Archives in the Digital Age

Journal of the Society of Archivists

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 63-70

  Barata, Kimberly ^a,b  

^a Missenden Consulting LLP   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2442500684     PISSN: 00379816     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0037981042000199151     Document Type: Review

References (23)

1. Copies of the report are available from the MLA website, at 〈http://www.mla.gov.uk/information/tenders/completed.asp〉, project ID 435 (accessed 16 December 2003). Further information can be obtained from MLA's Archive Development Officer for the Regions.
2. The Modernising Government White Paper (1999) is available at 〈http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm43/4310/4310. htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
3. E-Govemment refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the internet and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, and more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth and/or cost reductions.
4. In the 2000 Comprehensive Spending Review the Government allocated £350 million to support local authorities to meet the 2005 target. Of this, £160 million has been allocated directly to local authorities and the rest to national projects, development and support. Audit Commission, Message Beyond the Medium: improving local government services through e-govemment (2002) available at 〈http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk〉 (accessed 16 December 2003). All 398 local authorities in England receive, regardless of size, a £200 000 capital grant in 2002/3 and 2003/4 subject to satisfactory progress against their Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) Statement, which sets out how they propose to meet the 2005 target. Local authorities were asked to aim to provide 25 per cent of services online by 2002; per cent by end of March 2003, 73 per cent by 2004 and 100 per cent of all services which can be delivered electronically by the end of 2005. The original target was 2008, but it has since been moved forward.
5. For example, the methods used by many EDMS systems to save e-mail are cumbersome and staff, therefore, circumvent procedures with the result that e-mail is often not stored in a way that is easy to retrieve and issues of consistency of retention, including what to destroy and what to keep, become difficult to solve systematically.
6. Available at 〈 http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000036.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003). The Act comes into full force on 1 January 2005.
7. There is a separate Freedom of Information Act for Scotland.
8. Available at 〈 htrp://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/foicode.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
9. Available at 〈http://www.defra.gov.uk〉, search under Environmental Information (accessed 16 December 2003). The Regulations bring the Aarhus Convention on Access to Environmental Information into UK law and reflect an impending EU Directive on access to environmental information.
10. Available at 〈 http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/default.htm〉 and 〈http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/standards/default.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
11. Available at 〈 http://www.pro.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/erecords/default.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
12. The National Archives reports that there has been a good deal of activity in key departments, especially Cabinet departments. Awareness of the need to manage electronic records has increased generally. One problem noted, however, is that electronic records management is a multi-skilled area and there is a dearth of records professionals working in departments with the appropriate skills. As a result, many departments are behind in meeting the Route Map milestones, although progress is being made.
13. In 2003, the National Archives embarked on trials of different preservation approaches, and collating the results of testing by other national archives, universities and research institutions. The digital archive system was demonstrated at an international conference hosted by the National Archives (Public Record Office) in April 2003. For further information, please refer to 〈http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/preservation/digital/default.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
14. Available at 〈http://ndad.ulcc.ac.uk/〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
15. Available at 〈http://www.pro.gov.uk/archives/map/defauk.htm〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
16. This study limited its discussion of education and training issues because MLA was funding a National Council on Archives (NCA) study entitled 'Training, Recruitment, and Leadership in the UK Archives Sector'. Although the NCA study was in the early stages at the time the Archives in the Digital Age research was being carried out, a questionnaire had been distributed to 250 repositories-public, national and private-regarding the skills expected of recently employed archivists. This was followed up with a focus group of university programme directors.
17. More information is available at 〈 http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
18. More information is available at 〈http://www.ucl.ac.uk/e-term/ 〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
19. More information is available at 〈http://www.erpanet.org〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
20. Marc Fresko and Martin Waldron, Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records (MoReq) (2001) available from 〈 http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/dlm/〉 and 〈 http://www.comwell.co.uk/moreq〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
21. The Testbed is experimenting with different types of digital files and records in order to determine the best approaches to long-term preservation, 〈http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
22. NOARK includes a specific module for records produced by politically appointed boards within local and regional government, 〈 http://www.riksarkivet.no/arkivverket/lover/elarkiv/noark-4/english.html〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).
23. VERS offers clear and accessible toolkits that contain step-by-step guides to implementation that might be helpful in training, but should not be used as a substitute for guidance produced by the UK National Archives, 〈http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/〉 (accessed 16 December 2003).