Ch05

4.1 The most crucial and complex function performed by an archivist is that of appraisal. The importance of the appraisal activity has increased substantially over the past twenty years with the ever increasing number of records created. The decisions regarding the value of these records determine what records exist to document an agency's functions as well as what will be preserved for use by future generations. The emphasis in archival programs must take into consideration the links and relationships of information systems created in organizations. Before decisions are reached on which records to keep, the archivist must have an overall knowledge of the programs and policies of the organization and how the information systems, both manual and automated, provide input to support such programs. The context in which records are created is vital to the understanding of both evidential and informational value.

4.2 The transfer of valuable records to archives has a relatively short history. It has only been two within the past hundred years that certain records have been designated for transfer to the archives. Archives have, for most of the modem era, been the passive receivers of documents.

4.3 Over the past forty to fifty years, efforts have been made to organize the appraisal function. Appraisal is defined as the process of determining the value and thus the disposition of records based upon their current administrative, legal and fiscal use, their evidential and informational or research value; their arrangement; and their relationship to other records. Characteristics of records have led to the development of appraisal criteria based upon the age of the records; the volume; the physical form; and the functional characteristics. The value of the records is judged against the evidential value of the records displayed in documenting the activities of an organization; and informational value is based upon the content of the records and the potential for secondary use.(1)

4.4 In most institutions appraisal or selection of material is undertaken when the records are no longer in use due to the physical nature of the records and the recordkeeping systems.

The use of filing systems and the inclusion of documents physically within the filing system ensures that documents can be identified and appraised even many years after their creation. Registers and inventories provide, to a certain extent, intellectual access to the records.

4.5 The appraisal of machine readable records is well documented in the RAMP study undertaken by Harold Naugler. The guidelines on how to determine evidential and informational value are internationally accepted and have been put into practice in several repositories. The problems faced today, and over the next several years, are how to deal with the changing nature of the electronic records being created.

4.6 The automated office is a reality. Many organizations, agencies and institutions have installed local area networks or purchased stand alone microcomputers to provide office support. Sophisticated systems provide access to a variety of software and hardware, as well as gateways to exterior information systems. In most cases, these systems do not have any records management capabilities and documents can be destroyed voluntarily or involuntarily by the creators at any point in time. Naming conventions for documents are not standardized within the organization and the choice of document names is left to the creators. The software does not provide adequate capabilities for assigning titles to documents or data. The space permitted is often not more that eight characters which is insufficient to provide a meaningful title. The knowledge of existing file classification systems within the organization is limited and documents are often given acronyms which may have meaning at the time of creation of the document but usually not several weeks later and certainly have no meaning to others in the organization. Most creators manage their documents within their own personal filing systems without any reference to any corporate system or link to existing hardcopy records within the organization.

To date the appraisal of machine readable records has been based upon their informational value as opposed to their evidential value. Documents relative to policy development, program management, and other organizational activities have been in hardcopy form. The increase in the use of LANs for the creation of electronic records will likely result in a change in the number of records in electronic form being appraised for their evidential value.

4.7 In addition to the accessibility to software and information sources, several advances in technology provide for integrated software, increased storage capacity and the ability to transfer hardcopy documents into electronic form (OCR-optical character recognition). The result of these changes is the ability of office systems to create the compound or smart document. Powerful software which provides for the ability to manipulate text, voice, data, and images will have a major impact on the operational functions of the office.

It is important to recognize that none of these technologies on their own could have a major impact either for offices or for archives but, combined, they provide for major changes in the way the office has traditionally created and used information.

4.8 Without full records management capabilities developed for automated office systems, how will the archivist document the decision making process within an organization? How will an archivist determine what forms the complete record of the activities of an organization? How will the archivist be able to identify documents? How will the archivist be able to access the electronic documents if the appropriate software and hardware are unavailable? Access to a wide number of information systems from the workstation will pose problems in capturing the archival record. Many of these information sources do not reside inside the organization but are accessed by communication links or gateways outside the organization. It is very likely that records are created on the screen from a variety of sources and are never physically stored on-site. Not only is it likely that the records will not exist at a later date for evaluation and possible archival retention, it is possible that some may not exist beyond their life on a terminal screen.

4.9 The early use of computers in organizations resulted in the separation of responsibilities between computer and records management personnel. The traditional records of an institution were not affected by computerization.

The extension of computer facilities into the more traditional recordkeeping areas therefore poses certain problems such as the form in which the records be kept, how the archivist can ensure that the vital records are retained and how the archivist can ensure that selection occurs.

4.9.1 In what form should the record be kept?

In the early days of electronic records the question was answered by deciding to keep hardcopy versions of the documents of archival value created on a microcomputer. In many instances the agency itself took this route by ensuring that hardcopy versions of documents were printed and transferred to the manual filing system. Advancing technology has created integrated systems which can include voice annotated comments on electronic documents as well as the ability to create a compound document from a variety of electronic sources. To simply print out a hardcopy version of the documents is no longer a viable option, as many of the characteristics of the electronic documents are lost in hardcopy form. In some cases the document is only a series of links to other documents or data. The development of hypermedia systems changes the data from a structured form to a less structured one. Hypermedia databases imply that "any two kinds of data may be associated, including textual data pages, paragraphs or words, tables or table cells, pictures, charts and graphs, and sound and music. Association in this context is referred to as links; these links can be navigational in that they guide the user through the data or data-oriented allowing one to embed the content of one document in another. Such links are also known as 'hot' or 'warm'. Hot links automatically update all appropriate sources when a change occurs; warm links provide the user with a choice on whether to update all relevant information. Hypermedia environments will make it more difficult to define what constitutes a document. Documents will become a combination of logical attributes as opposed to physical attributes". (2) A monthly report on sales, for instance, could contain only a series of links to the source of the information. When the report is required the links spur the creation of the document from the various sources with the most up to date information. The sophistication of the software no longer permits the separation of the records from an automated office system without resulting in major consequences to the historical record. The selection process must be accomplished by the review and appraisal of the record in its electronic form.

4.9.2 How does the archivist ensure that the vital records exist?

The slow development of recordkeeping systems for electronic office systems may certainly result in an obvious lack of records in the future. Creators of records have been left on their own in the area for some time and have not given much thought to the destruction of records of archival value created in the course of their activities. As has been mentioned in previous works on machine readable records, it is imperative for archivists and records managers to take an active approach in the development and installation of electronic office systems. It is the expertise of the archivist in the identification of records of value which becomes an important addition to any team developing and implementing an electronic office system. Most information specialists welcome the participation of archivists and records managers. The concerns of ensuring that vital records are preserved can be accommodated at the feasibility and needs analysis stages of the development of an office application but not necessarily after the office system has been installed. Archivists have unique skill in determining which records have value; these skills must be vocalized in such a way as to teach others of the importance of good recordkeeping practices. These skills can be essential in the implementation of any automated office system; first, by providing the users with the guidelines for the organization of records within the office system; and second, by proving the necessity of such guidelines through the ability of the organization to find the records quickly and efficiently when required. The involvement of the archivist at the initial stage of any office network project will not only improve the system for the users but will also have the ultimate effect of ensuring that the valuable records are identified and accessible.

If archivists are to acquire documents from such systems, archivists must be actively involved at the creation stage.

4.9.3 How does the archivist ensure that selection occurs?

The answer to this question results from the direction taken in 4.9.2. If archivists outline the needs and requirements to identify and preserve records of historical value in the early stages of the development, selection of the records becomes that much easier to accomplish. Archival records can be identified and transferred according to the requirements of the institution.

4.10 The issue raised by the active approach to selection of electronic records is that of the role the archivist should play in the creation of the historical record. By outlining the archival needs at the development stage, there could be a change in the nature of the records being created and retained. The archivist will have an influence on the nature of the historical records at a far earlier stage than occurs at the present time.

4.11 It may also be necessary, to ensure that the archival record is complete, to preserve certain software and access records of the system. If certain records only existed for seconds on a screen, it may become important to select, along with the records, the access logs to the system which identify by whom and when the system was accessed. The value of these logs will not be in the records themselves but in providing proof that certain systems were accessed at a particular time and by whom. In a similar vein, it will become important to retain certain software, particularly if decision-making processes are a fundamental part of the software.

Geographic information systems

4.12 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are beginning to play an increasingly larger role in the management and use of data. The systems which exist today only superficially resemble the automated mapping systems of the seventies. The advance of technology has had an impact on such systems by increasing the power and user friendliness of the software, as well as taking advantage of the increased capacity of the microcomputer.

4.13 GIS are increasingly being used to conserve and manage a wide variety of data from natural resources to environmental pollution, as well as in the planning and management of cities. Such land information systems are crossing organizational and sectoral boundaries and represent an opportunity to develop information systems based on products and services.

4.14 The importance of the growth of such systems can be found in their increasing use in organizations which are not necessarily geographically oriented organizations, such as mapping and surveying groups, as well as in the cooperative use and management of data from a variety of organizations, both public and private.

4.15 A practical example of the use of GIS can be found in the Land Data Bank System in Sweden which currently provides access to land information for private sector companies such as banks, insurance firms, land developers as well as municipalities. There are approximately 7000 terminals which provide access to the data on-line. This system resides at the Central Board for Real Estate in the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning. The system maintains ownership, assessment and land use information for approximately seventy percent of Sweden's properties. Over the next five years the system will expand to include complete information for every property in Sweden. Similar systems exist in other countries and only serve to highlight the use of geographically referenced data in the management of many activities.(3)

Development of the Land Data Bank System began in the early sixties using information derived from manual property and land registers which had been built on well-structured and stable regulations. The computer registers developed from this information have some legal value as the State guarantees the correctness of its registers and any data changes must be approved at a number of levels. During the development of the system it was decided that the system should serve more than one purpose and should provide information for other activities which use data on real property. In order to fulfill these requirements other information, such as that contained in the land taxation registers, was identified for inclusion in the system. There is also the ability to link information collected by Statistics Sweden. The links permit the merging and display of information from different sources. The information system has been used to prepare basic material for civil defense planning and emergency plans for a nuclear power plant as well as for analyses to respond to questions such as how many people will be affected if a road or an airfield is built in a certain area. The data are protected by creating several backup copies which are stored in a number of locations. The data are open to public access(4).

4.16 The importance of these systems is in many ways similar to that of the integrated office systems: information created on such systems goes beyond media specialties. In the recent history of archives there has been a tendency to develop specialties dependent upon the medium on which the information resided, e.g. maps, photographs, film and machine readable. Archives have tended to reflect this specialization through the development of specialized programs. These programs have tended to separate the fonds physically, and to some extent intellectually, whether it be during the appraisal of the records or at the time of arrangement.

4.17 The use of GIS in the creation and management of information (as in the integrated office system) will provide an opportunity to return to the appraisal or selection of records as a whole. The kinds of information managed by such systems will reinforce the need for specialists to work very closely in the selection of records.

Inter-organizational databases

4.18 Another major development in the field of electronic information has been the introduction of information systems which extend beyond one organization. Inter-organizational databases can involve the input of data from a number of institutions including both public and private sectors. Such information systems have resulted from the similar needs of organizations as well as the scarce resources to develop such systems. The cooperative nature of the development of these databases can range from the undertaking of surveys by public and private interests to the development of large scale database management systems which extend to a variety of levels of public organizations. In many cases, such information systems are based on functional needs rather than on administrative needs.

4.19 The most documented archival study of an inter-organizational database is that of the New York State Computerized Criminal History System (5). As the identification of this system developed, it became more and more evident that the outputs of one system became the inputs of another and that the traditional organizational boundaries no longer existed. It is not the intent to describe this system in detail. Briefly, the New York State Computerized Criminal History System (CCH), was conceived in the sixties as a result of a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, a federal organization. The concept of the system linked six states (Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and New York State). The Federal Bureau of Investigation had the overall responsibility for the interchange of data between states. A second grant provided the funding to expand the CCH to include the Offender-Based Transactional Statistic Data System (OBTS). A number of expansions and changes to the system have occurred over the past twenty years. The main purpose of the system is to provide for the exchange and use of data at a variety of government levels. It is an on-line interactive database which is highly software dependent. Detailed information on criminal offenders, as well as limited information on non-criminal offenders, such as pistol permit holders, are fed into the CCH. Other systems from three major divisions(Probation; Parole; and Correctional Services) also transmit and receive data. CCH/OBTS, supported by a communications network, permits the transfer of identification data to CCH and the return of the required operational information to requesting agencies.

Within New York State, CCH contains the main operational data and, as of 1987, is the responsibility of the Bureau of Identification and Criminal Operations Office of Identification and Data Systems. The OBTS data are maintained by the Bureau of Research and Evaluation and the Bureau of Criminal Justice Services, both of which are part of the Office of Policy Analysis, Research and Statistical Services. This office provides information to support the formulation and evaluation of criminal justice policy. The important archival issues raised by this system are the uses and transformations of the information in the system by a variety of organizations at different political levels. What appeared on the surface as a state level system became much broader in scope and complex during the time of archival appraisal. Other levels of government as well as other state governments, became equally important players in the overall system.

4.20 The Criminal History System is the most documented but far from the only such system in existence. The Canadian Government has many examples of systems where the database identified at the federal level is composed of data provided by the provinces or municipalities. Examples also exist on the international level particularly police, and financial systems) where information is entered in one country and used and modified in other countries. This type of cooperatively developed database is likely to become more frequent particularly as international problems such as the environment are tackled.

4.21 The questions raised by the expansion of information systems across organizational lines require a review of how selection is undertaken. The activities of an organization may require archivists to look beyond the organization and to develop appraisal strategies in cooperation with other archival institutions. Just as the expansion of information systems across organizational boundaries has resulted in the cooperation of such institutions in the development of the databases, so too archives must begin to develop appraisal strategies which include cooperation with other archival repositories in the appraisal and preservation of records of permanent value. This need to share information and develop strategies will be required nationally and internationally.

4.22 Information, both in its creation and use, is no longer restricted to defined areas. The effects of this trend to create inter-organizational databases on provenance will see a more expanded, than restricted, use of the term. It will not be possible to physically nor intellectually separate out the information elements into discrete entities. To identify the data by organizational lines could diminish the value of the information. The data should be appraised for its evidential and informational value even if the information system expands over institutional boundaries. Selection should be based on the business functions of the organizations involved. The term "multi provenance" has been used in archival institutions and generally reflects the difficulties of assigning one provenance to a series of records. A survey of traditional archival records held in the Australian National Archives as early as 1974 indicated that twenty seven percent of the series were multiprovenance (6). In the emerging world of electronic records there will be an increasing use of multiprovenance to reflect the nature of information systems.

4.23 In the appraisal of inter- organizational databases, it will be vital to identify all of the system documentation and design materials used in their development and creation. This documentation will provide the background information on how and why the information was collected. The context in which the information system was created, used and enhanced will provide vital information to the archivist in the appraisal of the records; the documentation will provide an in-depth view of the players involved in the creation of the data, the role played by each organization, and the links to other sources of records which are related to the information system or the links to other database systems.

4.24 The increase in inter-organizational database systems again highlights the need for archivists to be aware and involved at the time of creation and design of databases. Many of the issues which inter-organizational databases raise are due to the lack of archival input at the design stage. Involvement of archivists in the design permits the identification of the information of archival value and the ability to ensure that the information is in a form suitable for archival acquisition and retention; it also provides the archivist with an understanding of the source of the information (whether one or several institutions), of overlapping responsibilities, and the complexity of the relationships between the different organizations involved. It is at this point that the archivists can understand the process; ask the appropriate questions; and outline the requirements for long term preservation of the archivally valuable data.

4.25 The difficulty from an archival perspective on the early involvement of the archivist in the development and design stage of any electronic information system, be it an office system or a database, is the influence the archivist will have over the records being created and identified for long term preservation. Archives have traditionally been the passive receivers of documents, making appraisal decisions at the end of the active life of the document. If archives become active participants in the development process, what influence will that have over the information that is being created and designated as archivally valuable?

Notes

1. Brichford, Maynard J. Archives & Manuscripts: Appraisal and Accessioning. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1977.

2. Weissman, Ronald,F.E. " Virtual Documents on an Electronic Desktop: Hypermedia, Emerging Computing Environment and the Future of Information Management". Unpublished paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists, October 1989.

3. Forrest, David. "Geographic Information Systems", Computing Canada, April 13, 1989,p. 18.

4. Andersson, Sune. "The Swedish Land Data Bank", International Journal of Geographic Information Systems. Volume 1, Number 3, July-September, 1987. pp. 253-263.

5. Kowlowitz, Alan. "Archival Appraisal of Online Information Systems". Archival Informatics Technical Reports, Volume 2, Number 3, Fall 1988.

6. Scott, Peter. " Facing the Reality of Administrative Change - Some Further Remarks on the Record Group Concept", Journal of the Society of Archivists, Volume 5, Number 2, October 1974. P.94.

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