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Imperative Records Management and the Understanding of Responsibility

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Imperative Records Management and the Understanding of Responsibility

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Particularly in the context of human rights, many scholars argue that archivists must collect materials. It is imperative for them to manage records because it documents certain times and travesties in the world. Scholars have looked at genocide as a way to examine neutrality in archives and found that in certain situations, it is impossible to remain neutral because archivists possess a social responsibility to communities and generations to retain documentation of what has happened. An example of this is record keeping of Nazi and Holocaust related materials.

In addition to keeping records, scholars believe that archivists must understand the full responsibility of their profession. This is often done through ethical codes, but some scholars believe that in certain areas of the world, these codes are not developed well enough or followed thoroughly. One of the main areas that ethics play a role is in selection/appraisal of materials. Archivists hold the power to determine what is kept and what is not, choosing whose voices are heard and who is kept silent. They may also be faced with materials that uncover unsavory actions, requiring them to become "whistle-blowers" in some scenarios. Understanding the weight of the social and moral responsibility that comes with being a keeper of the past as an archivist is vital, and some scholars argue that there need to be more guidelines and discussions to help archivists navigate through this.

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Much of the literature on archival ethics and special collections as a whole grapples with how personal information and sensitive materials are accessible to others. Certain legislation, like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), outline rules for releasing personal health records. While some materials may be beneficial for research, archivists much make decisions about what is accessible. Access is also tied to arrangement and description, because how something is stored and searchable can affect how people find certain records. This can become problematic when done incorrectly, and also without thought. If a collection is described including personal information that really should be restricted, then an ethical problem arises.

In addition to legislation are restrictions places on collections by donors and/or archivists. Many donors will donate collections with stipulations, may it be consent forms not to make photo copies or to keep papers under lock in key for a certain number of years. In some cases, donors may not require restrictions when they should have and it is up to the archivist to step in and decide if further restrictions should be implemented for the sake of privacy.

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The three big topics in which ethical issues in archives arises are:

Privacy versus Access

Digitization

Imperative Records Management and Understanding of Responsibility

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Andrieli Pachú da Silva and additional researchers looked at 16 archival codes in various countries in the world and used content and textual analysis on each to compare them collectively to see if archival arrangement and description was mentioned.

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Foundations of Electronic Records Management

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Taxonomy of Attacks on Knowledge Organization

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Knowledge Organization Leo Kottke Archives

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STAMPEDE Trial Treatment & Patient Management

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Ethical values in archival arrangement and description - Andrieli Pachú da Silva

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Uploaded by SoisKorg Videos on 2015-06-05.

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Helen Wakely asks the question, who is it that we want to represent in our collections? This question is important to ask as an archivist because essentially the decision to collect certain materials is a decision to collect specific voices.

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The National Archives - The National Archives podcast series

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Many institutions follow a code of ethics, such as the National Archive's Archivist Code below. Other examples are the International Council on Archives Code of Ethics and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics. Many archival institutions adhere to these codes or use them as a base for their own.

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Most often, archivists cannot digitize their entire collection, depending on the size. Therefore, they must make a choice about which materials are worthy of digitization, and thus greater access. This choice holds a lot of power and places a lot of responsibility on professionals.

In addition to selection comes the ethical dilemma of providing greater access to personal and sensitive materials, tying the issue of digitization to the privacy-access dilemma. Digitization can be greater access, but this may not always be in the best interest of the materials.

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Archivists and librarians are often held to an ethical standard in their professions. They must make choices and act in a way that benefits the community they serve. What does it mean to act ethically in the archival profession and what ethical challenges to archivists face?

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For a full list of annotated references used in this project  please see the attached document OR visit the RSS Feed through Firefox!