Alistair Tough

Accountability, open government and record keeping: time to think again?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to re‐visit debates around accountability, openness and record keeping and to suggest that existing assumptions need to be challenged.Design/methodology/approach – This is a scholarly essay based on published and unpublished works. The focus is on parliamentary democracies where the Queen or a titular president is head of state.Findings – The primary role of records managers as active citizens should be to provide systems that will enable others to discharge their duties. The primary role of archivists in a plural democracy should be to secure the record for the future. The notion that archivists need to protect the record from political pressure should be re‐considered. A more pressing need is for political pressure to be applied at the highest level, to ensure that there is a record.Research limitations/implications – The research has been limited by the fact that the author has not had access to the Cabinet Office.Social implications – If the upper echelons of the...

Metadata, controlled vocabulary and directories: electronic document management and standards for records management

The authors argue that the development and use of elaborate embedded directory structures or file plans, derived from functional analysis, should be a key component in the future development of the discipline of records management. Directory structures thus conceptualised are explicitly intellectual constructs and their construction will require considerable effort, particularly if they are to be portable. Their greatest advantage is that they provide a coherent schema from which to derive folder/file names that can be embedded in metadata. One of the major challenges is to design systems that derive metadata from the directory structure or file plan and attach them automatically to documents at the point of creation, thereby minimising the need for human intervention and opportunities for human error.

The post‐custodial/pro‐custodial argument from a records management perspective

This article examines the post‐custodial/pro‐custodial debate from a records management, rather than purely archival, perspective. The article is addressed primarily to an audience in the British Isles, in the belief that the profession here has been insufficiently exposed to a debate which has significant theoretical aspects and the potential to be of major practical importance too. The analysis suggests that the argument over custody has suffered from a tendency for the archival tail to wag the records management dog, resulting in external secondary users being privileged over internal ones.

The development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth, 1870s–1960s

1 This essay demonstrates that initiatives in the imperial periphery, not least in Western Australia, played a significant role in the development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth. Local circumstances, including the adequacy of local revenues and the availability of skilled staff, played their part in shaping the systems. Nonetheless, there are overarching patterns. The need to maintain security provided a potent driver for the creation of confidential registries. The need to carry out basic functions influenced the design of recordkeeping systems far more than any shared ‘imperial imaginary’. The diverging work patterns of colonial capitals and of district administrations tended to produce distinct recordkeeping systems. The development of integrated registry systems may have played a part in the development of the Secretariat as an institution of colonial government.

Managing university records in the world of governance

Purpose The purpose of the research reported here was to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and records management in the context of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa Design/methodology/approach This is qualitative research taking the form of a collective case study of six institutions Findings That good records management can and does contribute to effective corporate governance and accountability. However, this relationship is not necessarily present in all circumstances Research limitations/implications That further corporatisation in higher education is likely to be supported by, and result in, better records management Originality/value The paper proposes governance record keeping as an approach to managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk

Thinking about and working with archives and records: a personal reflection on theory and practice

Abstract Looking back over a career that has lasted 40 years (so far) the author reflects on developments in his own thinking and the influences involved. Not least amongst these are: the British public records tradition which predominated at UCL when he studied there; the American historical manuscripts tradition which was in the process of aligning with strands of postmodernism when he held visiting fellowships in the USA; the reconfiguration of Records Management in sub-Saharan Africa in response to public sector reform in which he was involved as an advisor; and the experience of teaching postgraduate students in Britain and overseas. The author’s publications have appeared in a wide range of journals and as monographs, some of them published overseas. Here he draws together the common strands that connect them. Finally he argues that hermeneutic techniques and the concept of fiduciarity deserve to be given serious consideration in debates about archive and records theory.

Accountability and records appraisal with particular reference to challenges experienced in Malawi

This chapter is an effort to bridge the gap between lack of literature on the role of records appraisal on accountability in the developing world context and its direct opposite – its abundance – in the developed world. With a focus on Malawi and other developing world countries, the chapter highlights a variety of issues around accountability and appraisal. The chapter posits that the role of records appraisal cannot be overemphasized given their importance in various socio-cultural endeavours such as being utilized as a basis for providing justice to the victims of Dr Banda’s victims and combating the culture of impunity. In order to harness the major benefits of appropriate records appraisal, there is need to have informed records retention and disposal schedules given the vitality of the records.