As the world continues to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, archival repositories have made more materials available online. Projects to digitize materials began years ago, but since online access is now the only access for many organizations, there has been a renewed interest in making holdings available virtually.

Archival description captures and provides access to information about collections of historical records. The primary descriptive tools of archivists have been finding aids, which supply inventories of collections to help with discovering and using archival materials.

One of the most persistent issues, as long as electronic records have existed, is whether traditional archival principles apply.

Some have argued that they do, and archivists should treat electronic records as just another format, like maps, photographs, or audiovisual materials. Others state that the nature of how electronic records are created and managed means that archivists need a new set of rules, practices, and procedures to describe them.

Records managers identify and classify an organization’s records, monitor their use and storage, and facilitate access to them. Records policies outline the records management program’s authority, particularly legal mandates governing record creation and maintenance for administrative, legal, and fiscal purposes.

Your organization’s history allows you to draw critical insights from experience and lay the foundation for distinctive solutions that can set you apart from competitors. Use these seven strategies to harness your history.

Most executives focus on the present and the future. When an organization’s history comes up, it is usually in connection with an anniversary. A changing world leaves little time for nostalgia. However, leaders with a sense of history know that understanding the past is a powerful tool for shaping the future.

A well-organized archival program allows you to identify, save, and retrieve the information you need while safely removing the material you do not. Maintaining institutional knowledge through an archives gives organizations a competitive edge

Researchers are demanding greater access to archival collections. At the same time, archives often reduce the level of processing. Can current descriptive standards and developments help solve this dilemma?.

Appraisal identifies materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned. It can also be defined as the process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and their current and potential usefulness.

Selection identifies materials to be preserved because of their enduring value, especially items to be transferred to an archives.

Archivists gather information about the collections they steward as the first step of appraisal.

They study the records creators because they need to learn as much as possible about the administrative history, structure, and functions of an organization or an individual’s life and activities. If the archivists have a good lead file, they already have some of that information in place.