Managing Electronic Records, 4th ed.

Citation

Jailani, H. (2010), "Managing Electronic Records, 4th ed.", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 172-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330331011039544

This is a “must read” for practitioners, particularly those who have had no prior exposure to records management and who might be new to the profession. The author, Professor William Saffady gave an historical brief by tracing the growth of electronic records. He examines the evolution and provides statistics that illustrate the dramatic proliferation of personal computers all over the world. The book is a comfortable read with seven chapters segmented into smaller digestible sections. The byte‐sized organisation breaks up the monotony and almost excites the reader to finish one segment and move on to the next. It also makes it easier to browse and selectively filter information without having to plough through the entire book. Text boxes highlighted in the chapters, almost like sound‐bites or pointers allow the reader to latch on to the key messages while browsing the book.

The book covers the impact of technology and the resulting obsolescence very early in the discourse. The underlying need for digital preservation is wrought clearly with the understanding of the importance of information carried by electronic records in various media types. Content management and hierarchical storage deserved mention only in the last chapter with hardly any reference made to semantic web technology such as the use of unique resource identifiers or URIs or metadata.

William Saffady offers a quick overview of technical details without verbose jargon that help readers assimilate an understanding of new technologies for modern applications. The author is rather elaborative about data storage in the different media: magnetic, optical and solid‐state. This understanding is critical for the inventorisation of electronic records. In most organisations, the IT department decides and manages the storage of computer files. William Saffady has been particularly skillful in contextualising technologies to achieve a better understanding of its capabilities. For example, in most definitions markup languages are introduced as a language bereft of the context provided by the need for electronic records management. Thus its impact and need may not be understood fully. The recognition is easily afforded here. He also extracts gems of new knowledge to surprise the reader. For example the book highlights little known facts and historical data to resolve the confusion between JPEG the compression algorithm and JFIF the file format, and how these are used interchangeably in today's world.

The author emphasises the need to establish the foundational elements of document management so that effective life‐cycle management can be planned. Specific mention is made highlighting the need for records managers to document obsolete technologies as it would impact inventories of electronic records and migration efforts. The author however has not given metadata a significant emphasis even while describing the necessity of ensuring effective retrieval for discovery purposes. He rightly pointed out the need to capture context and provenance of electronic objects in inventorying and retention planning. Albeit, consideration of file formats were rather brief and informal.

The core of the book examines inventorisation, retention schedules, vital records management and electronic filing. The key lessons highlighted include the management of surrogate copies in inventorisation particularly in managing redundancies. Records managers would do well to note Professor Saffady's reminder of multiple copies of draft and final versions printed for various purposes, with the final versions of both the electronic and paper formats being archived and microfilmed respectively. Indeed this would help in the preparation of a streamlined retention schedule. Sequencing of electronic documents (arrangement) by principal retrieval parameters was discussed as a non‐issue. Electronic records can be retrieved simply by searching and browsing based on their descriptive metadata. For magnetic tapes or other removable computer media, having good descriptive metadata that can be used for discovery purposes, is sufficient. Backend storage of the physical media need not be conscribed by any sequencing, taken as the norm for physical records without any electronic counterparts. It can be done in any convenient way that does not compromise the efficiency of retrieval, such as the use of identifiers.

Retention schedules are discussed thoroughly, covering aspects such as retention period, storage, location, date and method of destruction or records transfer. One of the dominant issues addressed is that of long‐term storage costs. Professor Saffady demonstrates how offsite storage for less frequently accessed electronic records is more expensive than the total cost of ownership of computer storage. There was no mention of low‐speed online storage which organisations adopt for less frequently accessed content paving the way for new options for destruction or preservation. Modular hard disk storage makes it easy and thereby cheaper, in terms of total cost of ownership. Destruction (disposal) is often deemed to be an economical option and the prevailing suggestion is to retain it in the retention schedule only if it exceeds the savings in storage cost. William Saffady cautions against preservation decisions being clouded by this consideration. He contends that decisions, when taken, must be because of organisational need as well as content and purpose of the electronic records in question.

The use of e‐mail archiving solutions was instructive. E‐mail retention policies include the use of compression, single instance storage and ability to delete attachments according to predefined retention rules. The use of low speed hard drives or disk storage solutions for electronic records retention could have been discussed in the same way. The use of electronic signatures to authenticate documents was clearly explained. The author has also discussed content management systems, highlighting features and making suggestions for managing electronic files and media to be included in the guidelines for labelling media, organising directories and naming files.

There are significant gaps in the treatment of the subject matter. While a section on hierarchical storage management is highlighted, its relevance to electronic document management is not consistently applied. Integrity checks through the use of checksum as an authentication mechanism of electronic records for retention purposes begs further explanation, though authentication itself is widely discussed and authentication requirements noted. Trustworthiness of a copy was discussed under the best evidence rule and the burden of proving trustworthiness rests on the party seeking to exclude a copy rather than the one seeking to admit it. But what this means to the records manager and how this translates to possible fulfilment using electronic means is not clear.

No mention was made of the potential for content transformations or conversions, such as those found in digital preservation approaches. Though noted as conceptually unattractive, paper and microfilm were included presumably due to their stable nature. As an alternative format in the face of long‐term retention programmes, the world is currently exploring the possibilities of digital preservation and computer systems are being developed to cater to this need. Indeed a reference model for open archives (OAIS‐RM) has been accepted as an international standard. Format transformation software is widely available nowadays and in digital preservation, the reference model supports this as part of risk assessment in preservation planning. Mention of such format transformations could have been provided as an alternative.

On the management of vital records more emphasis could have been placed on strategies for replication and emulation in addition to back‐ups. Disaster management strategies have become critical to ensure perpetual access to vital records. In extensively discussing filing systems, the author does not deal with the issues of uniformity in content archiving and the role of persistent identifiers. The adoption of print content file‐naming conventions by the author may not be a long‐term solution for electronic documents.

On the whole, the narrative is interlaced with examples and is most comprehensive in coverage. Those who are looking for deep analysis and academic discussions will find this book a little too brief but practitioners who need to plunge straight into the subject matter, would find it a good handbook for document management.