Archivists are not boring and more than just archivists

Submitted by Alex Visser, Industry Advisor

 

Whenever I start talking about my job to people who are not in the field of information management and I drop the term archives, you can just see the eyes glaze over. When this happens I sometimes feel like I can read their mind and see images flashing by of elderly people in basements surrounded with dust covered boxes.

 

This is an image that many people have and one that is outdated at the least. Nowadays the archivist is actually faced with a big challenge. Their job was already much more than dust covered binders. They were managing the information, cleaning up data, making certain it had the right metadata attached to it and make certain information was destroyed according to the retention policy, to just name a few things they had and have to do.

 

However, more and more information is electronic and bigger demands are being made on digital availability of this information. Enter Document and Record Management systems, stage left. These systems are sometimes seen as the miracle solution, but in this world no “solution” is of the miracle kind, it requires a lot of work to make it work. This is where a new archivist’s role is needed.  The archivist will have to work with new technology in order to do some of the things that were done with paper before. New ways of adding metadata will be used and potentially new metadata will be required.

 

This new archivist will have to start look and processes in the organisation and how to link those to documents and make those feasible in the system. This will require more technical understanding of these systems, skills in understanding processes, analysing and optimizing those, but it will also require skills to talk to management in order to support the long term vision of the organisation and support that with the document and record management system.

 

The system will need the knowledge of the archivist and the understanding of process improvement to make certain the new system will not delay the information flow at any point and will add benefits to the organisation. New ways of sharing and using information are possible, but that off course will need to be balanced with security concerns. This again is a position where the archivist can help.

 

If people still believe that archivists are stuck in the dark corners of the basement they are wrong. The modern day archivist is facing many new challenges and opportunities.

 

Do you also believe that document and record management is a brave new world?

 

If you want to learn more of our view on these challenges have a look on the AIIM website or join us in the community of interest Information Zen.

 

 If you want to know more about Record Management in general you are welcomed to attend one of the AIIM Electronic Record Management courses on the following location

·         Chicago                May 11- May 14

·         London                 June22-  June 25

·         Toronto                June 22 -  June 25

·         Utrecht                June 29 – July 2

Comments

[Patrick Cunningham, CRM, FAI]

I think it is important to define the role. In North America, archivists are normally associated with historical records of an organization. In many cases, they work side by side with records managers ("two sides of the same coin" as some might say). But the job you describe is already performed by records managers.

Many archivists that I have met over the past 20+ years have zero desire to do records management. They want to deal with research and historical documents. Many end up the de facto records manager, whether they want the responsibility or not.

At least in North America, the roles of records manager and archivist are separate and distinct. Does that mean they should remain so? Of course not. But academic training and personal interest will tend to direct a person into one role or the other.

One other critical distinction is in order -- the archivist's role is also to discern what is to be retained and what can be discarded -- this is called appraisal -- and that process is a key differentiator in the professions.

I would submit that what you described is pure and simple records management. The selection and management of historical documents is the domain of the archivist. Both professions can use similar tools and techniques, but the roles are generally distinct.

Patrick Cunningham, CRM, FAI