I think Peter hits the nail on the head when he states:

"However, as long as IT people don't have the expertise or the skills to
do this, then recordkeeping professionals have the opportunity to
contribute on an equal footing to developing and implementing such
systems. Of course, they need to be properly equipped and willing to do
so."  

My point, as elaborated on in a subsequent blog post this morning
http://rmfuturewatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/more-on-end-of-records-managem
ent-as.html is that IT people *do* (or at least very shortly will) have
the expertise and skills required to do this, and that this, combined
with their existing technical skills, will make for a more complete
package than we can offer.  As a result it seems natural that
organisations will look to them, rather than records managers, for the
answers to the kinds of questions and issues that they are facing.

The reference to 'digital landfill' is interesting and chimes with a
paper I have recently submitted to the RMJ which suggests that our focus
on electronic records management over the past decade or more has been
largely misplaced.  Instead what we need to be working towards is
'automated records management' and ways of dealing with the sheer volume
of information now being created.  Sure this has been facilitated by IT,
but by focusing on the media (electronic) rather than the volume we have
failed to realise where the real challenges lay and respond accordingly.

I agree that this does not signal the imminent 'death' of the records
management and didn't suggest as much - not least because there will
always be the management of the paper record to deal with (that you can
be sure that IT will not want to get involved with), but I'm not sure
that this is a long term professional future that I would wish for
either.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Emmerson
Sent: 04 February 2009 11:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 30 Year Review

I think, perhaps, the absence of formal comment results from the need to
read and fully digest the report before commenting. It is less than a
week
since it was published. TNA is, in any case, setting up consultations
with
interested parties as it prepares its contribution to the government's
response to the report.

Elizabeth is absolutely right. The report confirms that managing
records,
including identifying those that will survive permanently, is something
which must be built into the design of electronic systems, otherwise
there
will be nothing left to release at 5 years, never mind 15. It also
emphasises the need to ensure that civil servants keep 'full, accurate
and
impartial records', and that action is needed to ensure that the great
mass
of digital information now received and held is managed effectively,
rather
than being allowed to disappear, along with the necessary record, into
undifferentiated 'digital landfill'.  The section of the report, 8.22,
which
precedes the recommendation which Steve has highlighted, says:

'We know that some government departments are moving to a system of
pre-determining the preservation status of documents at the time of
their
creation, offering the possibility of automatic deletion or transfer...
at a
planned and specific time. This seems a helpful - indeed, essential -
way of
managing the overall system.' 

The committee recognised the challenges and costs of doing this across
central government and other public bodies. (Appendix A of the report).

It seems important that we should move away from the idea that somehow
recordkeeping professionals need to control, as opposed to influence,
the
process - steering rather than rowing.  We should be concerned that the
right things are done rather than with who does them. However, as long
as IT
people don't have the expertise or the skills to do this, then
recordkeeping
professionals have the opportunity to contribute on an equal footing to
developing and implementing such systems. Of course, they need to be
properly equipped and willing to do so.  

Given this opportunity, I think, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the
announcement
of the death of the recordkeeping profession is grossly exaggerated.


Peter Emmerson
Director
Emmerson Consulting Limited
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5 School Street
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