Two professions, one goal: collaboration between archivist and records manager may reinforce each profession's purpose in an organization and improve information management.

As keepers of civilization's documented past, archivists and records managers have been managing information since at least the creation of paper. Although the two professions have many similarities and even complement each other, they split long ago over philosophical differences between those who thought archivists are mere custodians of "dead" or inactive records and those who believe records have a role to play in an organization's vitality and should be appraised for value.

Luciana Duranti, in her history of the records and information management (RIM) profession, points to the French Revolution as the pivotal time in which inactive records were distinguished from active records in use by an administration. Records created before the Revolution were housed in the National Archives, whereas active records "were maintained in the offices of the new administration and kept secret."

Later, British archivist Hilary Jenkinson defined the role of archivists as one of impartial treatment and preservation. He viewed archivists as custodians of the past, who merely keep materials without passing judgment on them or "managing" them in the modern sense. American archivist Theodore R. Schellenberg, on the other hand, rejected the idea of a passive role for archivists and promoted the notion of appraisal--determining which materials had continuing value--in response to the sheer bulk of records produced during World War II.

The schism between records managers and archivists grew more acute, and entirely separate disciplines emerged, with archivists typically coming from a background in history and records managers coming from a business administration background. This trend alienated archivists from active records and organizations' dynamic processes, reinforcing the Jenkinsonian view of archivists as custodians of dead records. Thus, from an organization's viewpoint, archivists came to be seen as keepers of outdated information that no longer had a role to play in the organization's growth.

The trend in archival theory during the past few decades, however, has been to create a more proactive role for the archivist in light of growing technology. A merging of the records professions has been proposed by several theorists as a means to control electronic records more effectively. Collaboration between archivist and records manager is logical because the professions' basic principles and mission are identical. A partnership could reinforce each other's purpose in an organization and help it manage its information more effectively. In fact, it is easy to agree with Australian theorists who believe that every archivist is a records manager, and every records manager is an archivist; technology is the glue that might bind them together once more.

Redefining the Archivist's Role in the Information Age

The development of information technology (IT) has made it necessary for the records manager to redefine his/her role in an organization. The advent of databases, word processing programs, and online communication has added more power and complexity to the somewhat predictable paper filing systems of the past.

Archivists are not immune to these technological changes and, in fact, have been incorporating technology into their descriptive practices with the help of encoded archival description (EAD). Modern archival literature is replete with references to the demands of preserving electronic records, and many prominent theorists, such as Charles Dollar and Terry Cook, have advocated a merger between records managers and archivists as a solution. In reflecting on the increasing complexity of information environments, Cook insists that archivists "must take charge and move from being passive custodians to active documenters, from managing the actual record to understanding the conceptual context, business processes, and functional purpose behind its creation."

Living out this redefinition of an archivist--from impartial keeper of the past to strategic actor in the information ecology of an organization--will re-energize the profession. Unfortunately, archivists and records managers are missing from much of the RIM literature. In fact, most of the literature either regards RIM as a product of computer systems or as a strategic innovation on the part of learning organizations. In addition, this literature tends to focus on acquiring information to improve business strategy but ignores what will happen to it later. As author Thomas Davenport writes, technology tends to dominate approaches to information management. This supremacy has proven unsuccessful in most organizations, so Davenport structures his idea of an information ecology on several factors, including people, business politics, organizational culture, strategy, and the external environment.

While the practice of RIM requires a variety of skills from an understanding of business processes to technical knowledge, much of the extant literature on the topic ignores the role of the archivist. Often perceived by information managers as a remnant of the past, archivists must emphasize the benefits they can bring to an organization. Cook contends that many of these are found in traditional archival principles:

* Provenance: The addition of rich, meaningful context is a primary skill offered by archivists. By building contextual metadata into systems, archivists can ensure that information will be meaningful and well-organized. This offers organizational value by ensuring well managed resources that are structured and provide more value than ephemeral data.

* Appraisal: Modern organizations suffer from an information overload. Many documents and other forms of information are kept needlessly while other more vital records are shredded. The archivist, by understanding the functions and business processes within the organization, can determine which series of records (or groupings of information) are vital and, in conjunction with a records manager, determine how they should be protect ed and which should be eventually destroyed.

* Reference: In order to make records useful, archivists have traditionally categorized and described materials for easy retrieval and use by researchers. By expanding the notion of reference services to all members of an organization, archivists--in partnership with RIM professionals can be principal actors in organizing records and providing customers optimal access to information in them.

What Does It Mean to Manage Information?

In Information Ecology, Davenport defines the four stages of the information process. [See chart on page 64.] The first step in the information management process is determining information requirements--a complicated process that involves a deep understanding of the organization's mission, structure, and business rules. This understanding is often sought through interviews with employees in order to determine their daily tasks and the information they need to perform their jobs. Records managers often undertake this process in the creation of a classification scheme and records retention schedules. As they understand the organization's information needs, records managers are then in key positions to document them and work with IT personnel to develop software programs to help deliver the required information to the user. Working closely with a records manager in this situation, an archivist can better understand the information needs of each department and have input in the systems created to find and retrieve information.

Davenport's next step, one that deals with gathering and capturing information, offers archivists the chance to contribute their ability to understand and document a process. In the literature, what commonly distinguishes the corporate information manager from the records manager/archivist is the use of strategy to compile external information about the company's competitors and other environmental factors via environ mental scanning and competitive intelligence.

In a 2002 issue of The Information Management Journal, Robert Meagher emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking in the practice of information management. He encourages professionals to have a conceptual understanding of the organization, from its ultimate purpose to its daily business functions. His article, "The IM Building Blocks," stresses that all managers must be forward thinkers, keeping in mind the goals of the company and anticipating risks through proper planning. Strategic thinkers are not only inwardly focused, managing the workings of an organization, but they also are outwardly aware of external strategic factors such as the political environment, economic climate, and competitors' activities. As professionals interested in the sources, flow, and preservation of information, archivists can forge a place for themselves in this setting.

According to Frank Upward's "Structuring the Records Continuum, Part Two: Structuration Theory and Recordkeeping," the concept of the records continuum, originating with records professionals in Australia, is a model in which archivists have a place in the entire process of recordkeeping, from creation to capture to disposition. This theory conflicts with the longstanding model of the records life cycle that places archivists at the last step in the process. The life cycle begins when a record is created, continues as the records manager oversees it throughout its "life" and ends when it is either destroyed or handed over to the archivist, whose input may not have been explicitly sought during the first two stages. This implicitly leaves the archivist at a disadvantage from the perspective of upper management because archivists are perceived to deal only with "dead" records--those assumed to be no longer useful. Therefore, the more proactive role that the records continuum implies offers archivists an opportunity to participate in the larger strategic processes that lead to the flow of information and, hence, the creation of records.

Another vital part of Davenport's second step in the process of information management is the categorization of information. The entirely human activity of assigning value to information by grouping it into meaningful categories is a form of control that librarians and other information professionals have practiced since ancient times.

Categorization implies order and facilitates the discovery, retrieval, and use of information. Records managers/ archivists assign categories for information resources based on their originator, the business function that the records support, or a process, such as the hiring of a new employee. The experience that records managers and archivists have had with assigning value to information based on its source, value to the organization, and potential value to future users and researchers makes them particularly capable of creating useful categories to assist with the overall management of information.

Another concern with the capture of information is its format. Earlier in the discussion, the topic of defining information was addressed in an attempt to distinguish it from an archivist's more precise notion of a document and record. Davenport admits that the term "information" is vague and does not "resonate with many managers." He points out, however, that the term "document" refers to something tangible, structured, and easily recognized by managers. Almost all the internal communication of an organization can be represented in document form, and anything the organization disseminates to the public will also need to be formatted. The contextual information that makes a document rich with meaning is precisely what an archivist is trained to look for and preserve. By participating in the creation of documents, archivists can consult on the information required to make the document more meaningful. Going a step further, archivists can assist in the design of electronic systems in which documents are created in order to deter mine the metadata fields that are necessary for that electronic document to be valuable over time.

Once information needs have been analyzed and the information itself categorized, Davenport's fourth step is its distribution within an organization and to the organization's stakeholders. Because records managers and archivists possess a deep understanding of the inner workings of the organization and already have ascertained what information will be destroyed and when, and which will be kept permanently, it is only natural for them to effectively manage the distribution of information. Archivists are adept at helping users find information within the records they oversee. They organize records for efficient retrieval, provide descriptions of record groups and series, and develop finding aids to facilitate access to them. These skills complement Davenport's information-ecology concept by recognizing that the overall value of information comes from its use. The archivist can assist in the creation of a useful information architecture charting the information needs of individuals, departments, and processes as well as the document categorization scheme to serve as a guide or finding aid for users. In addition, archivists can join corporate librarians and records managers in having input into the creation and maintenance of an organization-wide intranet and helping to determine the required contextual information to make it optimally meaningful to employees.

Davenport's fourth and final step focuses on the actual use of information. Archival literature often discusses the value that researchers bring to--not merely get from--collections. They can assist in identifying items, clarifying their meanings, providing more context and, ultimately, helping archivists make effective appraisal decisions. Archivists keep user statistics to assist them in determining which collections are most often used and how helpful their descriptive finding aids are. Similarly, within the context of an organization, archivists could document information use by keeping logs for paper-based records and adding audit trails to electronic applications. This documentation of use would, in turn, assist in identifying information requirements. For this reason, Davenport's process of information management may be interpreted as being cyclical. [See Davenport's Information Management Process Model on page 66.]

Davenport's Model

Davenport's cyclical and recursive model implies that information is dynamically being created, organized, used, and disposed of at some constant rate within the organization. Constant adjustments are made at each stage. The first stage involves a developing understanding of the inner and outer workings of the organization. Author Alan Perkins says this understanding can be accomplished by the creation of an enterprise information architecture--a conceptual map that details the relationships of business entities and their functions as well as the underlying technical infrastructure. This activity will in turn help create a categorization scheme for the information based on the individuals, departments, or processes that create it. Both of these will assist in distributing information to users with the help of written and electronic guides as well as presentations. Finally, information use can be measured through its distribution, providing information managers with an understanding of the most valuable sources of information, which in turn provides input about information requirements.

Davenports Information Management "Process Model

As Davenport's "Four-Step Information Management Process" table suggests, archivists have a role to play in each one of Davenport's steps of the information management process. By adding new skills to the traditional qualities that archivists possess, the profession will be revitalized and become more valuable beyond its academic domain. A collaboration between records managers, who are already in a strategic position to undertake information management practices, and archivists would reinforce the values of both professions. In order to fit them selves into the dynamic field of RIM, archivists must possess diverse backgrounds in information science, systems design, management, and the humanities while still being grounded in the traditional principles and theories that define the profession. This could place archivists in a proactive position to better influence the quality of information currently in use by organizations and to better preserve information that will serve as the corporate memory.

Davenport's Four-Step Information Management Process

Davenport's IM Process:            Archivists' Contribution:

Step 1: Determining information    Document information needs
        requirements

Step 2: Capturing information      Document information scanning

Step 3: Distributing information   Provide reference services:
                                   finding aids/information
                                   architecture

Step 4: Using information          Document information use in order
                                   to help determine needs

Step 1: Determining information    Provide input for systems
        requirements               development

Step 2: Capturing information      Create categorization scheme;
                                   provide context for documents

Step 3: Distributing information   Provide input on intranet and
                                   another systems

Step 4: Using information

References

Cook, Terry. "Electronic Records, Paper Minds: The Revolution in Information Management and Archives in the Post-custodial and Post Modernist Era." Archives and Manuscripts 22 (1994).

--. "What Is Past Is Prologue: A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898 and the Future Paradigm Shift." Archivaria 43 (Spring 1997).

Davenport, Thomas H. Information Ecology: Mastering the Information and Knowledge Management Environment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Dollar, Charles. "Archivists and Records Managers in the information Age." Archivaria 36 (Summer 1993).

Duranti, Luciana. "The Odyssey of Records Managers." In Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance, T. Nesmith, ed. Metuchen, N.J.: SAA and ACA in association with Scarecrow Press, 1993.

Kirk, Joyce. "Information in Organisations: Directions for Information Management." Information Research 4 no.3 (1999). Available at http://informationr.net/ir/4-3/paper57.html (accessed 16 March 2004.)

McKemmish, Sue and S. M. Piggott., eds. The Records Continuum: Ian Mclean and Australian Archives: First Fifty Years. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: Ancora Press, 1994.

Meagher, Robert. "The IM Building Blocks." The Information Management Journal, 36 (January/February 2002).

--. "Putting 'Strategic' into Information Management." The Information Management Journal 37 (January/February 2003).

Perkins, Alan. "Enterprise Information Architecture." 1997. Available at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~visible/papers/Architecture.html (accessed 16 March 2004).

Shedroff, N. "An Overview of Understanding." In Information Anxiety, R. S. Wurman. Indianapolis, IN: Que Books, 2001.

Upward, Frank. "Structuring the Records Continuum, Part Two: Structuration Theory and Recordkeeping." Archives and Manuscripts 25, no. 1 (1997). Available at http://rcrg.dste.edu.au/publications/recordscontinuum/fupp2.html (accessed 6 November 2003).

At the Core

This article

* examines the role of archivists historically

* explores the relationship between archivists and records managers

* discusses literature and theories regarding the archives profession in the past, present, and future

Davenport's Information Management Process Model

1. Conceptual understanding of the organization; determining information requirements

2. Information locating, capture; internal/external environments; categorizing; formatting information

3. Distribution; connect users with information architecture; finding aids

4. Information use; measuring; input from users about information satisfaction

Magia Ghetu is a graduate student of archival administration and records management at Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science. She is the founder of that school's Society of American Archivists student chapter. She may be contacted at [e-mail].