I like this debate so I am adding my $.02 :

I think records management should, in heavily regulated and constantly-sued 
companies in the US (not Canada),  be in the Law Department, not IT.

In the US scenario I just outlined Legal has tremendous clout over IT. Legal 
will lean on IT to prioritize electronic records management where there is 
legal risk to the company if electronic records are mismanaged. If that 
legal risk represent lots of money (not just a regualtory slap on the wrist) 
.  IT, on the other hand, NEVER sees legal risk because they aren't lawyers; 
they see operational risk, security risk, and think in terms of keeping 
systems operating now and in the near future. Systems get upgraded at least 
every five years. Records often need to be kept longer. Trying to convince 
IT managers that records need to be carefully preserved, media refreshed, 
and retention automated, above and beyond "disaster recovery" that "keeps 
everything" "forever"  is a hard sell. Unless you have the lawyers standing 
behind you as you explain the cost and effort of producing, say, millions of 
(unindexed) emails from backup tapes for a law suit.

In Canada though, my take (having worked in a few federal and provincial 
departments in Toronto and Ottawa) is that the reverse is true -that records 
management should be in IT, not Legal. At least in government which employs 
so many records managers. Because in Canada, the siege mentality of 
government and lack of accountability and transparancy means that there are 
essentially no legal risks to the organization: law suits are no threat and 
regulatory audits are hardly a threat (and often they are a boon - an 
employment opportunity for records managers, auditors etc). Many government 
departments and agencies (federal, provincial and municipal) have a skeletal 
"Law Department" if they even have one at all. Meanwhile IT departments are 
often sophisticated and less frantic and less pressured by the rest of the 
organization because there is no frenzy to make money (or not cut into 
profits) like there is in private sector companies. So Canadian government 
IT departments can, sometimes, take a long-term view of their data and can 
afford to listen to records managers.




Maureen Cusack, M.I.St.

http://www.maureencusack.net

"There are two kinds of adventurers; those who go truly hoping to
find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't."
                        -Rabindranath Tagore

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