Electronic records management and archives in international organizations

173 Pages·2006·5.81 MB·English

by  Dollar, Charles M.

PGI-86/WS/12
Electronic records
management and archives
in international
organizations: a R A MP
study with guidelines
General Information Programme and UNISIST
United Nations Educational, Paris, 1986
Scientific and Cultural Organization
Original: English PGI-86/WS/12
Paris, January 1986
ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND ARCHIVES
IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
A RAMP STUDY WITH GUIDELINES
prepared by
Charles M¿ Dollar
General Information Programme and UNISIST Photographic reproduction
United Nations Education, Scientific and of original manuscript
Cultural Organization
Recommended catalogue entry :
Dollar, Charles M.
Electronic records management and archives in international
organizations: à RAMP study with guidelines /
prepared by Charles M. Dollar / for the / General Information
Programme and UNISIST. - Paris: Unesco, 1986. - 159 p.;
3 0 cm. - (PGI-86/WS/Í2)
I - Title
II - Unesco^General Information Programme and UNISIST
III - Records and Archives Management Programme (RAMP)
Unesco, 1986
PREFACE
In order to assist in meeting the needs of Member States,
particularly developing countries, in the specialized areas of
archives administration and records management, the Division of
the General Information Programme has developed a long-term Records
and Archives Management Programme - RAMP
The basic elements of RAMP reflect and contribute to the
overall themes of the General Information Programme. RAMP thus
includes projects, studies and other activities intended to :
- develop standards, rules, methods and other normative tools
for the processing and transfer of specialized information and
the creation of compatible information systems;
- enable developing countries to set up their own data bases and
to have access to those now in existence throughout the world,
so as to increase the exchange and flow of information through
the application of modern technologies;
- promote the development of specialized regional information
networks;
- contribute to the harmonious development of compatible interna
tional information services and systems;
- set up national information systems and improve the various
components of these systems;
- formulate development policies and plans in this field;
- train information specialists and users and develop the national
and regional potential for education and training in the infor
mation sciences, library science and archives administration.
This study is a review of trends in information-handling
technology and significant developments which are changing or
will change the general environment within which archivists and
records managers in international organizations will have to work.
It is also a review of a number of pilot research projects and
operational programmes which are underway. It provides recommend
ations for action at different levels and includes a glossary,
a selective bibliography and a detailed questionnaire for
identifying problems in using information technology for records
management and archives in international organizations. It is
hoped that this study with the guidelines will give specialists
the possibility to better understand the situation and will help
them to deal with the difficulties and find appropriate solutions.
Comments and suggestions regarding this study are welcomed
and should be addressed to the Division of the General Information
Programme, UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris. Other studies
prepared under the RAMP programme may also be obtained at, the
same address.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One Trends in Information Technology
1.1 Overview
1.2 Microelectrics
1.3 Storage
1.4 Software
1.5 Data Transmission
1.6 New Computer Architecture
1.7 Data Entry
1.8 Non-Digital Storage
1.9 Summary
Chapter Two Electronic Technology Applications
2.1 Overview
2.2 Office Automation
2.3 Electronic Mail
2.4 Data Exchange
2.5 Optical Disk
2.6 Computer Assisted Retrieval of Microfilm
2.7 Artificial Intelligence
Chapter Three Implications and Opportunities
3.1 Overview
3.2 Rethinking Records Management
3.3 Opportunities
3.4 Working with Decision Makers
i
Chapter Four Survey Results of International
Organizations 98
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Questionnaire Design
4.3 General Comments
4.4 Records Management Responsibilities
4.5 Extent of Automation
4.6 Automated Central Registry
4.7 Automated Correspondence Tracking System
4.8 Electronic Messaging Systems
4.9 Summary
Chapter Five Recommendations and Guidelines 115
5.1 Section of Archives of International
Organizations
5.2 Archivists and Records Managers
5.3 Summary
Annex 1 Glossary 125
Annex 2 Evaluation Criteria 132
Annex 3 Questionnaire 136
Annex 4 Sources 157
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although this study draws upon my own experience and knowledge
about new information handling technologies and their impact upon
records management and archives, a number of people made my task
much easier. Ms. Gertrude Long, Chairman of the Section of
Archivists of International Organizations (SIO) of the Interna
tional Council on Archives and Archivist of the International
Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., was very generous with her
time in reviewing with me some of the trends and developments in
interational organizations. In addition, she and Dr. Frank
B. Evans of the National Archives and Records Administration,
read the study in draft form and called my attention to errors
and misinterpretations. I am indebted to Dr. Thomes E. Brown of
the National Archives and Records Administration for his invalu
able assistance in helping design the questionnaire, preparing a
preliminary analysis of the survey data, and reading the study in
draft form. My colleague on the Archival Research and Evalua
tion Staff, Mr. William Hooton, prepared the illustrations used
in chapter one and read the manuscript with an eye for technical
inaccuracies.
iii
Other people who contributed to the study were those archivists
and records managers who responded to the questionnaire as well
as the individuals who permitted me to interview them. In
addition, attendees at the 1985 SIO Annual Meeting in Paris,
France reviewed the manuscript and offered helpful suggestions.
The assistance of Stan J. Cieniewicz, Registrar at the United
Nations Disaster Relief Organization, in Geneva made my work
there much easier and my visit very pleasant.
The assistance of all of these people greatly strengthend the
study. Nevertheless, any error of fact or misinterpretation
remains the responsibility of the author.
Charles M.Dollar
iv
INTRODUCTION
0.1 The key concept in this study is that an understanding of
the implications of electronic technology for archivists and
records managers in international organizations involves both an
examination of the technology itself and the environment in which
that technology will function. The implications of electronic
technology, or what is defined as the supply side, includes
the technology of computers, software, communications, informa
tion sévices, databases, printers, and memory devices, among
others. Certainly this aspect requires major attention, since
technological capabilities help structure what can be accom
plished. The demand side of information technology is the
organizational environment - individual productivity enhancement,
centralization versus decentralization of management, organiza
tional structure of institutions operating in a network, and the
like.
0.2 This demand side of information technology has serious long
range implications for archivists and records managers in
international organizations, in that it may increase the distance
that separates them from the information for which they are
responsible. This distancing may include information technology
decisionmaking which can have a profound, though indirect,
1
impact upon archival and record management programs. For
example, a decision to install a new telecommunications capa
bility, which includes an electronic mail and message system,
introduces a new set of archival and records management concerns
which may not be apparent to the decisionmakers. Not having a
voice in information technology decisionmaking inevitably means
that archivists and records managers are likely to have very
little influence in the shaping of information technology policy.
0.3 This rather bleak picture in which archivists and records
managers in international orgnizations (as well as in other
organizations) may find themselves in an environment where they
are the passive recipients of information derived from processes
over which they have little influence or control need not be the
scenario of the future. Indeed, this study along with its
recommendations is premised on the expectation that archivists
and records managers in international organizations can (and
should) become involved in the shaping of information technology
policy and decisionmaking.
0.4 The first chapter of this study focuses upon a detailed
examination of information technology as it relates to trends in
microelectronics, software, storage, data transmission, new
computer architecture, text conversion, and computer-based
micrographics systems. Chapter two elaborates on some of these
trends, with a review of a number of pilot research projects or
2