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Dear All
The date for applications for this studentship has been extended to 2
June. Please bring this ad to the attention of anyone who may be
interested.
Mary Ellis
Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth
Prifysgol Cymru Aberystwyth
University of Wales Aberystwyth
Department of Information Studies
ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship
The Department, in collaboration with the National Library of Wales has
been awarded an ESRC CASE studentship for:
Managing electronic records in an organisational context.
The studentship starts in September 2003, and the award will carry a
stipend approx £1500 above the normal ESRC studentship. The successful
candidate will be located at the National Library of Wales and the work
will be Supervised by Mary Ellis, Department of Information Studies
together with a member of NLW staff. Enquiries for further information
should be made to Mary Ellis (e-mail: [log in to unmask], tel. 01970-622069).
Applicants should have, or expect, a good 2:1 or 1st class degree in a
relevant discipline. To apply, please send a brief CV and the names of two
referees, by email to Gwilym Huws, Head of Department, Dept of Information
Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Llanbadarn Campus, Aberystwyth
SY23 3AS (e-mail: [log in to unmask]). Closing date: 2 June 2003.
Other ESRC 1+3 or +3 studentships:
The Department welcomes applications for other studentships. Enquiries
should be made immediately to Gwilym Huws, Head of Department of Information
Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Aberystwyth SY23 3AS. Tel
01970-622189 (e-mail: [log in to unmask]).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF WALES ABERYSTWYTH AND
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES
ESRC Collaborative Case Studentship, 2003
‘Managing Electronic Records in an Organisational Context’
PROJECT PARTNERS
The Department of Information Studies (DIS) is home to one of the few
centres in the UK that provides postgraduate training in Archive
Administration and Records Management. DIS is strongly committed to
developing and expanding both teaching and research in this area and
already has a number of PhD students working in the area of Archive
Administration and Records Management.
Further information about the DIS can be found at
http://www.dil.aber.ac.uk/Index.htm
The National Library of Wales (NLW) is a deposit library for Britain and
Ireland. It has a huge collection of works about Wales and the other
Celtic countries. It is now taking an active role in developing strategies
for collecting electronic materials from a large number of organisations
that play an important economic, social and cultural role in Wales. The
Welsh Assembly is encouraging NLW to take a more active role in
relationships with the community. As well as developing its educational
role, enquiry services, and digitisation programme, this means that NLW is
working with a wide variety of business, cultural and social organisations
to assist them with their records management policies to the mutual
benefit of both the organisation concerned and NLW, in terms of future
deposits of archival material.
Further information about NLW can be found at
http://www.llgc.org.uk/
THE PROJECT
Aims
The aim of this project is to promote better management of electronic
records, from creation to final disposition. This will benefit both the
creating organisations themselves as well as archival repositories that
may be the recipient of electronic records selected for permanent
retention as archives. The project will build on a pilot project
undertaken in 2001-2 by NLW to assess differing approaches and strategies
for preserving and making available electronic records now and in the
future, by public bodies in Wales.
>From the point of view of the organisation, whether public or private,
there is a need to comply with regulatory requirements relating to record
keeping. From the business perspective good records management can be
crucial to profitability and regulatory compliance. There are more and
more organisations (for example in the voluntary sector) that are not
obliged to comply with extensive regulatory requirements on record keeping
or retention of archives, and who are not included in current Public
Records legislation, but whose contribution to the economy, social welfare
and national heritage is considerable. The aim of this research is to
answer the question ‘Which record keeping systems and metadata models (for
records management) are most appropriate for those organisations that are
not subject to the Public Records Act (1958 and 1967)?’
Outcomes
The intended outcome is a set of guidelines which organisations can use to
ensure that their electronic records are created and maintained
appropriately whilst in their custody, and in a format suitable for
transfer and deposit. This development would parallel, in the
non-government sector, proposed new legislation on records and archives,
as the existing legislation has been recognised (by the National Archives)
to be inadequate to deal with electronic records.
The long term benefits of the project are in ensuring accessibility to
records of archival significance, but the immediate, and possibly greater,
benefits are to the economy in encouraging smaller organisations in the
SME and the voluntary sectors, to manage their records, particularly their
electronic records, efficiently and effectively.
The intended practical outcome of this project is a set of guidelines,
essentially a toolkit, for electronic records management in the SME and
the voluntary sector which is easy to apply, and useful to both
organisations and archive repositories that need to ensure long-term
accessibility to such records.
The intellectual outcomes of the project concern the changes to archival
theory and principles that may be required in an era where access to
records is ostensibly much easier but where there are unresolved problems
of digital preservation, and emulation (to resolve problems incurred
through upgrades to software and hardware), integrity, authenticity and
evidential value.
There has been little funding for research in records management and this
project should enhance considerably both the awareness of the need for
evidence-based approaches to developments in policy in this respect and
awareness of suitable research methods.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Students will be selected on a +3 basis if possible i.e. having already
completed a recognised Research Training Masters. However if the best
candidate has advanced subject specialist skills but lacks some of the
research skills required, an agreed programme for integrating research
skills training with the first year of the programme will be devised.
STUDENTSHIP DETAILS
The student will be allocated two supervisors one a member of DIS staff
and one a member of NLW staff. On a day to day basis the student will be
based in the Department of Collection Services in NLW which is situated in
Aberystwyth and therefore close to DIS and to university facilities. The
Department of Collection Services is responsible for acquiring, managing
and preserving records and archives and is actively involved with
developing strategies to facilitate these functions. In particular, the
student would benefit from, and contribute to, the approaches being
developed by the department in the fields of records management and
electronic record management and research into the applicability of
metadata models for the access and preservation of digital/electronic
resources. The student will also be involved with a group responsible
for producing a digital preservation policy for the NLW; the Information
Task Force and the Content Management System Group (which involves looking
at metadata applications for content in digital format).
INFORMAL ENQUIRIES
Informal enquiries should be addressed to Mary Ellis, [log in to unmask],
01970 622069.
Applications
There are no application forms. Candidates should submit a full CV
including names and addresses of referees. Applications should be
returned by 2 June to
Gwilym Huws
Head of Department
DIS
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Llanbadarn Fawr
CEREDIGION SY23 3AS
The studentship will commence in October 2003.
Eluned Jones
Swyddog Datblygu Archifau i Gymru /
Archives Development Officer for Wales
Department of Information Studies
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Llanbadarn Fawr
ABERYSTWYTH
Ceredigion
SY23 3AS
Ffôn/Phone: 01970 622437
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