The transformation of the work environment through the adoption of digital technologies has brought both benefits and challenges for recordkeeping. All government agencies now create a significant proportion of their records in digital form and most are developing systems and practices to enable the ongoing maintenance and accessibility of digital records. The principles of good recordkeeping apply equally to all records and the majority of our recordkeeping standards and guides are ‘technology-neutral’; that is, they apply to records in all formats. Archives New Zealand recognises that there are particular challenges faced by public offices and local authorities in managing electronic records.
‘Electronic records’ are defined as:
“Records capable of being processed in a computer system and/or stored at any instant in a medium which requires electronic or computer equipment to retrieve them.” [From Judith Ellis, ed., Keeping Archives, 2nd ed., Port Melbourne, 1993, p.469.]
This includes records that are born-digital and those that have been digitised from another medium or format (e.g. paper records that have been scanned).
Electronic records are ‘public records’ and are covered by the Public Records Act 2005.
For further information, see Fact sheet: Electronic Records, Fact sheet: Make a Record and visit the Continuum website.
Emails are public records and should be treated like any other record. For further information see Fact sheet: E-mail and Fact sheet: Are E-mail Archiving Solutions Recordkeeping Solutions?
Digitisation has become a very common process in government; it does however raise particular recordkeeping challenges. For further information see Fact sheet: Digitising Records and the Digitisation Standard.
Records, especially digital records, cannot exist as authentic and reliable evidence of business without recordkeeping metadata. Recordkeeping metadata is data that enables the creation, management and use of records through time. Recordkeeping metadata identifies and describes records, including their content and relationships with other records and with their business content. Recordkeeping metadata is used to authenticate and contextualise records by documenting their relationships in a recordkeeping framework.
For example, metadata associated with emails may include: the name of the sender and receiver of the email; the date and time the email was sent and received; and the email subject heading. Metadata, therefore, provides context for the email for future use and as reliable evidence of communications.
Archives New Zealand is currently developing a Recordkeeping Metadata Standard that sets minimum requirements for creating, maintaining and managing recordkeeping metadata in electronic environments. This standard will apply to electronic records created by New Zealand local authorities and public offices.
For more information see the Recordkeeping Metadata Standard page on the Continuum website.
The following resources have been developed specifically for issues faced in the creation and maintenance of electronic records:
Archives New Zealand is a collaborating partner in the Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (external link), which was launched in Wellington on October 5, 2005. Together with the national, state and territory public records institutions in Australia, we will work towards a common set of strategies to ensure that the digital records of government are preserved and made accessible for the future.
For further information see our Frequently Asked Questions page.