Between 2pm and 3pm this afternoon I participated in a records management webinar hosted by Steve Bailey on his Records Management 2.0 Ning site. Steve set up the Ning site to provide a place for records managers to discuss how to adapt our profession to the web 2.0 world.
The task of the webinar was to see whether we could come up with a manifesto for records management 2.0, drawing inspiration from the Librarian's 2.0 manifesto. The group wanted to retain the positive tone of the Librarian's manifesto, and in particular its positive attitude towards change.
The points flew in thick and fast: here is how the manifesto stood at the end of the webinar:
1. I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that records management needs to respond positively to these changes to provide systems, policies, advice and services that are helpful to our organisation, our teams and our colleagues.2. I will educate myself about the information culture of my users and look for ways to incorporate what I learn into records management services.
3. I will let go of previous practices if there is a better way to do things now, even if these practices once seemed so great.
4. I will take an experimental approach to change and be willing to make mistakes.
5. Whilst we recognize the need for final assured quality in record-keeping systems this should not inhibit experimentation, innovation and development.
6. I will not fear Web2.0 services, but rather will take advantage of services users need to deliver agreed benefits to their business/organization.
7. I will avoid requiring users to see things in records management terms but rather will shape services to reflect users' preferences and expectations.
8. I will be willing to go where users are, both online and in physical spaces, to practice my profession.
9. We recognise that it is not easy for our colleagues to keep records: they are overloaded by too many e-mails, and they are faced with a multiplicity of different tools and systems where information can be created and captured
10. We recognise that we will never have a perfect records system, and can never guarantee that our organisation will have full records of everything it does, but we will work to improve the organisation's capability of keeping and understanding ts records
11. We will, at all times, strive to maintain a balance between the needs of our users and the legal, regulatory and operational requirements of our organisations
12. I will recognize that organisations change slowly, and will work with my colleagues to expedite our responsiveness to change
13. We will strive to deliver a service users can trust and that is transparent and open to all stakeholders
James Lappin
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