Is the records management profession at cross roads? By Shadrack Katuu

Is the records management profession at cross roads? By Shadrack Katuu

Outline Is this a profession? History Current debates What are the challenges? Global, regional and national Reflecting on the initial question and asking questions What would be the way forward? 2

Is this a profession? Most modern records management commentators trace the profession s history to post 2 nd World War federal administration in the US. Record keeping in the US in the early to mid 20 th Century borrowed heavily from the traditions in Europe. However, with the exponential increase of records generated by the military and administrative effervesces particularly during the 2 nd world war, it became clear that using archival perspectives to record keeping would mean that appraisal backlog would never be tackled effectively. 3

Is this a profession? In 1985 Jay Atherton published an article that is considered seminal in this debate (Archivaria Vol. 21 Winter pg. 43-51) titled From Life Cycle to Continuum: Some Thoughts on Records Management-Archives Relationship In the article, he asked the fundamental question is the management of current records simply the first stage in archival methodology; or is the archival concern, the requirement to ensure the preservation of permanently valuable records, merely the final step in a comprehensive records management process? In his article he quotes Gerald Brown who argues that a records manager is basically a business administrator and the archivist basically a historian. 4

Is this a profession? Atherton elaborates on this by stating records managers are concerned with efficiency and the present, archivists interested in culture, history and past events. This perspective of duality does not only exist in scholarly articles but in practice in several countries including the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. In the UK Society of Archivists http://www.archives.org.uk/ formed in 1947 and currently has a membership of 1,800 individuals and organizations. Records Management Association http://www.rmsgb.org.uk/ formed in 1983 to accommodate records and information management professionals with several thousand in their membership 5

Is this a profession? In the Canada Association of Canadian Archivists http://archivists.ca/ - established in 1975 but has its history from the archives section of the Canadian Historical Association and has a membership of several thousand individual members Canadian Council on Archives http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/ - established in 1985 and has as its membership provincial and sector based archival institutions. ARMA Canada http://www.armacanada.org/ - has 13 branches spread throughout the country with several thousand individual members. 6

Is this a profession? In the US Society of American Archivists http://www.archivists.org/ formed in 1936 although it has its roots in such historical societies as the Massachusetts Historical Society founded in 1791. It currently has more than 3,100 individual members and more than 500 institutional members. ARMA international http://www.arma.org/ formed in 1951 and currently has more than 11,000 members ranging from librarians, records managers, legal practitioners, IT consultants etc. AIIM http://www.aiim.org/ - formed in 1943 as the Naitonal Microfilm Association but later became Association of Information and Image Management. It currently has over 70,000 members 7

Is this a profession? In Australia Association of Australian Archivists http://www.archivists.org.au was formed in 1975 and has a membership of several thousand Records Management Association of Australasia http://www.rmaa.com.au/ - was formed in 1969 and has a membership of more than 3,000. [This is possibly the most vibrant RM association in the world with over 9 branches, several sector chapters, and information on professional development opportunities as well as regular information updates such as the monthly technology report, the quarterly newsletter,. Additionally, a South African records manager will be presenting a paper in the 2007 RMAA conference that will be held in New Zealand] 8

Challenges global, regional and national Globally, the profession has seen a lot of developments. Different nations have noted the challenges leading to or while embarking on records management projects. A sample from the ESARBICA newsletter include Botswana http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews4.pdf, Kenya http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews2.pdf and http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews11.pdf. University of West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews5.pdf 9

Challenges global, regional and national Additionally, the profession has achieved a lot nationally including Dept. of Health in North-West Province http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews2.pdf, National Dept. of Science and Technology http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews10.pdf, UNISA, http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews8.pdf and http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews14.pdf, SA Human Rights Commission http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews16.pdf However, this is not without challenges. There are basic kinds of challenges, those relating to education and training and those relating to the practical challenges of implementations. 10

Challenges global, regional and national Univ. of Johannesburg From the education and training perspective, an analysis of the curriculum in tertiary institutions reveals the heavily leaning of archival rather than RIM perspectives. Only 1 out of 17 subjects exclusively covering records management Univ. of Kwa-Zulu Natal UNISA (Centre of Applied Comm.)* UNISA (Dept of Info. Science) Univ. of Witwatersrand Only 5 out of 12 subjects exclusively covering records management Only 3 out of 4 subjects covering records management Only 1 out of 15 subjects exclusively covering records management No indication that records management is covered

Challenges global, regional and national Other institutions follow similar patterns including Univ. of Pretoria, Univ. of Cape Town, and Univ. of Limpopo. It is no wonder that events management companies have come in to fill the gap by hosting RM events. Anecdotal evidence reveals an average of more than 3 events per month for the last 4 years. For the purposes of the table, the events in 2004 were only assessed from the month of April, and those for 2007 have been assess using information available until the month of May. Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 No of events 29 42 32 44 Event average/month 3.22 3.5 2.66 3.66

Challenges global, regional and national From a practical implementation perspective, Brad Abbott has lamented in recent article that file plan implementation and the registry system utilisation in public institutions in South Africa is at best problematic http://www.geocities.com/esarbica/esarnews20.pdf He argues in his article that this is the result of the over reliance of the archival perspective to recordkeeping which has a more historical leaning. This argument is not new. In fact, it is very evident when looking at the discussions of such commentators as Jay Atherton as well as the professional dichotomy that exists in such countries as Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, the challenges in the RM profession in this country are shared elsewhere. 13

Reflecting on the initial question and asking more questions Why are we at crossroads? Defined as an intersection of roads and, metaphorically, a place where (physical and/or abstract) things meet suggesting decisions have to be made to move forward Is this a profession? A global assessment reveals that records managers have decided to make themselves distinct. Does that mean they consider themselves different? Yes and no. Yes because they have separate professional institutions and no because these separate institutions often have collaborative undertakings (ARMA/SAA advocacy statements or ARMA/ICA joint projects) and also share membership. 14

Reflecting on the initial question and asking more questions A national assessment reveals that even though there is a records managers forum, there is a lot that needs to be done. To what extent are the members influencing records management culture in their own institutions? To what extent are the members involved in advocating concerns such as those relating to lack of appropriate curriculum attention on records management in tertiary institutions? To what extent could the forum be considered a legitimate voice to advocate for quality from the kinds of workshops/conference hosted by events management companies? 15

Reflecting on the initial question and asking more questions To what extent is the forum recognized beyond the people that attend meetings? Is it, for example, recognized by the National Archives and by extension the Department of Arts and Culture? Is it recognized by media institutions as a legitimate voice when public comment is required on issues directly or indirectly related to records keeping? Is it recognized by the SABS technical committees 46 (sub committee 11) and 171 which are involved the records and document management related standards for the nation. 16

Way forward Several options could be suggested including Curriculum re-alignment in tertiary institutions (evidenced in the presence of two different departments at UNISA) Introduction of standards against which events management companies have to comply (a process that has had problems over the last few years) Establishment of a professional institution to assist RM practitioners that will have such things as professional development programmes, annual conferences etc. Formation of an institute for professional development (ala Institute of Certified Records Managers) Discussions and decisions 17