How old is the bucket theory
The bucket “theory” is as old as written records. Go to the archives in Iran and find the record you seek. Everything in its pile and every pile in its place. The metadata, if you wish to call it that is retained in the cumulative knowledge of the keepers of the records. It is passed down from generation to generation.
The bucket theory reached its true zenith, or nadir, depending on your perspective, with the advent of the computer age. As we, Archivists and Records Managers, argued over whether information stored in electronic formats were truly records. In this vacuum, the IT world adopted the bucket theory (The ultimate big bucket being the "Keep it all forever theory".) . Lacking records management guidance, records were stored in very large buckets and left to time (ignored). The argument could be made that the management of the buckets failed or that the idea of placing records in these buckets was a flaw, the effect was the loss of at least one generation of records. We are coming late to the conversation.
Today we are looking at the “bucket” and trying to reconcile our traditional methods with a theory that has reached fruition in an alternative discipline. The bucket theory is one of the outcomes of the outcomes of the “we did it because we could” age. The integration of computers into our processes allowed the efficient application of processes that previously were too expensive or cumbersome for us to use. The mantra became either a short or rapid ROI.
What is the bucket?
Like so many information management issues in America, it depends on the eye of the beholder. It not surprising when you consider we cannot even agree on the definition of a record much less the best model for managing them. I tend to view it as a way to handle a large volume of, often transitory, information regardless of record value. What it lacks in granularity it makes up for in classification efficiency. For those that view efficiency as the ultimate goal it has high appeal. Those who are concerned about ongoing efficiencies tend to find it not nearly as appealing.
So where is the fight?
There is a schism that is reaching a level of maturation in our profession. In one camp the Records Managers that hold to traditional time tested and well established practices. In the other camp there are Records Managers that have leapt on the IT train. They are the prophets of radical change and the canonization of their practices. The former group has the courts on their side and the latter has the IT world on theirs.
Prognostication
IMO, the battle over this will have a positive impact overall to the profession. The value of metadata, vital any efficiency within the bucket, will become more recognized as an integral part of an electronic record. It will help in the struggle to get others understand the need to manage large volumes of records. However it is not a solution to the issues we confront. While on the surface it might look like it makes sense, it really doesn’t. Like so many perpetual motion machines, we will come up with a better battery or a more efficient bearing but, ultimately this will come up a bit short as well.
Chris Flynn
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