Integrity in Government through Records Management


Book Description

As a celebration of Anne Thurston’s pioneering work on records and archives management as an essential basis for demonstrating integrity in government, this excellent volume brings together scholars and practicing archivists to discuss key issues around records as evidence for accountability, transparency and the protection of citizens’ rights. Never before have authors from the developing and developed worlds come together to explore the intersection of records management, public administration and international development. The book covers Thurston’s work, the importance of records management for effective governance and digital records management and preservation in developing countries. Case studies from across Africa enhance the theoretical and practical perspectives taken by the authors. This book is essential reading for scholars and students interested in records management and good governance around the world.







Enterprise Content Management, Records Management and Information Culture Amidst E-Government Development


Book Description

This book identifies key factors necessary for a well-functioning information infrastructure and explores how information culture impacts the management of public information, stressing the need for a proactive and holistic information management approach amidst e-Government development. In an effort to deal with an organization's scattered information resources, Enterprise Content Management, Records Management and Information Culture Amidst E-Government Development investigates the key differences between Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Records Management (RM), the impact of e-Government development on information management and the role of information in enhancing accountability and transparency of government institutions. The book hence identifies factors that contribute to a well-functioning information infrastructure and further explores how information culture impacts the management of public information. It highlights the Records Continuum Model (RCM) thinking as a more progressive way of managing digital information in an era of pluralization of government information. It also emphasizes the need for information/records management skills amidst e-Government development. Ideas about records, information, and content management have fundamentally changed and developed because of increasing digitalization. Though not fully harmonized, these new ideas commonly stress and underpin the need for a proactive and holistic information management approach. The proactive approach entails planning for the management of the entire information continuum before the information is created. For private enterprises and government institutions endeavoring to meet new information demands from customers, citizens and the society at large, such an approach is a prerequisite for accomplishing their missions. It could be argued that information is and has always been essential to all human activities and we are witnessing a transformation of the information landscape. - Presents research with broad application based on archives and information science, but relevant for information systems, records management, information culture, and e-government - Examines the differences between Enterprise Content Management and Records Management - Bridges a gap between the proponents of Enterprise Content Management and information professionals, such as records managers and archivists




Encyclopedia of Archival Writers, 1515 - 2015


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Archival Writers, 1515-2015, is a reference work that includes the profiles of authors of literature about records and archives in the Western world who have shaped the records and archives field over a span of 500 years. The 144 archival writers from 13 countries who are included in this volume were selected by an international advisory board on the basis of their impact on the records and archives profession and discipline, the presence of their publications in educational programs’ reading lists, and the frequency of reference to their work. Among the writers included in this volume are Albertino Barisone of Padua (1587-1667), Sir Hilary Jenkinson of England (1882-1961), Adolf Brenneke of Germany (1875-1946), Theodore R. Schellenberg of the United States (1903-1970), Robert-Henri Bautier of France (1922-2010), Terry Cook of Canada (1947-2014), Vicenta Cortés Alonso of Spain (1925-), Eric Ketelaar of the Netherlands (1944-), Aurelio Tanodi of Argentina (1914-2011), Ian Maclean of Australia (1919-2003), and Verne Harris of South Africa (1958 - ). Arranged in alphabetical order, each entry includes a biography, intellectual contributions, and a brief essential bibliography. A total of 113 educators, professionals and students in the records and archives field—55 of whom are also profiled in this Encyclopedia--contributed to this volume. There is no other book in any language that focuses on the life and work of authors of records and archives literature. In fact, there is not easily available information on such writers. Thus, most entries involved quite a bit of research on dead writers and interviews with the living ones. Several living writers supported this work by accepting to author their own entry




Handbook of Research on Heritage Management and Preservation


Book Description

Archives, museums, and libraries are pivotal to the management and preservation of any society's heritage. Heritage assets should be systematically managed by putting in place proper policies, maintenance procedures, security and risks measures, and retrieval and preservation plans. The Handbook of Research on Heritage Management and Preservation is a critical scholarly resource that examines different aspects of heritage management and preservation ranging from theories that underline the field, areas of convergence and divergence in the field, infrastructure and the policy framework that governs the field, and the influence of the changing landscape on practice. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as community involvement, records legislation, and collection development, this book is geared towards academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on heritage management and preservation.




Trust and Records in an Open Digital Environment


Book Description

Trust and Records in an Open Digital Environment explores issues that arise when digital records are entrusted to the cloud and will help professionals to make informed choices in the context of a rapidly changing digital economy. Showing that records need to ensure public trust, especially in the era of alternative truths, this volume argues that reliable resources, which are openly accessible from governmental institutions, e-services, archival institutions, digital repositories, and cloud-based digital archives, are the key to an open digital environment. The book also demonstrates that current established practices need to be reviewed and amended to include the networked nature of the cloud-based records, to investigate the role of new players, like cloud service providers (CSP), and assess the potential for implementing new, disruptive technologies like blockchain. Stančić and the contributors address these challenges by taking three themes – state, citizens, and documentary form – and discussing their interaction in the context of open government, open access, recordkeeping, and digital preservation. Exploring what is needed to enable the establishment of an open digital environment, Trust and Records in an Open Digital Environment should be essential reading for data, information, document, and records management professionals. It will also be a key text for archivists, librarians, professors, and students working in the information sciences and other related fields.




Archival Silences


Book Description

Archival Silences demonstrates emphatically that archival absences exist all over the globe. The book questions whether benign ‘silence’ is an appropriate label for the variety of destructions, concealment and absences that can be identified within archival collections. Including contributions from archivists and scholars working around the world, this truly international collection examines archives in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, England, India, Iceland, Jamaica, Malawi, The Philippines, Scotland, Turkey and the United States. Making a clear link between autocratic regimes and the failure to record often horrendous crimes against humanity, the volume demonstrates that the failure of governments to create records, or to allow access to records, appears to be universal. Arguing that this helps to establish a hegemonic narrative that excludes the ‘other’, this book showcases the actions historians and archivists have taken to ensure that gaps in archives are filled. Yet the book also claims that silences in archives are inevitable and argues not only that recordkeeping should be mandated by international courts and bodies, but that we need to develop other ways of reading archives broadly conceived to compensate for absences. Archival Silences addresses fundamental issues of access to the written record around the world. It is directed at those with a concern for social justice, particularly scholars and students of archival studies, history, sociology, international relations, international law, business administration and information science.




Managing Records


Book Description

Many organizations do not yet have a formal programme of records management, but increasingly they are recognizing the benefits of well managed records and the serious consequences of inadequate records systems. Establishing records management and maintaining an effective programme requires specialist expertise. This essential manual of practice provides a detailed guide to the concepts, skills and techniques of records management for organizational staff who have a responsibility for setting up, maintaining or restructuring a records management programme. It offers invaluable advice on the management of records in both electronic and traditional paper media, and focuses on the following areas: understanding records management analysing the context for records management classifying records and documenting their context creating and capturing records; managing appraisal, retention and disposition maintaining records and assuring their integrity providing access implementing records management. The appendices provide a wealth of additional information including a list of standards for records management, an annotated bibliography and sources of further information, and details of professional and advisory bodies. Readership: This much needed manual is an indispensable purchase for organizations wishing to introduce better practices for managing their records. The book is intended to be of value to experienced records managers as well as LIS practitioners and newcomers to the field. It should be on the desk of every manager and every information professional with responsibility for records management.







Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government


Book Description

Policymakers and program managers are continually seeking ways to improve accountability in achieving an entity's mission. A key factor in improving accountability in achieving an entity's mission is to implement an effective internal control system. An effective internal control system helps an entity adapt to shifting environments, evolving demands, changing risks, and new priorities. As programs change and entities strive to improve operational processes and implement new technology, management continually evaluates its internal control system so that it is effective and updated when necessary. Section 3512 (c) and (d) of Title 31 of the United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA)) requires the Comptroller General to issue standards for internal control in the federal government.