Throw another file on the Barbie
By Gordon Brown
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
I recently undertook a study tour of Australian universities to observe at first hand the records management programmes that have been operating at the heart of their respective organisations for decades.
The Universities were:
- The University of Melbourne, an institution with a student population of 40,000 and 6,500 members of staff
- The University of Adelaide, which has a student population of 19,000 with 2,500 members of staff.
Australia in context
Records management has been seen as a key function within Australian organisations for decades. Indeed the University of Melbourne has had a centralised records management function since 1978, with their archives operating since 1960.
This is in sharp contrast to many public authorities throughout Great Britain, where much belated employment of records management staff was left until shortly before the implementation of Freedom of Information Acts, both north and south of the border.
One reason for this difference is that there has been a stronger legislative driver for good record-keeper practice in Australia. In the states of both Victoria and South Australia, they have had their respective State Records Act since 1997, and in Victoria they have had an Evidence Act since 1958 that has decreed standards for evidence for court.
Structure of records management functions
The University of Melbourne has divided its Records Services into four sections:
- The Records Management Programme is run as an internal consultancy on records management issues
- Central Records controls the mail for the executive management of the university, and are also responsible for entering these documents onto their EDRMS, TRIM Context
- Their Minutes Office services the committees of the university and ensures that the minutes of the main committees are indexed and bound
- The Imaging Centre is responsible for the microfilming of student records, and is now providing a central scanning service for areas of their finance department.
The University of Adelaide has a uniform Records Management Office (RMO) consisting of a records manager and 4 records officers. They offer an equally efficient service, but on a smaller scale. The RMO handles the mail for senior management, and is the administrative centre for records being entered into the EDRMS (again TRIM Context).
It is unrealistic for many, if not all, organisations to invest as much in staff as the University of Melbourne, but it is a good example to show senior management what can be achieved in a practical sense if there is proper investment in records management.
Business case for records management
Many records managers will be compiling a business case to get more staff and resources to fund records management initiatives such as strategy and policy development, information audits, the creation of retention/disposal schedules in tandem with a filing scheme with thesaurus and no doubt extra storage facilities. This is before the additional costs of implementing an EDRMS. None of the universities has had to make a business case for the records management programme, but they have been established long enough to see long term benefits for their respective organisation such as:
- The University of Melbourne has noticed increased retention periods for staff, partly due to more pleasant working areas with less clutter created by records
- The University of Adelaide noticed significant benefits for communication where information is held and terminology has been standardised due to the use of a thesaurus and classification scheme.
In addition to these observable benefits, I would take their advice and, in any business case for records management, include every legislative act that requires or relies in good record-keeping. It may be tempting to mention Freedom of Information and Data Protection constantly because they are so much in the public awareness these days but the same argument will become boring very quickly. The inclusion of other acts such as the Welfare Regulations 1992 or the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 can only increase the strength of any business case.
To help long term investment in records management, it is important to keep the profile of the service as high as possible. The University of Adelaide employs a monthly e-mail to all staff with 5 short bullet points relating to issues relating to good record-keeping. I have had very encouraging feedback so far from this scheme myself.
Resources
There is a number of useful resources available online for institutions and organisations within Australia. Both the University of Melbourne and University of Adelaide have resources available online, including retention schedules and procedures manuals. The National Archives of Australia has a vast quantity of resources available including the DIRKS methodology, which has been used across so many Australian public authorities to develop a records management programme.
Conclusions
The University of Melbourne and the University of Adelaide both employ best practice in records management. They have several similarities that explain why they are so advanced in the successful operation of records management. These are:
- Having a centralised records management programme ensuring consistency and authority
- Adequate funding in terms of staffing levels and operational budgets
- Records management being centrally positioned within the University of Adelaide is situated within the Information Management Division that reports to the Vice-Chancellor
- Record-keeping culture within the university,
It is, of course, unrealistic for there to be many organisations with as developed a records management function as those found in the University of Melbourne and the University of Adelaide. The have the relative luxury of having a culture of recognising the importance of good record-keeping and yet they still have to fight for funding and to develop their service. That said it shows what is possible and what records managers in Great Britain should be striving for.
