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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management policy Draft a scanning evaluation strategy Draft local and corporate standards for implementing EDRMS Draft guidance notes on relevant legislation Draft guidelines on standards for records stores Provide guidance on migration Provide guidance on digitisation Provide guidance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] This email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient then you must not copy it, forward it, use it for any purpose, or disclose it to another person. Instead please return it to the sender immediately and copy your communication to [log in to unmask] Please then delete your copy from your system. Please also note that the author of this email is not authorised to conclude any contract on behalf of the Law Society by email. Thank you.