INFO 425 Ch Eight lecture

INFO 425: RECORDS MANAGEMENT

Lecturer:Lebswork Gebremariam

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Chapter Eight (Week 11 & 12)Information storage

technologies• Information storage technologies: micrographics, imaging

• Management of electronic records• Issues, challenges, problems, proposed models

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Information storage technologies (cont.)

• Information storage technologies: micrographics, imaging

• Storage• Storage is the first and best means of defense in safely preserving archival holdings. Choices made in storage type and methodology have the greatest influence on the long-term preservation of records.

• A primary preservation goal is to house all records appropriately based on their size, format, and composition.

• This therefore calls for the appropriate information storage technologies to be used10/10/22 3


• Information storage technologies are those technologies that are used for the storage of information, such technologies include micrographics imaging. Micrographic technology is a digital image representation for converting paper documents to digital images on CD, DVD or hard drives.

• Information storage can be classified as being either permanent, semipermanent, or temporary.

• Information can also be classified as having been stored to or retrieved from primary or secondary memory.

• Primary memory, also known as main memory, is the computer’s main random access memory (RAM). 10/10/22 4

Information storage technologies (cont.)• All information that is processed by the

computer must first pass through main memory.

• Secondary memory is any form of memory other than the main computer memory, including the hard disk, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic tapes.

• Other technologies are Microform (film, fiche) requires a specialized reader and printer to access information.

• It does not matter which format is used, the process remains the same for both. 10/10/22 5

Information storage technologies (cont.)• Working and security copies should be

created for either type.– Working copy - The working copy is produced on Diazo film which does not scratch as easily as the Silver film. It is very durable and should be used for everyday reference purposes.

– Security Film - The security copy is produced on Silver Halide film. This is a master copy and should not be used in a microfilm reader. It should only be used to generate more working copies (Diazo copy) of the film.

• The best way to store the security copy is in an environmentally controlled secure storage area.

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• If your office does not have access to such an area, the Silver film should be stored in a dust free area, in its protective case.

• However, never store the Silver film and the Diazo copy in the same area (i.e., box, cabinet, filing drawer) because the out-gassing of the Diazo copy will degrade the Silver film, making it unreadable and useless for the production of additional copies.

• Advantages of microforms: – They are very inexpensive to duplicate. – They are compact and easy to store/handle/move. 10/10/22 7


– They have proven to last over 100 years and have a life expectancy of approximately 500 years.

• Microforms do have an inherent disadvantage:– The initial cost of preparation of, and the actual filming of, records can be high.

• Magnetic tapes/electronic media are acceptable for the protection of Vital Records having a retention period of less than 10 years.

• Since magnetic tapes have limited stability, special handling is needed to ensure the preservation of electronic records. 10/10/22 8


• Media stability refers to the period of time during which the media can be used for reliable recording or playback of the information.

• The useful life of magnetic tapes is estimated to be 7-9 years.

• Yearly review of the tapes to ensure the information is readable and to migrate the information to new systems is highly suggested.

• Criteria for using magnetic tape: – Data must be superseded or updated so frequently that it precludes the economical use of microfilm or paper. 10/10/22 9

Information storage technologies (cont.)– That is, if the information is updated

everyday and making an electronic copy is easier or more cost effective than photocopy or microfilm, using magnetic media for Vital Records storage could be a viable option.

– You must have continued access to the equipment and software needed to retrieve, read, and reproduce the information.

– You must migrate all information to new tapes everytime hardware or software is upgraded.

– These tapes MUST be compatible with the upgraded system.

– The information is most easily read in electronic format. 10/10/22 10


• Magnetic tapes have some inherent disadvantages when used for security records: – They can easily be erased, or data can be lost, due to contact with magnetic fields or through improper storage conditions.

– Retrieval of information from magnetic tapes is all but impossible if you do not have the machine (computer) software to run the tapes.

– Cost of maintaining necessary equipment and software.

– Cost of continued migration of data to new tapes.

– Limited media stability. 10/10/22 11


• If magnetic tape is selected as the security storage media, the programs, machine instructions, system documentation, and other items required to access the records become Vital Records and must be protected accordingly.

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• Management of electronic records• Electronic Records are created digitally in the day-to-day business of the organisation and assigned formal status by the organisation.

• They may include for example, word processing documents, emails, databases, or intranet web pages.

• The general principles of records management apply to records in any format.

• Digital records (almost always referred to as electronic records) raise specific issues however. 10/10/22 13


• It is more difficult to ensure that the content, context and structure of records is preserved and protected when the records do not have a physical existence.

• Records management practices have established life-cycle management for many years, for both paper and electronic records.

• The major implications for life-cycle management of digital resources, whatever their form or function, is the need actively to manage the resource at each stage of its life-cycle and to recognise the inter-dependencies between each stage and commence preservation activities as early as practicable.10/10/22 14


• This represents a major difference with most traditional preservation, where management is largely passive until detailed conservation work is required, typically, many years after creation and rarely, if ever, involving the creator.

• There is an active and inter-linked life-cycle to digital resources which has prompted many to promote the term "continuum" to distinguish it from the more traditional and linear flow of the life-cycle for traditional analogue materials.

• The term life-cycle have been used to apply to this pro-active concept of preservation management for digital materials. 10/10/22 15


• The rationale for this approach is summed up in the following quotations:"...the prospects for and the costs involved in preserving digital resources over the longer term rest heavily upon decisions taken about those resources at different stages of their life cycle.

• Decisions taken in the design and creation of a digital resource, and those taken when a digital resource is accessioned into a collection, are particularly influential.

• At each phase of the cycle, electronic records need to be actively managed, according to established procedures, to ensure that they retain qualities of integrity, authenticity and reliability.

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• Issues, challenges, problems, proposed models• Issues• Unlike physical records electronic records cannot be managed without a computer or other machine. Electronic records require appropriate combinations of software versions and operating systems to be accessed, and so are at risk because of the rate at which technological changes occur.

• Records management has increased interest among corporations due to new compliance regulations and statutes. 10/10/22 17


• While government, legal, and healthcare entities have a strong, historical records management discipline, general record-keeping of corporate records has been poorly standardized and implemented.

• Privacy, data protection, and identity theft have become issues of interest for records managers. The role of the records manager to aid in the protection of an organization's records has often grown to include attention to these concerns. The need to ensure that certain information about individuals is not retained has brought greater focus to records retention schedules and records destruction.10/10/22 18

Information storage technologies (cont.)• Records management is often seen as an unnecessary

or low priority administrative task that can be performed at the lowest levels within an organisation. Publicised events have demonstrated that records management is in fact the responsibility of all individuals within an organisation and the corporate entity.

• Challenges • Many challenges involved, keeping electronic and paper records in good order and disposing of them properly

• Costs: It would be enormously expensive and a massive waste of resources to attempt to duplicate within the archival setting the technological environments already in place within the creating offices.10/10/22 19


• Changes in Technology: Rapid technological change and reluctance of manufacturers to support old hardware make it extremely difficult for a centralized repository to manage an institution’s electronic records.

• Skills Required: It would be difficult, if not impossible, for an archives staff to learn the skills and provide the expertise needed to access and preserve the wide variety of technologies and formats in use.

• Loss of Records: Insisting on custody will result in some cases in leaving important records outside the recordkeeping boundary. 10/10/22 20

Information storage technologies (cont.)• Problems

• Administrative staff are constantly struggling with questions such as: – How do I decide what goes where? – How can I ensure that the records are readily available when they’re needed?

– How do I avoid discarding something that could be important – for legal, financial, historical or other reasons?

– Currently the vast majority of records are being created electronically and an increasing number are being stored only in an electronic format. 10/10/22 21


• Proposed models for managing electronic records• Life Cycle Model• The life cycle model for managing records, as articulated by Theodore Schellenberg and others, has been the prominent model for North American archivists and records managers since at least the 1960s. However, the question being asked recently is: does the model provide a viable strategy for managing electronic records?

• This model portrays the life of a record as going through various stages or periods, much like a living organism. 10/10/22 22

Information storage technologies (cont.)• In stage one, the record is created, presumably for

a legitimate reason and according to certain standards.

• In the second stage, the record goes through an active period when it has maximum primary value and is used or referred to frequently by the creating office and others involved in decision making.

• During this time the record is stored on-site in the active or current files of the creating office.

• At the end of stage two the record may be reviewed and determined to have no further value, at which point it is destroyed, or the record can enter stage three, where it is relegated to a semi-active status, which means it still has value, but is not needed for day-to-day decision making.

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Information storage technologies (cont.)• Because the record need not be consulted

regularly, it is often stored in a off-site storage center.

• At the end of stage three, another review occurs, at which point a determination is made to destroy or send the record to stage four, which is reserved for inactive records with long-term, indefinite, archival value. This small percentage of records (normally estimated at approximately five percent of the total documentation) is sent to an archival repository, where specific activities are undertaken to preserve and describe the records.

• The life cycle model not only describes what will happen to a record, it also defines who will manage the record during each stage. 10/10/22 24


• During the creation and active periods, the record creators have primary responsibility for managing the record, although records managers may well be involved to various degrees. In the semi-active stage, it is the records manager who takes center stage and assumes major responsibility for managing the records.

• Records Continuum Model• Criticisms of the life cycle model as means of managing records have surfaced at times in the past, but it has been the emergence of electronic records that has initiated a very spirited debate. 10/10/22 25


• This dialogue has resulted in not only a critique of the model but in the definition of an alternate model or framework.

• This alternate model has come to be most commonly referred to as the “Records Continuum Model.”

• What is this continuum model, why did it emerge, and how does it differ from the life cycle model?

• Discussions of strategies for better integrating the activities of archivists and records managers date back at least several decades.10/10/22 26


• However, it was not until the 1990s that a more formally constructed model emerged for viewing records management as a continuous process from the moment of creation, in which archivists and records managers are actively involved at all points in the continuum.

• The primary motivation in formulating and supporting this model was a concern that lacking a strategy for active and early intervention by the archivist in the records management process, electronic records documenting vital transactions may never be created, may never be fully documented, or may never survive.10/10/22 27


• Perhaps the most basic difference between the continuum model and the life cycle approach is that while the life cycle model proposes a strict separation of records management responsibilities, the continuum model is based upon an integration of the responsibilities and accountabilities associated with the management of records.

• The new Australian records management standard, which has adopted the continuum model, defines the integrated nature of the record continuum in the following terms: the record continuum is “the whole extent of a record’s existence.”10/10/22 28


• It “refers to a consistent and coherent regime of management processes from the time of creation of records (and before creation, in the design of recordkeeping systems) through to the preservation and use of records as archives.”

• A noted Australian archivist describes the differences between the life cycle and continuum models in the following manner: “The life cycle relates to records and information…records have a life cycle…The continuum is not about records. It is about a regime for recordkeeping.10/10/22 29


• The continuum is a model of management that relates to the recordkeeping regime,” which is “continuous, dynamic and ongoing without any distinct breaks or phases.”

• A direct result of viewing records management as a continuum is to undercut and destroy the distinction between active and inactive, and archival and nonarchival records, and to blur or wipe out the defined set of responsibilities associated with managing records at each stage. 10/10/22 30


• One of the consequences of this viewpoint is to propel archivists and archival functions forward in the records management process.

• In other words, according to the continuum model, strategies and methodologies for appraising, describing, and preserving records are implemented early in the records management process, preferably at the design stage, and not at the end of the life cycle.

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INFO 425 Ch Eight lecture

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Transcript of INFO 425 Ch Eight lecture