An Introduction to Information Management: The "Why", "What" and "How" of Information Management, Associated Legislation and Initiatives

Citation

Hare, C. (2005), "An Introduction to Information Management: The "Why", "What" and "How" of Information Management, Associated Legislation and Initiatives", Records Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2005.28115bae.002

An Introduction to Information Management: The "Why", "What" and "How" of Information Management, Associated Legislation and Initiatives

An Introduction to Information Management: The "Why", "What" and "How" of Information Management, Associated Legislation and Initiatives

David AspinallBSI200465 pp.ISBN 0 580 43348 XKeywords Information management, Legislation, Records managementReview DOI 10.1108/0956569051064283

This relatively short guide is aimed at people whose main role is not specifically information or record management but who find themselves with some responsibility for it. The author aims to provide “an overview of ‘why’ information and records are important, ‘what’ sort of information needs to be accumulated and ‘how’ a change management process can be introduced to meet current legislative, cultural and business needs”.

Chapter 1 provides a brief history of recordkeeping to provide the backdrop for today’s information and records management challenges. It is interesting but the space might have been used for more practical guidance. Chapter 2 focuses on the drivers for managing information and records – mostly legislative – and the people, process and technology changes that will be needed. Very brief summaries of the essence of four key pieces of UK legislation are provided – namely, the Human Rights Act, Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

The third and longest chapter considers what information management involves and how to implement change. The author takes a computer-based information processing approach and very briefly considers the main steps in managing information from capture to disposal, within the context of an electronic document and records management system. This is followed by a short summary of the DIRKS (design and implementation of recordkeeping systems) methodology as found in PD ISO/TR 15489-2 (2001), the technical report part of the international standard on records management.

Chapter 4 – the government agenda – is very short and its content will be well known to those in, or with strong links to, the government sector. It might have been better earlier in the guide, as part of the second chapter, so that the flow between Chapters 3 and 5 was uninterrupted. The latter – an immediate a survival guide – offers ten tips for effecting change. The final chapter – ensuring ongoing compliance – looks at the topic not from an audit or maintenance angle but from a management of change angle. In fact, change management is the main thread throughout the guide.

The author provides a variety of quotes to highlight key messages and a list of useful standards and guidance. Overall, the guide provides a useful early text for students on an information management course, particularly if they are studying a records or document management module, and is likely to be popular because it provides an overview of the topic in an easy to absorb style. I will certainly draw it to the attention of our undergraduate students. It will also be useful to the author’s target audience – the non-specialist who has been given responsibility for information/records management. And there are likely to be many of these people as the demand for qualified records managers far outweighs supply. For experienced practitioners the guide is not sufficiently in-depth, but then that was not the author’s intention, however it may be the sort of text worth dropping on a senior manager’s desk. Just tell them to skip Chapter 1 – I enjoyed it, but they may not get beyond it.

Catherine HareCommunity of Science Inc., Newcastle upon Tyne, UK