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The purpose of this article is to examine the information culture of a medium-sized municipality in Belgium. Public information/records is/are one of the most important instruments of citizens' control of public authorities. The principle of Public Access gives citizens a right to access public records, while the Privacy Act protects the integrity of the citizens. Municipalities are institutions that intensely interact with the citizens. Therefore, the way they handle the information that is generated during this interaction is of crucial importance to the efficient service delivery, safeguarding the rights of the citizens that they serve and for sustaining the open governance structure that promotes the principles of accountability and transparency.

The author employed a case study approach in order to establish the attitudes and norms the organizational employees had towards the management of information/records. She also applied the information culture assessment framework developed by Oliver during the design of the research questions.

Information culture affects the way public information/records are managed. Though investments are being made in information systems to facilitate the capture and management of information/records, the people issues are equally as crucial. E-Government development will require an information culture that promotes effective creation, use and management of information, if its goal of efficient and transparent public administrations is to be achieved.

The originality of this study lies in the application of the information culture assessment framework that was developed by Oliver. The framework facilitates the formulation of questions using its three layers to tease out the information required by a researcher in an attempt to draw conclusions regarding the attitudes, norms and the value the interviewees attach to information/records.

The purpose of the paper is to establish whether Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Records Continuum Model (RCM) frameworks could be used to mitigate long-term preservation challenges.

Qualitative research was undertaken using two case studies and interviews were conducted with the different categories of the municipal personnel to solicit answers to the research questions. The questions were designed using the lens of the RCM and its four dimensions that cover the creation, capture, organization and pluralization of records and prescribed factors of ECM which include business process management, enterprise architecture, collaboration, system integration, re-purposing of information, change management, knowledge management and the life cycle management of information. Not all the ECM factors are dealt with in this paper: the remainder have been dealt with in the author's earlier works.

Challenges of long-term preservation of information still persist despite the enormous research that has been generated over the years. The municipalities that were subjects of this research are still grappling with issues of lack of long-term information management policies, enterprise architecture, disparate information systems, collaboration and system integration. This is likely to work against the investments that are being ploughed into e-Government developments should the municipalities fail to espouse strong information and records management regimes. Embracing the ECM prescribed factors and the RCM thinking might mitigate these challenges.

The author's licentiate research proved that there was no discourse between records managers/archivists and ECM proponents. Therefore, the originality of this article lies in the application of the two frameworks of ECM and RCM. The findings confirmed that even within the records management framework the municipalities were addressing factors similar to ECM prescribed factors. Embracing both the RCM model and the ECM prescribed factors might mitigate the challenges of long-term preservation and hence the re-use of information and enhancement of the societal memory.

This article gives an overview of education and training of records managers in anglophone Africa and then focuses on standards for training of archivist and records managers. Using South Africa’s National Qualifications Framework and the South African Qualifications Authority guidelines, a training model that can be used elsewhere in Africa with some adjustments is suggested. The article recognises that there can be no one set of universally standard desirable outcomes for all educational institutions, as the outcomes must depend on the institution’s nature and mission. Whilst the teaching and learning processes may differ between countries, there should be a substantial commonality in the outcomes achieved. Thus it would be possible to have generic processes of assessment and accreditation. Adherence to standards is key to the generic process of accreditation and professional mobility.

Traditionally, records management has been defined as the systematic organisation of all recorded information — whether it be on paper, tape, disc, film, or any other medium — from its creation, through its use, to its storage and final disposition, either in permanent archival storage or in its legal destruction. What this means is that the recorded information of an organisation must be managed throughout its life cycle, from the moment it is created, throughout all the years that it might be kept, to the day it is destroyed. The life cycle concept of records management, divides the life of a record into three stages: active or current, when it is in regular use; semi‐active or semi‐current, when it is still of use to the creator or recipient, but only occasionally, and so may be stored remotely; and inactive, when it is no longer of use to the creator or recipient, and may be destroyed or sent to archival storage. Customarily, records managers have dealt with records during their current and their semi‐current stages, when in a commercial environment; while archivists have dealt with records during their inactive and their semi‐current stages, when governmental environment. Inevitably, the two fields overlapped and recognised their common concerns.

This study aims to present the findings of the first phase of a project entitled Putting the “Fun” Back in “Functional”, which has been investigating the socio-technical issues surrounding users’ interaction with electronic recordkeeping systems. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve that interaction by positively influencing the way in which individuals perceive their work practices and the tools they use to accomplish them. In its first phase, the project considered the implementation of such systems for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the factors and processes that contribute to its success.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 public employees from a large provincial government and a large city government in Canada about two information systems (ISs) – a meeting management system and an Electronic Documents and Records Management System.

Several salient themes emerged from the research data, including the value accorded to information and records, the implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems as a complex process, the appropriation of electronic recordkeeping systems, understanding users, ease of use and information/records specialists as part of the solution. Analysis of these themes shows that many of them can be explained through theories developed in the IS field.

The results show that many themes are common across the records management and IS fields. Further, the results indicate the applicability of theories in the IS field to explain and predict the implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems.

This study is one of few that explicitly draw on IS theories to understand the implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems. The results of this study open up many opportunities for future research on electronic recordkeeping systems.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings from an investigation on the information culture and recordkeeping in two Chinese companies, exploring the interaction between information culture and recordkeeping.

On the basis of systematic literature review, this research investigates the information culture and recordkeeping in two Chinese companies by conducting in-depth interviews with the staff of the two companies.

The attitude of the leadership and the staff towards records and information is different in the result-oriented information culture and rule-following culture. If a company aims to stay innovative and competitive, an information culture that can facilitate the good governance of records and information should be developed, and information professionals can play a key role in working towards this.

As a qualitative study of information culture and recordkeeping in Chinese companies, this paper provides the insight into the interaction between information culture and recordkeeping, demonstrates the impact of information culture on information governance and identifies the factors influencing information culture in an organization.

This paper aims to examine the role a recordkeeping informatics approach can play in understanding and addressing these challenges. In 2011, the Wind Tunnel located at the Defence Science Technology Organisation (DTSO)’s Fisherman’s Bend site in Melbourne and managed by the Flight Systems Branch (FSB) celebrated its 70th anniversary. While cause for celebration, it also raised concerns for DSTO aeronautical scientists and engineers as to capacities to effectively and efficiently manage the data legacy of such an important research facility for the next 70 years, given increased technological, organisational and collaboration complexities.

This paper will detail how, through a collaborative action research project, the twin pillars of continuum thinking and recordkeeping metadata and the three facets of organisational culture, business process analysis and archival access, were used to examine the data, information, records and knowledge management challenges in this research data context. It will discuss how this perspective, was presented, engaged with and evolved into a set of strategies for the sustained development of FSB’s data, information and records management infrastructure, along with what is learnt about the approach through the action research process.

The project found that stressing the underlying principles of recordkeeping, applied to information resources of all kinds, resonated with the scientific community of FSB. It identified appropriate strategic, policy and process frameworks to better govern information management activities.

The utility of a recordkeeping informatics approach to unpack, explore and develop strategies in technically and organisationally complex recordkeeping environment is demonstrated, along with the kinds of professional collaboration required to tackle research data challenges.

In embracing technical and organisational complexity, the project has provided FSB with a strategic framework for the development of their information architecture so that it is both responsive to local needs, and consistent with broader DSTO requirements.

This paper further develops recordkeeping informatics as an emerging approach for tackling the recordkeeping challenges of our era in relation to maintaining and sustaining the evidential authenticity, integrity and reliability of big complex research data sets.

The diffusion of innovations in student housing, a commercial real estate subsector, is a critical concern to developers. Aside from how innovations contribute to investor' returns, there is a question of interest in real estate investment policies and contemporary real estate research. The study aims to assess the extent of innovation diffusion in student housing and its effects on investment returns in Ghana.

The study used a mixed methods approach foregrounded on the innovation diffusion theory. With the mix of surveys and interviews of 828 student housing managers/investors and 25 key student housing association leaders across selected off-campus student housing among six universities in Ghana, the study used both primary and secondary sources. Selection criteria were based on at least one of these criteria: Have operated in the student housing market over the past ten years, have adopted the use of technology in student housing management, have introduced new student housing marketing strategies and have made improvements (added value) to student housing services. Multiple regression and narratives were the main analytical tools employed in this study.

The study demonstrates that over the past ten years, student housing investors in Ghana have invested hugely in product, marketing, process and organisation innovations. Among these innovations, innovations by: marketing through souvenirs and annual-get-togethers product through Internet services processes through Information Management Systems (IMS), and organisation through student leadership were most utilised to descending extent. Furthermore, the study identified marketing and organisation innovation to have the highest effects on investment returns. However, process and product innovation showed a weak and moderate effect on investment returns because management hastily implemented these services without understanding the consequences it has on investment returns in the long run.

The moderate effect of product and process innovation on student housing investment can be a predictor for future student housing investment innovation strategies for new entrants as they do not provide an immediate positive investment return. Key takeaways require management to incrementally implement these innovations and adopt space management practices that create opportunities for future product and process innovations in Ghana. Investors should capitalise on marketing and organisational innovations as the best innovation strategies that yield the highest returns in Ghana.

Student housing investors should focus on emerging student preferences such as entertainment, improved building services and Information Communication to stimulate student housing selection intentions.

Innovation diffusion in student housing is understudied. The closest connection of innovation diffusion theory to product enhancement, marketing and managerial improvement is a strategic tool that facilitates efficiency and productivity in student housing investment.

In May 1988 a new Information Support Unit (ISTJ) was created in the Southern Business sector of Shell UK Exploration and Production Limited (Shell Expro), to implement corporate Records and Information Management (RIM) policies into a (hitherto fragmented) informally controlled record group: all records relating to the company's subsurface activities. The records concerned were classified as VITAL to continuing business success.