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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the critical reasons why citizens need government archives, with an elaboration on why managing electronic records is crucial.

The paper offers a philosophical framework that argues that not managing records harms individuals. Examples from several countries are reviewed to find the relevance of the records relationships between people and governments, and the nexus between human rights and archives through an examination of the first three articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is analyzed.

The paper identifies a strong relationship between human rights and archives and the way lives are reflected in the records in government archives. This reinforces the argument that governments need clearly established and legally empowered archival institutions.

Critical examination of the “I” in government archives is relatively rare in the literature, particularly when linked to the human rights implications of government records. The study is a constructive beginning for further academic discussions to explore this dimension, which in turn is related to both the efficiency of governance and the public trust in government.

Explores why it is that archivists and records managers rarely discuss important aspects of the highest ranking record‐keeping job in any country. There are plenty of issues about what is or should be one of the most critical positions in any democratic society, whether at the national, state/provincial or local government level, worthy and in need of open discussion and debate within the professional community and more broadly in the public domain.

Using the controversial, ongoing case of President Bush's nomination of a new Archivist of the United States (historian Professor Allen Weinstein), this article focuses on some of the above issues.

Largely out of sight or earshot of the US public, US historians, archivists, librarians and information managers have united in community force to challenge President George W. Bush's nomination for the next Archivist of the United States. Discusses the possibilities of real or perceived political interference in the management of the nation's archives and especially ready public access to its Presidential records.

The dispute highlights changing thinking about what constitutes proper selection process and qualifications for national archivists that could stimulate professional debate world‐wide.

The Center for Electronic Records of the National Archives and Records Administration was established in 1988 as the custodial unit for the permanent electronic records of the U.S. federal government. The program for the long‐term preservation of electronic (or machine‐readable) records by the National Archives goes back to 1968, and the acting archivist of the United States has recently acknowledged the thirtieth anniversary of the first formal appraisal of electronic records. This article will highlight both the Center for Electronic Records' program and the various levels of access to information about the records in its custody.

State government archivists confront special problems in selecting and making available machine‐readable records with enduring research value. Today no more than half a dozen state archives have addressed the issue of electronic records and only two or three states have even rudimentary programs for selecting and preserving electronic records. The National Archives of the United States and Canada provide models for some aspects of program development, but archival programs in states and smaller government entities also face unique problems.