Yesterday, today and tomorrow a continuum of responsibility1 verklaarde Peter Horsman zich in zijn bijdrage over archiveringssystemen een principieel tegenstander.4 Hij bepleitte een duidelijke scheiding van verantwoor delijkheden tussen de records manager en de archivaris. Ik denk dat Horsman gelijk had. Archivarissen moeten zich niet bemoeien met de taken van records managers, dat wil zeggen: ze moeten bemoeienis hebben en willen hebben met het implementeren en beheren van archiveringseisen in bedrijfsapplicaties van archiveringssystemen. Of archieven nu van papier zijn of van nullen en enen, of records managers nu integreren of niet, de records manager zal altijd met het archief in de eerste plaats het bedrijfsbelang moeten dienen. Archivarissen hebben een ander perspectief en een andere verantwoordelijkheid. Willen zij hun rol goed spelen, dan moeten ze onpartijdig blijven en onafhankelijk ten opzichte van degene die het archiveringssysteem ontwerpt en inricht. Introduction Continuum: A continuing thing, quantity, or substance; a continuous series of elements passing into each other. (The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) In this paper I discuss records continuum thinking and practice as they have evolved in Australia, with particular reference to the way they characterise the relationship between records managers and archivists. I use the Records Continuum model developed by my colleague, Frank Upward, to explore the continuum of responsibilities that relates to recordkeeping regimes that capture, manage, preserve and re-present records as evidence of social and business activity for business, social and cultural purposes for as long as they are of value, whether that be for a nanosecond or a millennium. The model provides a graphi cal tool for framing issues about the relationship between records managers and archivists, past, present and future, and for thinking strategically about working collaboratively and building partnerships with other stakeholders. A continuum is something continuous of which no separate parts are discernible, a continuous series of elements passing into each other. A records continuum perspective can be contrasted with the life cycle model. The life cycle model argues that there are clearly definable stages in recordkeeping, and creates a sharp distinction between current and historical recordkeeping. The records continuum, on the other hand, has provided Australian records managers and archivists with a way of thinking about the integration of recordkeeping and archiving processes. The life cycle model sees records passing through stages until they eventually 'die', except for the 'chosen ones' that are reincarnated as archives. A continuum-based approach suggests integrated time- space dimen sions. Records are 'fixed' in time and space from the moment of their creation, but recordkeeping regimes carry them forward and enable their use for multiple purposes by delivering them to people living in different times and spaces. In Australia, the records continuum has provided a way of articulating a mission that brings together records managers and archivists under the record keeping umbrella. Records continuum thinking focuses on the unifying purposes shared by all recordkeeping professionals, defined as to do with the delivery of frameworks for accountable recordkeeping regimes that enable access to essen- DE PROFESSIE 4 Peter Horsman, "A knowledge-based electronic record-keeping system", in Proceedings of the DLM-Forum on electronic records. Brussels18-20 December 1996 INSAR. European Archives News, Supplement II (Luxembourg, 1997), pp. 54-59. 194 SUE MCKEMMISH 1 This article was first published in Proceedings of the Records Management Association of Australia 14th National Convention, 15-17 Sept 1997, RMAA Perth 1997. 195

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Jaarboeken Stichting Archiefpublicaties | 1999 | | pagina 99