Why Records Management Matters

Records management is a part of sound government administration. Records are created every day by government officials in the course of carrying out their official responsibilities; other records are created or received in the course of serving the public and carrying out public business. In fact, second only to the government's employees, information is probably every government's most important resource. Records-essentially, recorded information-are the most important subset of information.

Records management means the leadership, coordination, and other work required to ensure that adequate records are created to document government functions and meet administrative, legal, and other operational needs. It also means that recordkeeping requirements are built into electronic information systems, records are organized and accessible, records are retained and disposed of based on legal requirements and analysis of their function and value, and records of continuing value-or archives, also known as archival records-are preserved and accessible.

RECORDS MANAGEMENT MATTERS

Records are not always managed well by jurisdictions (see box on page 25). Sound records management, however, reinforces and is consistent with several ICMA priorities:

* Strengthening performance management; records provide the basis for measuring, comparing, and improving local service delivery.

* Implementing the policies envisioned by local councils; those policies are themselves records, and records also document their formulation and legislative intent.

* Planning strategically; records document government and provide the basis for planning and organizational effectiveness.

* Mastering information technology; IT needs to be incorporated appropriately in plans to improve service delivery, information sharing, and citizen access, including managing the electronic records that are created in the process.

* Managing for emergencies; preserving key records is essential to government continuity.

Here are six more reasons why records management matters:

1. Records management helps government employees find the information they need. Missing or incomplete information plagues many government projects. In contrast, the existence of too much information-in government files, on the Web, and elsewhere-creates a needle-in-ahaystack situation.

One study concluded that knowledge workers, or employees who need information to get their work done, spend from 15 percent to 35 percent of their time searching for information; searchers are successful in finding what they seek only 50 percent of the time or less.1 Much of what local government employees do each day involves finding and using...