Recordkeeping Cultures explores how an understanding of organisational information culture provides the insight necessary for the development and promotion of sound recordkeeping practices.

Record-Making and Record-Keeping in Early Societies provides a concise and up-to-date survey of early record-making and record-keeping practices across the world. It investigates the ways in which human activities have been recorded in different settings using different methods and technologies. Based on an in-depth analysis of literature from a wide range of disciplines, including prehistory, archaeology, Assyriology, Egyptology, and Chinese and Mesoamerican studies, the book reflects the latest and most relevant historical scholarship. Drawing upon the author’s experience as a practitioner and scholar of records and archives and his extensive knowledge of archival theory and practice, the book embeds its account of the beginnings of recording practices in a conceptual framework largely derived from archival science. Unique both in its breadth of coverage and in its distinctive perspective on early record-making and record-keeping, the book provides the only updated and synoptic overview of early recording practices available worldwide. Record-Making and Record-Keeping in Early Societies will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students engaged in the study of archival science, archival history, and the early history of human culture. The book will also appeal to practitioners of archives and records management interested in learning more about the origins of their profession.

Recordkeeping Cultures explores how an understanding of organisational information culture provides the insight necessary for the development and promotion of sound recordkeeping practices.

This dynamic book considers whether and how the management of records (and archives) differs from the management of information (and data). Can archives and records management still make a distinctive contribution in the 21st century, or are they now being dissolved into a wider world of information governance? What should be our conceptual understanding of records in the digital era? What are the practical implications of the information revolution for the work of archivists and records managers? Geoffrey Yeo, a distinguished expert in the global field, explores concepts of 'records' and 'archives' and sets today's record-keeping and archival practices in their historical context. He examines changing perceptions of records management and archival work, and asks whether and how far understandings derived from the fields of information management and data administration can enhance our knowledge of how records function. He argues that concepts of information and data cannot provide a fully adequate basis for reflective professional thinking about records and that record-keeping practices still have distinct and important roles to play in contemporary society. This thought-provoking and timely book is primarily intended for records managers and archivists, but should also be of interest to professionals in a range of information-related disciplines. It aims to provide a balance of theory and practice that will appeal to practitioners as well as students and academics around the world.

The latest edition of Social Work Records describes an approach to recordkeeping that is well-suited to contemporary practice. The authors encourage practitioners to seek a balance among accountability, supporting and improving practice, efficiency, and client privacy in selecting and organizing information in their records. They propose guidelines for improving agency-wide policies and procedures and include new material on demonstrating cultural competence, systematic assessment, managed care, computerization, and record security. The process of recording, as well as the record itself, are described and illustrated in ways that fit the realities of todays practice. Social Work Records is a single source that: introduces the 15 principles of good records and their usefulness to assess the quality, appropriateness, and impact of services; presents an overview of the content of social work records using the Service-Centered Record format; focuses on the structure of the record by describing and analyzing a wide range of approaches, formats, and forms that are used to select and organize information; offers solutions to issues in practice from both the direct-service and the administrative perspective; provides a thorough analysis of records and the law.

Archives: Recordkeeping in Society introduces the significance of archives and the results of local and international research in archival science. It explores the role of recordkeeping in various cultural, organisational and historical contexts. Its themes include archives as a web of recorded information: new information technologies have presented dilemmas, but also potentialities for managing of the interconnectedness of archives. Another theme is the relationship between evidence and memory in archives and in archival discourse. It also explores recordkeeping and accountability, memory, societal power and juridical power, along with an examination of issues raised by globalisation and interntionalisation.The chapter authors are researchers, practitioners and educators from leading Australian and international recordkeeping organisations, each contributing previously unpublished research in and reflections on their field of expertise. They include Adrian Cunningham, Don Schauder, Hans Hofman, Chris Hurley, Livia Iacovino, Eric Ketelaar and Ann Pederson.The book reflects broad Australian and international perspectives making it relevant worldwide. It will be a particularly valuable resource for students of archives and records, researchers from realted knowledge disciplines, sociology and history, practitioners wanting to reflect further on their work, and all those with an interest in archives and their role in shaping human activity and community culture.

This book explores how an understanding of organisational information culture provides the insight necessary for the development and promotion of sound recordkeeping practices. It details an innovative framework for analysing and assessing information culture, and indicates how to use this knowledge to change behaviour and develop recordkeeping practices that are aligned with the specific characteristics of any workplace. This framework addresses the widely recognised problem of improving organisation-wide compliance with a records management programme by tackling the different aspects that make up the organisation’s information culture. Discussion of topics at each level of the framework includes strategies and guidelines for assessment, followed by suggestions for next steps: appropriate actions and strategies to influence behavioural change. Key topics covered include: background and context; the value accorded to records; information preferences; language considerations and regional technological infrastructure; information-related competencies; awareness of environmental requirements relating to records; corporate information technology governance; trust in recordkeeping systems; bringing it all together. Archivists, records managers and information technology specialists will find this an invaluable guide to improving their practice and solving the ‘people problem’ of non-compliance with records management programmes. LIS students taking archives and records management modules will also benefit from the application of theory into practice. Records management and information management educators will find the ideas and approaches discussed in this book useful to add an information culture perspective to their curricula.