The Effect of Information Technology on Record Keeping

Because of the rapid spread of information technology, some experts have been predicting that the ‘paperless office’ will soon become commonplace. In reality, few automated systems have eliminated the use of ‘hard copy’ documents (that is, documents printed on paper from a computer application), and in many cases the use of computers has accelerated the creation of paper records.

The contents and functions of electronic and paper records are usually closely related. As a result, paper and electronic records management must be closely coordinated. A comprehensive records management programme must focus first on analysis of the information in records and then on the medium on which the information is stored.

Traditionally, the form of the record and the medium on which it is produced were inseparable. Records were managed by controlling the physical record. The custody of this record was passed progressively from the originator to the records manager and finally to the archivist. The creating agency has tended to be responsible for organising, maintaining and using current records. Records managers may have been involved in facilitating this process but often they only deal with records scheduled for destruction or transfer to a records centre. Archivists participated in retention decisions, but their real concern was with the records identified for permanent preservation and research use.

In an electronic environment, it is necessary to treat content and medium separately. Records managers must participate in the early planning and design stages of computerised systems or risk losing control of electronic records, either because the records will not be kept in the first place or because they will be irretrievable or unreadable. These changes are forcing records and archives professionals to reconsider their approach to the creation, management and use of records. Many professionals now recognise the need to manage electronic records throughout their life cycle, following a continuum of care.

The new working environment is also causing records professionals to rethink their approach to paper records. Records and archives staff must become increasingly involved with the process of records creation, use and maintenance; they cannot wait for creators to finish using current records and pass them along for storage and preservation because the paper records and the electronic records are usually part of a single system.

II. Answer the questions.

1. Have the ‘paperless office’ become commonplace with the rapid spread of information technology? 2. What must a comprehensive records management programme focus on? 3. Records were traditionally managed by controlling the physical record, weren’t they? 4. What may happen if records managers do not participate in the early planning and design stages of computerised systems? 5. Is the new working environment causing records professionals to rethink their approach to paper records?

III. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (Active or Passive).

1. It (to predict) recently that the ‘paperless office’ will soon become commonplace. 2. The creation of paper records (to accelerate) with the increasing use of computers. 3. Several years ago, records professionals (to manage) records by controlling their physical form, but they (to change) their approach to records management responsibilities now. 4. Since the 1980s the information and communication technology (to develop) dramatically. 5. Valuable records normally (to store) in archives. 6. Content and medium of always (to treat) separately in an electronic environment.

IV. Identify the type of clause in the following complex sentences. Translate the sentences into Belarusian/Russian.

1. Management of paper and electronic records must be coordinated as their contents and functions are closely related. 2. Although records managers are involved in maintaining current records, they only deal with the transfer of records to a records centre. 3. Our records management clerk lost control of an important record after it had been moved from its first place. 4. Problems often occur when one computer needs to work with another. 5. Multi-media documents are composed of a number of elements, which interact together. 6. The information must be framed so that it can be understood at the other end of communication. 7. A government should make sure that staff are appropriately trained in RIM and ERM issues.

V. Use the correct form of the verbs in brackets in the following conditional sentences.

1. If changes in applications (to take) into consideration, records will never become unreadable. 2. If our staff (to be trained) appropriately, we wouldn’t have lost such volumes of information. 3. If an organisation (not to observe) the schedules for records destruction, the system becomes burdened with useless information. 4. Had the archivist not lost the record, he (not to be fired). 5. But for the spread of ICT, we (can, not to access) information so easily and quickly.

VI. Underline verbals (infinitive, gerund, participle I, II) in the following sentences. Translate the sentences into Belarusian/Russian.

1. Traditionally, records were managed by controlling the medium on which they were recorded. 2. Records clerks are responsible for organising and using current records. 3. To manage records properly means to treat their content and medium separately. 4. Records professional must participate in developing computerised systems. 5. Documents may be composed of separate components that can be stored in different parts of a network. 6. Unaggregated data may be consolidated and structured to produce a report.

VII. Underline and identify the type of verbal construction in the following sentences. Translate the sentences into Belarusian/Russian.

1. Records professionals are forbidden to destruct files having an enduring and permanent value. 2. Mr. Vineyard was supposed to schedule the records transfer to the records centre. 3. Everybody waited for personal computers to become available. 4. Paper records are said to be finished once they are typed, printed or written. 5. She is believed to be a very good records manager.

VIII. Underline modal verbs. Translate the sentences into Belarusian/Russian.

1. You needn’t have preserved that useless file. 2. She did not dare to destroy the record because her customer might need it. 3. Those records should have been grouped together according to their formats. 4. Records may be derived from data and data may be derived from records. 5. All records can be defined as documents, regardless of form or medium.

TEST II

I. Read and translate the text into Belarusian/Russian. Do the translation in writing.

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