Concepts and principles for the management of electronic records, or records management theory is archival diplomatics

摘要

Purpose - The greatest challenges which digital systems present are the creation and maintenancernof reliable records and the preservation of their authenticity over time. It is vital for every organisationrnthat its records should be able to stand for the facts which they concern, i.e. that their content isrntrustworthy. To meet these challenges the international community of records professionals mustrndevelop appropriate strategies, procedures and standards. This paper seeks to explore the conceptsrnand principles derived from archival diplomatics that should guide the management of electronicrnrecords and therefore these developments, as well as drawing conclusions about the nature of thernresearch work required.rnDesign/methodology/approach - The paper looks at the problems presented by electronicrnrecords, considers a definition of electronic records, and discusses the authenticity and reliability ofrnelectronic records.rnFindings - Research work needs to be carried out to formulate the principles that will guide therndevelopment of international, national and organisational policies, strategies and standards, thernspecific criteria for each type of policy, strategy and standard, and the procedural methods for theirrnimplementation. The most important thing is to ensure that the policies, strategies and standards arernconsistent with one another, and this is only possible when they are based on the same concepts andrninspired by the same principles.rnOriginality/value - Concepts, laws and models from various fields must be studied to foster usefulrntransfers from one field to another, to encourage the development of theory in emerging areas ofrnendeavour and investigation, to eliminate the duplication of theoretical efforts in different fields, and tornpromote consistency of scientific knowledge. However, in order to develop the body of knowledge ofrnrecords management, concepts, laws and models of archival diplomatics must be brought to bear.