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1. Introduction
Records are a precondition for living in or exercising a democratic regime. It is a self-evident fact but also very difficult to be regarded and evaluated by persons and organizations. Records management (RM) values are also difficult to be measured by economic terms. People and organizations do not seem to pay much attention to the management of records/archives that they produce or use during their daily activities. On the other hand, they always adduce records for the protection of their rights. This problem becomes really serious when it concerns public records since they are an important public asset concerning all members of a society.
Recordkeeping is not a new idea. It is as old as organized communities were humans had to find ways of preserving memory. The oldest ways of preserving memory were not in writing ([14] Kolyva, 2008), thus, one could claim that recordkeeping precedes writing as we know it.
RM, according to ISO 15489 standard definition, "is the field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions."
RM, according to the International Records Management Trust "is that area of general administrative management concerned with achieving economy and efficiency in the creation, maintenance, use and disposal of the records of an organisation throughout their entire life cycle and in making the information they contain available in support of the business of that organisation in the form of records."
The purpose of this paper is to present the relationship among RM and accountable and efficient governance. Through this work one can identify the major key issues and problems in planning and implementing a strategy for the creation and management of public records in governments. The key goal of this paper is to raise awareness among all participants of emerging legal, fiscal and administrative issues involved with managing governmental information.
The authors of this paper argue that RM is a vital component of good governance in an organized society. Information and communication technology progress cannot alone ensure the solution of all information management problems. Both security in information delivery and usage of records and transparency in transactions and...