Records life-cycle in
records management
Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the information management, management of information in an organization throughout its records life-cycle, life cycle, from the time of ...
refers to the following stages of a records "life span": from its creation to its preservation (in an archives) or disposal. While various models of the records life-cycle exist, they all feature creation or receipt, use, and disposition.
Overview
The records management phase of the records life-cycle consists of:
# creation
# classification
# maintenance
# disposition
Creation occurs during the receipt of information in the form of records. Records or their information is classified in some logical system. As records are used they require maintenance. Disposition encompasses the destruction or transfer to an
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
for future reference.
This is then followed by a second, archival phase consisting of:
# the selection or acquisition of the records by an archives
# a description of the records in inventories,
finding aid
A finding aid, in the context of archival science and archival research, is an organization tool, a document containing detailed and processed metadata and other information about a specific collection of records within an archive. Finding aids ...
s and the like
# the
preservation
Preservation may refer to:
Heritage and conservation
* Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible
* ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...
of the records or, perhaps, the information in the records
Researchers and scholars may continue to reference and use of the information contained within the records.
Continuum model
In the 1930s
Emmett Leahy of the United States
National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
had a central role in developing a program to define the records life-cycle from creation and use through eventual destruction or archiving. Richard Berner of the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
proposed a single records management-archives goal: "responsible records use and administration leading to either authorized destruction or archival preservation and administration".
The professions of records management and archives, while distinct, surely are working towards the same objective: the effective management of recorded information through all stages of the continuum, from creation to disposal. Effective management of recorded information (what Berner calls "responsible records use and administration") requires ongoing cooperative interaction between the records manager and the archivist in order to:
* ensure the creation of the right records, containing the right information, in the right format;
* organize the records and analyze their content and significance to facilitate their availability;
* make them available promptly to those (administrators and researchers alike) who have a right and a requirement to see them;
* systematically dispose of records that are no longer required; and
* protect and preserve the information for as long as it may be needed (if necessary, forever).
Important later contributions were made by Frank Upward and his development of the
Records Continuum Model.
See also
*
Information Lifecycle Management
*
Retention period
References
Further reading
*
*{{cite book , last = Berner , first = R. , title = Archival Theory and Practice in the United States: A Historical Analysis , place = Seattle and London , year = 1983
Records management