>>Gosh...while I find all these definitions ever so sexy, what do they
really mean to the average employee? In common >>English - not in
records-managementeese - what is a record?
As a former teacher (now RIM and electronic records archivist) and being in a government setting we deal with the "definition" issue all the time. Too often I get told to "boil things down" to a few bullet points because people won't understand it, or won't take the time to learn it. I'm sorry but sooner or later one needs to grow up, take some responsibility and realize that ignorance or lack of interest isn't an excuse. If your responsible for operating a business then you can be responsible for learning how to operate it efficiently. I do training session for the private sector and I tell folks that I'm not going to stand there and tell them what their retention periods are, even if I could. I don't know all of their respective industries, or the regulations effecting them, or their own business practices. What I do tell them are general standards and practices and the resources for them to go find these things out. Yet people still don't want
to do the research, they just want it summed up for them.
OK, off the soapbox.
I would not only tell folks what a record is, but also what it is not. You can talk about a business record, I like the ISO 15489 definition, but also talk about non-records, alo found in the ISO standard. We have issues in the government sector about FOIA or Open Records (as it's called in our state) where the definition of "record" is more broadly interpreted to legal evidence and discovery. But for retention schedules, I can still talk to officials about the dangers of mixing business and non-business related records. Especially in relation to email.
Defining what are "record" is and showing what it isn't, I think helps. You still have the issues of getting people to listen you. For the record (pun intended) here's Kentucky's definition of a public or government record.
"Public record or record" means all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, disks, diskettes, recordings, and other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency. "Public record" shall not include any records owned by a private person or corporation that are not related to functions, activities, programs or operations funded by state or local authority;
Personally, I would just go with "documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristic . . ." and ax the first part about formats.
Mark J. Myers
Electronic Records Archivist
Technology Analysis & Support Branch,
Public Records Division,
Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives
300 Coffee Tree Road PO Box 537 Frankfort, KY 40602-0537
Phone: (502)564-8300 ext. 244
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.kdla.ky.gov
I
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