Editorial

Citation

McLeod, J. (2015), "Editorial", Records Management Journal, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-01-2015-0003

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Records Management Journal, Volume 25, Issue 1

It hardly seems five years ago that I was writing the Editorial for the first issue of the journal’s 20th anniversary volume, and here I am writing one for its 25th silver anniversary. Unlike the 20th anniversary volume, we have not planned each issue to have a special and linked focussed; however, two of the issues in this volume are themed.

The first is a themed issue on a topic we have not covered in any depth in past issues of the Records Management Journal (RMJ) – diplomatics, specifically in the digital context. What better way to open such a special anniversary volume than with this topic guest edited by a person who is internationally renowned in our field and this specific area! Dr Luciana Duranti, Professor in Archival Studies at the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, University of British Columbia and Director of the InterPARES Projects (http://www.interpares.org) has kindly guest-edited this issue whose content is derived from the papers presented at the conference Digital Diplomatics 2013: What is Diplomatics in the Digital Environment?, which was held at the French National Archives, 14-16 November 2013.

To engage such a leading figure with multiple demands is a privilege, and it has been a pleasure to work with Dr Duranti over the past year in virtual space to bring the issue together. Neither of us could have foreseen that we would finalise the issue whilst working in the same physical space, but I write this from Vancouver where I have the honour of being the University of British Columbia’s Dodson Visiting Professor in Archival Studies and spending a term working with staff and students.

I will leave it to Dr Duranti to introduce the subject matter and the contributions from the conference and simply take the opportunity to thank her for agreeing to edit this issue and bring an important topic to the journal’s readership.

One note I would like to add, however, is that this issue contains a rather unusual book review. Dr Alistair Tough, a member of the RMJ’s Editorial Advisory Board approached me asking if we ever published reviews of work of fiction. I could not recall that we had ever done so in the past, but having asked about the book in mind, I could see no reason why not. The review section, therefore, opens with Alistair’s review of The Final Charge by Dawood Ali McCallum, a human rights expert, and set in Kenya. I do hope you enjoy this departure from the norm; I shall be interested to hear your views. Coincidentally, Alistair has provided a second review in this issue of the festschrift in honour of Dr Anne Thurston who has done so much for records management and records professionals in the African sub-continent. The review is a worthy tribute, as is the edited volume itself.

Julie McLeod