Editorial

Citation

McLeod, J. (2004), "Editorial", Records Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2004.28114caa.001

Editorial

Editorials are always a pleasure to write but also strange beasts because of their timing. The sun is shining as I write this – a rare event in the UK this year – and summer holidays have only just begun for many people. But these words are to accompany the final issue of the year, which will be published in November when the days will be short and dark here. As the year draws to a close for the journal so does my co-editor’s time in office.

Many of you will be aware that my colleague and joint editor Catherine Hare has left Northumbria University and taken up a new and very different position in the private sector. Fortunately for me she is still based in the Newcastle area and we still keep in touch, but I wanted to thank her on behalf of the readers, past and present, and the journal’s publisher Emerald for all of her efforts. Over the past decade Catherine has lead the way in taking the journal forward, helping to make it what it is today. At the time she became an editor it had not been published for several years and Catherine was instrumental in its re-shaping. Although she has decided to step down as joint editor, Catherine has agreed to remain on the Editorial Advisory Board which is very good news.

In part Catherine’s change prompted us to review the membership of the Editorial Advisory Board and to expand it significantly. It now comprises 13 people including Catherine. Its members are all experts in records management, sometimes a particular specialism within the discipline, and come from the UK, Europe, the Antipodes and the Americas. I am personally delighted that they have all agreed to join the journal and help us to build on the work already done to make the journal even better. We will be meeting soon to discuss how we operate together and to plan out next year’s issues. Full details of the new Board members will appear in the first issue of 2005.

And so to this issue, which has a theme – records management in the voluntary sector. Carl Newton, no stranger to many in the profession, provides a provoking opinion piece (as all such pieces should be) as he “trumpets the voluntary” for this sector. As someone with past and ongoing experience in the sector, as well as other sectors, he is well placed to credit the work done by professionals in the sector as well as to highlight the challenges they face and the potential role they, and the records they manage, could play in the future. Carl focuses particularly on the archives of such bodies and relates his views with the findings and recommendations of the recent Archives Task Force. We would be pleased to hear your reactions.

Four members of CHARM, the Charity Archivists and Records Managers’ Group in the UK, Elizabeth Dawson, Rosie Dodd, Jill Roberts and Catherine Wakeling, are the authors of the first article which sets the scene with an overview of the charity sector, its nature, the role of records management and the challenges and vulnerability of records management in this sector. Two of the authors’ current organisations provide very different case studies of managing records with limited resources. The authors’ conclusion that success depends on “demonstrating value in a constantly evolving and creative manner” is a potential mantra for many of us.

Ian Wakeling then offers an excellent example of how records managers can demonstrate value. While organisational change brings both opportunities and dilemmas, his examination of the role of records management as an integral component of corporate change management at The Children’s Society is a perfect illustration of what records managers need to be doing to position the profession and their skills in the twenty-first century. When organisations change dramatically in size, as in this case, there is a significant risk that knowledge and information are lost and, therefore, managing the (explicit) knowledge captured in records is crucial in helping to reduce that risk. This was successfully achieved at The Children’s Society and Ian explains why and how. Again there are many lessons and good ideas that can be transferred to other organisations and/or sectors.

Knowledge management is the main theme of the next article by Jenny Gilmour and Marie Stancliffe who, respectively, manage and work within the Voluntary Services Overseas’ (VSO’s) UK Information and Learning Centre. They share how information and knowledge, central to achieving the VSO’s mission to fight global poverty and disadvantage, are being managed. This is a major challenge given the nature of this unique international organisation which comprises many volunteers working in many countries with more, or less, and very different information and communications technologies. Undaunted by the challenge the organisation has developed a knowledge management strategy and with two main streams of work – a strategy framework and a knowledge map. The authors share yet more valuable ideas for others.

The final contribution also has the voluntary link, but in this instance the “volunteer” is the records professional. Richard Hall, honorary archivist of The Elgar Society, provides a fascinating insight into the world of managing the remarkable records of a voluntary society on a voluntary basis. If, like me, you were largely unaware of this role then reading Richard’s article will surely make you admire those professionals who, in addition to their no-doubt demanding “day-job”, take on the unpaid and valuable role of managing the archives of such bodies.

The issue closes with three reviews. In addition to the review of the Archives Task Force report Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future, Carl Newton also reviews a publication from the ARLIS/UK Visual Archives Committee entitled First Steps in Archives: A Practical Guide. The third review is of one of the latest additions to the guidance on freedom of information legislation in the UK, Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide to Implementing the Act, by Kelvin Smith.

I hope you enjoy this year’s themed international issue focusing on a very special and perhaps less well known sector for records professionals and that it inspires you to offer your own contribution for a future issue.

Julie McLeod