..but wouldn't the point be that it is not about the speed of retrieval 
but the access and the securing and tracking of access to the 
information in the file that would make me choose Electronic over Paper 
(leaving aside the readability issues)

*	more than one person can potentially access the information in the 
file at the same time from different locations (floors, buildings, 
cities etc)

*	a more auditable and potentially more secure access to records could 
be achieved (this statement is a generalisation and I note could be the 
subject of a broad discussion).


On the notion of retrieval of 'anything' I note the old rule taught to 
me many years ago GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out). By this I mean in any 
retrieval (especially a computer retrieval system - and yes even 
'Google' ) you will only ever get back what you asked for not 
necessarily what you want and even in the open-shelf colour coded world 
it is possible to misfile something (ergo the information is lost -or 
as we in the trade might like to put it "temporarily unavailable").

If you operate in an environment like mine (Australian Federal 
Government)- and note I think this is true of any group  government or 
private, Australian or not) what your clients want is immediate access 
to the information they want when they want it. They hate paper files 
because of the limitations to do 'tech stuff' with the paper, want 
everything electronic  but will still print documents out because it is 
still, even after all this time, easier to read material in hard-copy 
form than on a PC Monitor and finally they want a google like search to 
retrieve everything they are looking for regardless of how poorly they 
have framed the request.

I would tell your students to brush up on their information literacy 
skills - become expert at understanding how the information might be 
stored and retrieved and why a recordkeeping system offers the chance 
to aid in discovery of information ....which brings me to another point 
of debate - has anyone seen/read the article by Tina Torres in the IMJ 
of Sptember /October 2006 on Process-Focused retention?  I would be 
interested to hear views on that article, particularly the view on the 
Fileplans - happy to discuss this offline as well).


at the end of a warm spring day down under where the smell of bushfires 
and a long hot summer are in the air

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