Archive和Archives也被赋予了与管理实践不同的概念内涵。本文在正确理解这四个核心术语的基础上,指出我国档案界仅从档案管理实践角度理解文件连续体理论是十分片面的,偏离了其核心思想,是对文件连续体理论的误读。具体而言,这种误读体现在对“连续体”概念、文件连续体理论、文件生命周期理论和文件运动规律的关系理解等方面。     

Continuous classification: capturing dynamic relationships among information resources

Records classification within electronic records management systems often is constrained by rules derived from paper-era recordkeeping, particularly the rule that one record can have only one file code??a rule that was developed to enable the management of records in aggregate. This paper calls for a transformation of recordkeeping and archival practice through an expanded definition of records classification and through item-level management of electronic records.     

The archival sliver: Power, memory, and archives in South Africa

Far from being a simple reflection of reality, archives are constructed windows into personal and collective processes. They at once express and are instruments of prevailing relations of power. Verne Harris makes these arguments through an account of archives and archivists in the context of South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. The account is deliberately shaped around three themes — race, power, and public records. While he concedes that the constructedness of memory and the dimension of power are most obvious in the extreme circumstances of oppression and rapid transition to democracy, he argues that these are realities informing archives in all circumstances. He makes an appeal to archivists to enchant their work by engaging these realities and by turning always towards the call of and for justice. This essay draws heavily on four articles published previously by me: “Towards a Culture of Transparency: Public Rights of Access to Official Records in South Africa”,American Archivist 57.4 (1994); “Redefining Archives in South Africa: Public Archives and Society in Transition, 1990–1996”,Archivaria 42 (1996); “Transforming Discourse and Legislation: A Perspective on South Africa's New National Archives Act”,ACARM Newsletter 18 (1996); and “Claiming Less, Delivering More: A Critique of Positivist Formulations on Archives in South Africa”,Archivaria 44 (1997). I am grateful to Ethel Kriger (National Archives of South Africa) and Tim Nuttall (University of Natal) for offering sometimes tough comment on an early draft of the essay. I remain, of course, fully responsible for the final text. I presented a version of it in the “Refiguring the Archive” seminar series, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, October 1998. That version was published in revised form in Carolyn Hamilton et al.,Refiguring the Archive (Cape Town: David Philip, 2002).     

我国省级、副省级档案馆电子文件移交进馆及管理情况调查分析

2010年6月中国人民大学信息资源管理学院课题组对全国30个省级档案馆和16个副省级档案馆的电子文件移交进馆和管理情况进行了问卷调查,调查结果显示超过一半档案馆已经接收电子文件进馆,移交进馆的电子文件以文本或图像形式的行政文书为主,移交规范亟待完善,进馆后长期保存机制尚未建立。     

新《档案法》中现代民本思想的解读

现代民本思想是对传统民本思想的继承和发展,其本质是一切以人民的利益为根本出发点,与科学发展观的核心“以人为本”思想是一致的。以人民为中心的发展观始终体现在我国治国理政的方方面面,必然也体现在新《档案法》中。具体表现为“为民、亲民、民有、民享”四个方面,其中为民是根本,新《档案法》进一步凸显了档案为民服务的宗旨以彰显其服务性;亲民是保证,新《档案法》规范了档案的开放利用以保障其开放性;民有是基础,新《档案法》强调要创新档案资源体系以保证档案资源的公共性;民享是灵魂,新《档案法》鼓励加强推进档案文化成果共享以扩大其共享性。通过解读新《档案法》体现的现代民本思想,思考其回应社会现实关切的具体表现,理解新《档案法》修订的指导思想与内涵深意,推动新《档案法》的解读宣传与实践落实。     

Recordkeeping professionals’ understanding of and justification for functional classification: Finnish public sector organizational context

Today functional classification is the predominant approach to records organization. It is, however, apparent that the functional approach to records classification often involves methodological and conceptual confusion as well as usability issues. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how recordkeeping professionals perceive functional classification, what are the purposes the classification serves and how they justify this method in Finnish public sector organizations. The article presents the results of the study in which 22 recordkeeping professionals in three Finnish public sector organizations were interviewed. The data were analyzed with qualitative methods. The results show the integration of the functional approach in Finnish recordkeeping practices and records management tools. The results also describe various purposes served by functional classification in organizations. They illustrate various justifications for this method and the recordkeeping professionals’ lack of methodological alternatives.     

电子文件中心的定位与核心取向

电子文件中心是档案馆有机组成部分,是永久保管电子档案的基地;其核心价值是保存数字遗产,核心目标是保证电子文件完整、真实、有效和长久可用;电子文件中心是电子文件管理国家战略的主体工程。     

数据治理：大数据时代档案管理的新视角和新职能

数据治理是数据管理的核心职能。在多部门协同治理数据问题的大数据时代,档案部门应从全局、资产、融入、生态等视角出发,有效利用数据治理的机制、方法和工具,积极参与高层次数据管理活动,尤其关注数据治理格局中多主体协同关系的建立。建议国家档案局增补为促进大数据发展部际联席会议成员单位,并主导建立高层次电子档案治理协作组;基层档案部门以机构内容管理为职责定位;档案行业成为内容管理系统研发和实施的支撑行业。     

Capturing business intelligence required for targeted marketing,demonstrating value,and driving process improvement

The University of Wollongong (UOW) in New South Wales, Australia, has undertaken an innovative and collaborative research project to demonstrate the value that can be provided by academic libraries through a tool called the “library cube”. The library cube consists of two major components: a backend system containing a multidimensional data warehouse linking student borrowing and use of electronic resources to students' academic marks (grades); and a frontend system that allows users to quickly and easily create cross tabulated data views, such as average student marks by frequency of library resource usage and gender. The project is different from the efforts of other institutions to link usage to student outcomes, in that the library cube is not an isolated research project, but is now an ongoing part of UOW's systems and performance reporting. The library cube represents a fundamental shift in evaluating the student experience through the integration of discrete systems and datasets. It has revealed a very strong relationship between student library usage and academic performance. This information will improve UOW library's ability to demonstrate value to clients and stakeholders. The library cube has also delivered some anticipated and unexpected findings on the relationship between social variables, such as gender, age, and citizenship, and library usage behaviors; and in doing so has also identified potential target audiences for library promotions and engagement strategies.