As one of the half dozen or so RM educators in the UK, I can certainly
reassure Clare - and perhaps many other colleagues - that being faced with
the tasks that she lists would come as any surprise to current students.
The underlying principles, and the practical processes involved are
indeed addressed on the PG courses (and, in the case of Northumbria and
Liverpool, at undergraduate level through the RM3 partnership programme).


Students are taught to look at the RM function within the context of the
organisation - thus a lot of time (and I agree that with only 7 months
teaching available to us, this is a relative term) is spent looking at
corporate cultures, structures and environments and at the organisational
benefits of good record keeping - compliance, operational effectiveness,
accountability. The importance of building relationships with internal and
external stakeholders is emphasised as is the establishment of
communication skills at all levels of the organisation. It is difficult to
provide hands on experience in some areas, specifically ERM, although file
planning and functional analysis are important elements of the programme
and we do have some exposure to an ERMS system. Liverpool students have a
week long RM placement within a Univeristy department, dealing with 'real
people' and their all too real record-keeping problems. (E-issues are now
part, of course, of practically every module undertaken.) *And* we also
look at "survey, classification, appraisal and disposal of records in all
formats" - not processes, I'm sure, which colleagues would consider
unimportant.

Margaret Procter




--On 18 May 2005 09:54 +0100 Clare Cowling
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> Dear all,
>
> I've followed the discussion on this topic with interest...anyone who
> enjoyed the article about records managers listed in Peter A. Kurilecz's
> excellent daily news roundup (see
> http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/may/article211.html) will agree
> that there's certainly a need for some sort of standard by which records
> managers can be selected/assessed.
>
> I'm not sure, however, just what those yardsticks should be. It's true,
> I think, that the only theoretical knowledge currently gained on an
> "official", academic sort of level in this country is that obtained
> through archives/rm courses and I assume from discussions with past and
> present students that they concentrate on survey, classification,
> appraisal and disposal of records in all formats. No doubt everyone will
> rush to correct me if I'm wrong!
>
> BUT that sort of work is now in my experience only a tiny part of the
> present day records manager's remit (and also doesn't recognise the
> enormous contributions made in r/m by, for example, librarians, ICT
> professionals and compliance officers, many of whom are also doing r/m
> work - and very capably too - without this prior theoretical training).
> And just how much do we use the traditional skills? No doubt they do
> underpin everything we do, but they can - and in the main should - be
> learned on the job outside the classroom.
>
> Just to labour then point, over the last 3 years as I've moved from the
> archival to the r/m sphere, I've been asked by various organisations to
> undertake the following:
>
> Draft a records management policy
> Draft an information security policy
> Draft a business continuity policy
> Draft an e-mail management policy
> Draft an e-records management strategy
> Draft a paper records management policy
> Draft a scanning evaluation strategy
> Draft local and corporate standards for implementing EDRMS
> Draft guidance notes on relevant legislation
> Draft guidelines on standards for records stores
> Provide guidance on migration
> Provide guidance on digitisation
> Provide guidance on microfilming
> Provide advice on software vendors
> Provide guidance on database vendors
> Provide costing for equipment for records stores
> Provide guidance on budgeting for future expansion of paper records,
> e-records, e-mail etc
> Provide guidance on health and safety
> Provide guidance on H R issues and DPA
> Assist in FOI enquiries
> Assist in preparing a publication scheme
> Carry out training on compliance and r/m
> Prepare publicity material
> Provide guidance for Finance on projected costs for everything under the
> sun
> Provide guidance for Facilities on projected costs for everything under
> the sun
> Create a corporate file plan and enter it into an EDRMS
> Create a corporate records disposal schedule and enter it into an EDRMS
> Evaluate the EDRMS
> Undertake 3 externally funded projects on current r/m procedures and
> policies
> Advise staff on an ad hoc basis about everything you can think of.
>
> ...which doesn't leave much time for the traditional pastimes of records
> audit, classification, appraisal and disposal!
>
> I list these things not to blow my own trumpet but to demonstrate how
> varied the job of the records manager now is and how creating the culture
> in which r/m can flourish is, to my mind, the current primary goal of
> records managers, not actually dealing with records (much as I would love
> to). I had to learn about most of the above in a hurry on the job
> through research, examination of the relevant standards and attendance at
> specialist conferences and seminars; my traditional skills certainly
> helped, primarily in giving me a holistic (I think that's the right word)
> view of the organisations' needs but I suspect that they are not the
> primary skills now needed at this point in time - what we currently have
> to be is managers of culture change, PR people, legal advisers,
> facilities managers, financial advisers and ICT experts (that's the hard
> part) before anything else. Then we might - eventually - get the chance
> to start managing records again.
>
> So - any thoughts from the list members on what the skills for
> accreditation should actually be? What - and I think this is vital to
> work out accreditation standards - do most records managers now actually
> do?
>
> Clare
>
> Clare Cowling
> Records Manager
> The Law Society
> 113 Chancery Lane
> London WC2A 1PL
> Tel 020 7320 9541
> (internal ext 4605)
> [log in to unmask]
>
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>



----------------------------------------------
Margaret Procter
Lecturer in Records and Information Management
LUCAS, School of History
9 Abercromby Sq
Liverpool L69 3DA

Tel 0044 151 794 2411
Fax 0044 151 794 3153