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Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to explore the issues, the role of research data management (RDM) as a mechanism for implementing open research data and the role and opportunities for records managers. The open data agenda is premised on making as much data as possible open and available. However, in the context of open research data there are methodological, ethical and practical issues with this premise.
Design/methodology/approach – Two collaborative research projects focusing on qualitative health data were conducted. “DATUM for Health” designed and delivered a tailored RDM skills training programme for postgraduate research students in health studies. “DATUM in Action” was an action research project between researchers from information sciences, health, mathematics and computing, looking at planning and implementing RDM.
Findings – Three key issues emerged about what research data is appropriate to make open/accessible for sharing and reuse: re-using qualitative data conflicts with some of the epistemological and methodological principles of qualitative research; there are ethical concerns about making data obtained from human participants open, which are not completely addressed by consent and anonymisation; many research projects are small scale and the costs of preparing and curating data for open access can outweigh its value. In exploring these issues, the authors advocate the need for effective appraisal skills and researcher-focused RDM with records managers playing a useful role.
Research limitations/implications – The findings come from two small-scale qualitative projects in health studies. Further exploration of these issues is required.
Practical implications – Records managers have new crucial opportunities in the open data and RDM contexts, bringing their expertise and experience in managing a wider range of data and information. They can help realise the benefits of multiple perspectives (researcher, data manager, records manager and archivist) on open research data.
Social implications – Researcher-focused RDM offers a mechanism for implementing open research data.
Annotation: The authors use two research data management (RDM) projects to explore issues surrounding open access, sharing, and reuse of research data. The authors assert that RDM “is one approach for maximizing the potential for open data, and the records management profession is ideally positioned to facilitate” it; what’s more, those “best able to undertake this RDM are the researchers themselves,” and the first place to start is with creating a data management plan (DMP).
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the challenges to born-digital institutional archiving using a New York Archive Museum (NYAM) as a case.
Design/methodology/approach – The digital record-keeping practices at NYAM were studied using three data sources: focus groups with staff, totaling 81 individuals, or approximately one-third of all staff; analysis of network file storage; and analysis of digital records in archival storage, or specifically removable media in acid-free archive boxes.
Findings – This case study indicates that the greatest challenges to born-digital institutional archiving are not necessarily technological but social and cultural. Or rather, the challenge is getting individuals to transfer material to a digital archive so that it can undergo the technological transformations needed to ensure its long-term availability. However, transfer is impeded by a variety of factors which can be addressed through education, infrastructure development and proactive appraisal for permanent retention.
Practical implications – This paper highlights the challenges to born-digital institutional archiving, yet notes that these challenges can be overcome by following a multi-pronged approach.
Originality/Value – This paper outlines the challenges to born-digital institutional archiving, which is not often discussed in the literature outside of the context of higher education.
Keywords – Electronic records management, Born-digital archives, Museum archives
Paper type – Case study
Annotation: The author examines the challenges presented by born-digital institutional records using a case study of an art museum’s approach to the tasks of selecting, preserving, and providing access to the historical and legally valuable born-digital documentation it creates in its business operations. All departments of the museum were surveyed for born-digital material—including the archives, where not only business functions were examined, but the collection itself (processed and unprocessed) was reviewed for electronic records of permanent value and at-risk or obsolete file formats.
The author advocates a multi-stage approach to the challenges of appraising for permanent retention the vast amount of digital data created and held by the museum: 1) development of the infrastructure and the workflows necessary for the accession, preservation, and accessibility of this born-digital material; 2) educating, supporting, and encouraging staff about the capacities for preservation and access; 3) “proactive appraisal...appraising digital files for permanent retention in consultation with authoring department, and performing the transfer.”
Abstract: The Government of Canada (GoC) has implemented several standardization initiatives toward establishing e-government in order to systematize the capture, description, organization and dissemination of data and information. This study examines the GoC’s metadata strategy through the adoption of a Dublin Core (DC)-based metadata scheme toward establishing one unified metadata framework. The study examines the credibility of DC in relation to interoperability, application profiles, and controlled vocabularies and further provides a discussion on the current problems associated with metadata and possible improvements across government agencies in the GoC.
Annotation: The Canadian government adapted Dublin Core to describe government web resources in 2001; since then, many governmental departments and agencies have developed metadata management services to advance information interoperability, that is “the capability of different programs or systems to exchange and communicate data via a common set of protocol or data sets.” The authors assert that since “each professional domain...and discipline...supports its own approach to the management of digital information, there seems to be no sharing of standards, practices and experiences across sector; therefore, a governance structure that coordinates the digital information environment is needed to assure future accessibility.”
Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to construct a systematic way of thinking about correspondence as a documentary form and discuss the role its persistent representation features play in management, preservation and access of email correspondence.
Design/methodology/approach – Using the method of diplomatic analysis as a guiding theory, the paper conducts a historical review of correspondence recordkeeping and email systems in the American context, analyzes the evolution of its persistent representation features and discusses the implications on current email management and archival practices.
Findings – Correspondence as a document form and its persistent representation features have played an important role in traditional correspondence recordkeeping and electronic mail management. The design of systems to manage, preserve and access email records should reflect the characteristics and functionality of email records, capable of retaining email correspondence as a documentary form supported by its persistent representation features.
Research limitations/implications – The research in this paper mostly covers secondary sources with a regional focus. The analysis covers important historical developments in correspondence and email recordkeeping and archival practices. The study uses examples of email archives available online, and further research can be developed when more email archival collections are processed and constructed.
Originality/value – A systematic analysis of persistent representation of traditional correspondence and electronic mail provides a useful perspective to reflect on the characteristics of correspondence as a document form and offers some food for thought for records management and archival professionals and assists them in developing systems to better manage, preserve and provide access to email correspondence.
Keywords – USA, Historical research, Record keeping, Correspondence, Digital archives, Electronic mail
Paper type – Research paper
Annotation: The author sketches a useful history of American correspondence practice (personal and corporate) and recordkeeping, from the colonial period to present day email systems. NARA’s “Capstone” email management approach and a number of other international programs are discussed. Though the author notes that “very few email archiving projects so far have reached the state of providing online public access,” recent developments in this sphere are noted, including the LIbrary of Virginia’s Governor Kaine email Collection and Stanford University Libraries’ ePADD.
