2 - Managing current records

Summary

Introduction

Current records: records which are being used to support current business and organizational needs. Also known as active records.

This chapter is about recordkeeping from the perspective of the people who create and use the records to support their business, personal or social activity. It is quite difficult to draw an absolute line between the recordkeeping activities for current records and those for non-current records, but for the purposes of this book, they are distinguished not only according to their currency but also by the owners. We will look at good systems, how we can establish or improve them and how they should be maintained and reviewed. With the advent of computers, information and records manifest not only in physical formats (for example paper or magnetic tape) but also in digital format. Therefore we will address managing current records in this challenging hybrid environment. The section also covers security issues and introduces vital records management as far as it is necessary as part of current recordkeeping.

In contemporary organizations records, especially digital records, are created at an incredible rate. They can be used, deleted and misplaced without any organizational control. Much of what end-users think of as records are in fact non-record information, ephemeral records or drafts. Amongst other possibilities, records can be created in the computer system, received in paper copy from outside the organization, formally drawn up on paper or be the result of hand-written amendments to paper print-outs. Thus they may physically reside in disparate locations as well as be rendered in different media. With the rise of computers good administrative staff with filing skills have disappeared. End-users are usually expected to set up and use their own systems, either individually or as teams, and there is rarely any training or guidance unless records management is in place.

Computers have been revolutionary in their impact on the way we conduct business, in terms of automating drudgery, speeding up operations, analysis and improving consistency. However, as the computer systems designersdevelop more user-friendly applications, any centralized control over record creation and registration becomes increasingly difficult. End-users have, and will continue to have, enormous power over the fate of the records they create and receive – the challenge for archivists and records managers is to convince organizations and individuals of the benefits of sound recordkeeping practice.