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53-606: Staffordshire Record Office is the county record office for Staffordshire , England. It is run by Staffordshire County Council , and is located in Eastgate Street, Stafford , behind the William Salt Library . Some records are held at the service's offsite store also in Stafford. It is the principal repository for manuscript records for the county. It is run as a joint service with Stoke-on-Trent as

106-839: A library -related building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . County record office Such repositories employ specialist staff to administer and conserve the historic and the semi-current records of the parent body. They usually also preserve written materials from a great variety of independent local organisations, churches and schools, prominent families and their estates, businesses, solicitors' offices and ordinary private individuals. Archives may have been acquired either through donation or (more generally) by deposit on long-term loan. Local authorities in certain larger cities sometimes administer their own separate city record office , operating along similar lines. Archive repositories are frequently – but by no means exclusively – used by local and family historians for

159-438: A control log to track access. Digital records systems may include role-based access controls, allowing permissions (to view, change and/or delete) to be allocated to staff depending on their role in the organization. An audit trail showing all access and changes can be maintained to ensure the integrity of the records. Just as the records of the organization come in a variety of formats, the storage of records can vary throughout

212-481: A formal association with one or more of their county’s principal local studies libraries, although the two professions of archivist and librarian generally remain quite distinct. Public access to central government archives (technically known as public records ) and by extension to local government records was previously regulated in accordance with instruments such as the Public Records Act 1958 and

265-596: A need for close working relations between records managers and IT managers, particularly including the legal aspects, focused on compliance and risk management. Privacy , data protection, and identity theft have become issues of increasing interest. The role of the records manager in the protection of an organization's records has grown as a result. The need to ensure personal information is not retained unnecessarily has brought greater focus to retention schedules and records disposal. The increased importance of transparency and accountability in public administration, marked by

318-524: A need for effective management of such records. Implementing required changes to organisational culture is a major challenge, since records management is often seen as an unnecessary or low priority administrative task that can be performed at the lowest levels within an organization. Reputational damage caused by poor records management has demonstrated that records management is the responsibility of all individuals within an organization. An issue that has been very controversial among records managers has been

371-415: A record so they can be managed. Once declared, a record cannot be changed and can only be disposed of within the rules of the system. Records may be covered by access controls to regulate who can access them and under what circumstances. Physical controls may be used to keep confidential records secure – personnel files, for instance, which hold sensitive personal data, may be held in a locked cabinet with

424-473: A record, modification of a record, movement of a record through its different states while in existence, and destruction of a record. Throughout the records life cycle, issues such as security, privacy, disaster recovery, emerging technologies, and mergers are addressed by the records and information management professional responsible for organizational programs. Records and information management professionals are instrumental in controlling and safeguarding

477-512: A specific industry or set of industries. Examples include but are not limited to medical industry records (e.g., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ), pharmaceutical industry records, and food industry records. Legal hold records are those records that are mandated, usually by legal counsel or compliance personnel, to be held for a period of time, either by a government or by an enterprise, and for

530-459: A system may be paper-based (such as index cards as used in a library ), or may involve a computer system, such as an electronic records-management application. A defensible solution is one that can be supported with clearly documented policies, processes and procedures that drive how and why work is performed, as well as one that has clearly documented proof of behavior patterns, proving that an organization follows such documented constraints to

583-403: A variety of forms of expertise. Commercially available products can manage records through all processes active, inactive, archival, retention scheduling and disposal. Some also utilize RFID technology for the tracking of physical file. The general principles of records management apply to records in any format. Digital records, however, raise specific issues. It is more difficult to ensure that

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636-427: Is a record needed to perform current operations, subject to frequent use, and usually located near the user. In the past, 'records management' was sometimes used to refer only to the management of records which were no longer in everyday use but still needed to be kept – "semi-current" or "inactive" records, often stored in basements or offsite. More modern usage tends to refer to the entire " lifecycle " of records – from

689-456: Is a record that is no longer needed to conduct current business but is being preserved until it meets the end of its retention period , such as when a project ends, a product line is retired, or the end of a fiscal reporting period is reached. These records may hold business, legal, fiscal, or historical value for the entity in the future and, therefore, are required to be maintained for a short or permanent duration. Records are managed according to

742-851: Is achieved through the design, maintenance, and application of taxonomies , which allow records managers to perform functions such as the categorization, tagging, segmenting, or grouping of records according to various traits. Enterprise records represent those records that are common to most enterprises, regardless of their function, purpose, or sector. Such records often revolve around the day-to-day operations of an enterprise and cover areas such as but not limited litigation, employee management, consultant or contractor management, customer engagements, purchases, sales, and contracts. The types of enterprises that produce and work with such records include but are not limited to for-profit companies, non-profit companies, and government agencies. Industry records represent those records that are common and apply only to

795-524: Is important. Many are kept as evidence of activities, transactions, and decisions. Others document what happened and why. The purpose of records management is part of an organization's broader function of governance, risk management, and compliance and is primarily concerned with managing the evidence of an organization's activities as well as the reduction or mitigation of risk associated with it. Recent research shows linkages between records management and accountability in governance. The concept of record

848-480: Is provided by Janet Foster and Julia Sheppard’s British Archives (4th edition, 2002). Select lists for certain specialised categories covering many UK repositories have also been issued by a variety of other publishers, notably the Federation of Family History Societies . Records management Records management , also known as records and information management , is an organizational function devoted to

901-727: Is someone who is responsible for records management in an organization. Section 4 of the ISO 15489-1:2001 states that records management includes: Thus, the practice of records management may involve: Records-management principles and automated records-management systems aid in the capture, classification, and ongoing management of records throughout their lifecycle. ARMA International defines records management as "the field of management responsible for establishing and implementing policies, systems, and procedures to capture, create, access, distribute, use, store, secure, retrieve, and ensure disposition of an organization's records and information". Such

954-425: Is tied to the tracking of records through their entire information life cycle so that it's clear, at all times, where a record exists or if it still exists at all. The tracking of records through their life cycles allows records management staff to understand when and how to apply records related rules, such as rules for legal hold or destruction. As the world becomes more digital in nature, an ever-growing issue for

1007-410: Is unclear if an IRS auditor would accept a JPEG , PNG , or PDF format scanned copy of a purchase receipt for a deducted expense item. While public administration, healthcare and the legal profession have a long history of records management, the corporate sector has generally shown less interest. This has changed in recent years due to new compliance requirements, driven in part by scandals such as

1060-679: Is variously defined. The ISO 15489-1:2016 defines records as "information created, received, and maintained as evidence and as an asset by an organization or person , in pursuit of legal obligations or in the transaction of business". While there are many purposes of and benefits to records management, as this definition highlights, a key feature of records is their ability to serve as evidence of an event. Proper records management can help preserve this feature of records. Recent and comprehensive studies have defined records as "persistent representations of activities" as recorded or created by participants or observers. This transactional view emphasizes

1113-547: The Enron / Andersen affair and more recent problems at Morgan Stanley . Corporate records compliance issues including retention period requirements and the need to disclose information as a result of litigation have come to be seen as important. Statutes such as the US Sarbanes–Oxley Act have resulted in greater standardization of records management practices. Since the 1990s the shift towards electronic records has seen

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1166-808: The Public Records Act 1967 . The 1958 Act enabled county repositories to be appointed by the Lord Chancellor to hold individually specified classes of Public Records – including local court records. Access to material within record offices in England & Wales is now largely regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 , although these do not necessarily cover privately deposited items, and closure periods may apply in certain cases. Since 1929 many county record offices in England have also been designated by

1219-685: The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia , in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the InterPARES Project is a collaborative project between researchers all across the world committed to developing theories and methodologies to ensure the reliability, accuracy, and authenticity of digital records. Functional requirements for computer systems to manage digital records have been produced by

1272-530: The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service . The archives include parish registers, business and colliery records, enclosure awards and maps, manorial records, transport records, and electoral registers. 52°48′25″N 2°06′50″W  /  52.80697°N 2.11377°W  / 52.80697; -2.11377 This article about a Staffordshire building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about

1325-691: The US Department of Defense , The United Kingdom's National Archives and the European Commission, whose MoReq ( Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records ) specification has been translated into at least twelve languages funded by the European Commission . Particular concerns exist about the ability to access and read digital records over time, since the rapid pace of change in technology can make

1378-409: The management of information in an organization throughout its life cycle , from the time of creation or receipt to its eventual disposition. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking and destroying or permanently preserving records. The ISO 15489-1: 2001 standard ( "ISO 15489-1:2001" ) defines records management as "[the] field of management responsible for

1431-459: The addition of new materials can make these go rapidly out of date. Furthermore, many offices also have considerable backlogs of uncatalogued materials. From the 1990s onwards, an increasing number of offices have launched online catalogues of varying completeness, linked to their respective websites. An earlier summary of archive repositories, including brief details of the development of each office together with outlines of their principal holdings,

1484-717: The best of their ability. While defensibility applies to all aspects of records life cycle, it is considered most important in the context of records destruction, where it is known as " defensible disposition " or " defensible destruction ", and helps an organization explicitly justify and prove things like who destroys records, why they destroy them, how they destroy them, when they destroy them, and where they destroy them. Records managers use classification or categorization of record types to logically organize records created and maintained by an institution. Such classifications assist in functions such as creation, organization, storage, retrieval, movement, and destruction of records. At

1537-407: The business of the organization. Correspondence regarding a product failure is written for internal leadership, financial statements and reports are generated for public and regulatory scrutiny, the old corporate logo is retired, and a new one – including color scheme and approved corporate font – takes its place in the organization's history. Examples of records phases include those for creation of

1590-514: The content, context and structure of records is preserved and protected when the records do not have a physical existence. This has important implications for the authenticity, reliability, and trustworthiness of records. Much research is being conducted on the management of digital records. The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) Project is one example of such an initiative. Based at

1643-583: The early theorization of archives as organic aggregations of records, that is "the written documents, drawings and printed matter, officially received or produced by an administrative body or one of its officials". Not all documents are records. A record is a document consciously retained as evidence of an action. Records management systems generally distinguish between records and non-records (convenience copies, rough drafts, duplicates), which do not need formal management. Many systems, especially for electronic records, require documents to be formally declared as

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1696-403: The efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records". An organization's records preserve aspects of institutional memory. In determining how long to retain records, their capacity for re-use

1749-546: The foundations of many of the earlier collections were the extensive surviving archives originating from a county's quarter sessions – in the county of Somerset a special muniment room had actually been provided for these as early as 1617. There are also many broadly similar repositories in Scotland, Ireland, and overseas. To varying extents, they will also help with the care of the county's semi-current or "modern records" using records management principles, as well as with

1802-787: The general public to access permanent records. Archives New Zealand is also setting up a digital archive. Electronic Tax Records are computer-based/non-paper versions of records required by tax agencies like the Internal Revenue Service . There is substantial confusion about what constitutes acceptable digital records for the IRS , as the concept is relatively new. The subject is discussed in Publication 583 and Bulletin 1997-13 , but not in specific detail. Businesses and individuals wishing to convert their paper records into scanned copies may be at risk if they do so. For example, it

1855-630: The highest level of classification are physical versus electronic records. (This is disputable; records are defined as such regardless of media. ISO 15489 and other best practices promulgate a functions based, rather than media based classification, because the law defines records as certain kinds of information regardless of media.) Physical records are those records, such as paper, that can be touched and which take up physical space. Electronic records , also often referred to as digital records , are those records that are generated with and used by information technology devices. Classification of records

1908-526: The hold location. A records retention schedule is a document, often developed using archival appraisal concepts and analysis of business and legal contexts within the intended jurisdictions, that outlines how long certain types of records need to be retained for before they can be destroyed. For the retention schedule to be utilized a number of guidelines need to be put in place so as to be considered for implementation. Managing physical records involves different disciplines or capabilities and may draw on

1961-422: The importance of context and process in the determination and meaning of records. In contrast, previous definitions have emphasized the evidential and informational properties of records. In organizational contexts, records are materials created or received by an organization in the transaction of business, or in pursuit of or in compliance with legal obligations. This organizational definition of record stems from

2014-546: The information assets of the entity. They understand how to manage the creation, access, distribution, storage, and disposition of records and information in an efficient and cost-effective manner using records and information management methodology, principles, and best practices in compliance with records and information laws and regulations. The records continuum theory is an abstract conceptual model that helps to understand and explore recordkeeping activities in relation to multiple contexts over space and time. A records manager

2067-446: The life cycle of information, including creation, maintenance (use, storage, retrieval), and disposal, regardless of media". The records life-cycle consists of discrete phases covering the life span of a record from its creation to its final disposition. In the creation phase, records growth is expounded by modern electronic systems. Records will continue to be created and captured by the organization at an explosive rate as it conducts

2120-858: The local bishop as a diocesan record office , latterly operating under the terms of the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978 . Such record offices are often also formally recognised by the Master of the Rolls as approved repositories for manorial and tithe records (in accordance with the Law of Property Act 1922 and the Tithe Act 1936 (as amended by the Local Government Records Act 1962 ). Many county record offices have issued printed guides to their collections, although

2173-649: The modern sense was the Bedfordshire Record Office , established by George Herbert Fowler in 1913. To some extent it was operating within established traditions set by the London-based Public Record Office (now The National Archives ), which first opened in 1838, or by other repositories overseas. Although the statutory operation of such county record offices under the Local Government (Records) Act 1962

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2226-811: The organization. File maintenance may be carried out by the owner, designee, a records repository, or clerk. Records may be managed in a centralized location, such as a records center or repository, or the control of records may be decentralized across various departments and locations within the entity. Records may be formally and discretely identified by coding and housed in folders specifically designed for optimum protection and storage capacity, or they may be casually identified and filed with no apparent indexing. Organizations that manage records casually find it difficult to access and retrieve information when needed. The inefficiency of filing maintenance and storage systems can prove to be costly in terms of wasted space and resources expended searching for records. An inactive record

2279-647: The point of creation right through until their eventual disposal. The format and media of records is generally irrelevant for the purposes of records management from the perspective that records must be identified and managed, regardless of their form. The ISO considers management of both physical and electronic records. Also, section DL1.105 of the United States Department of Defense standard DoD 5015.02-STD (2007) defines Records Management as "the planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial activities involving

2332-514: The purposes of addressing potential issues associated with compliance audits and litigation. Such records are assigned Legal Hold traits that are in addition to classifications which are as a result of enterprise or industry classifications . Legal hold data traits may include but are not limited to things such as legal hold flags (e.g. Legal Hold = True or False), the organization driving the legal hold, descriptions of why records must be legally held, what period of time records must be held for, and

2385-399: The purposes of original research, since many records can very often have a continuing administrative or legal significance. A record office will typically include public search rooms (including reference books, archive catalogues and other finding aids), environmentally controlled strongrooms, administrative offices, and quite often small exhibition areas together with a conservation room for

2438-607: The records management community is the conversion of existing or incoming paper records to electronic form. Such conversions are most often performed with the intent of saving storage costs, storage space, and in hopes of reducing records retrieval time. Tools such as document scanners , optical character recognition software, and electronic document management systems are used to facilitate such conversions. Many colleges and universities offer degree programs in library and information sciences which cover records management. Furthermore, there are professional organizations which provide

2491-496: The retention schedule. Once the life of a record has been satisfied according to its predetermined period and there are no legal holds pending, it is authorized for final disposition, which may include destruction, transfer, or permanent preservation. A disaster recovery plan is a written and approved course of action to take after a disaster strikes that details how an organization will restore critical business functions and reclaim damaged or threatened records. An active record

2544-582: The selection and preservation of today's records (both paper and digital) for future generations. During the 19th and 20th centuries, some older libraries had also begun to maintain archive collections from their local area, although their facilities and the scope of their collections could vary considerably – as might their official legal status. There are often overlaps between local studies and record office collections, particularly with respect to printed ephemera , maps, photographs, old newspapers and local reference books. A number of record offices now operate in

2597-727: The software used to create the records obsolete, leaving the records unreadable. A considerable amount of research is being undertaken to address this, under the heading of digital preservation . The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) located in Melbourne, Australia published the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) which includes a standard for the preservation, long-term storage and access to permanent electronic records. The VERS standard has been adopted by all Victorian Government departments. A digital archive has been established by PROV to enable

2650-425: The specialist repair of documents. Search rooms are generally open at their advertised times without charge, although many offices operate a reader's ticket system. Some, but not all, operate a fee-paying postal service for those who are unable to make personal research visits. All county record offices attempt to work in accordance with the appropriate official British Standard . The earliest county record office in

2703-502: The uncritical adoption of electronic document and records management systems . Another issue of great interest to records managers is the impact of the internet and related social media, such as wikis , blogs , forums , and companies such as Facebook and Twitter , on traditional records management practices, principles, and concepts, since many of these tools allow rapid creation and dissemination of records and, often, even in anonymous form. A difficult challenge for many enterprises

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2756-619: The widespread adoption of freedom of information laws , has led to a focus on the need to manage records so that they can be easily accessed by the public. For instance, in the United Kingdom, Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 required the government to publish a Code of Practice on Records Management for public authorities. Similarly, European Union legislation on Data Protection and Environmental Information, requiring organisations to disclose information on request, create

2809-415: Was permissive rather than mandatory, the network has gradually expanded. Bristol Record Office (now Bristol Archives ), opened in 1924, has been identified as the second local office to become established. The whole network now includes repositories – which operate largely independently of each other – throughout the whole of England and Wales (the most recent being Powys Archives, opened in the 1980s). Often

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