• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.153-175
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• 2001

This research is aimed at proposing the policies for enhancing information services at the GARS. To this end, a survey was carried out over the user group, the staff group, and the external expert group. And then the 3-Partner Approach Model was proposed that accommodates the archivist-centered partnership with users and external experts. Based on this model. the three-aspect policies to upgrade information services were proposed.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.8
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• pp.3-56
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• 2003

The purpose of the present study lies in understanding the historical context as well as regulatory and administrative restraints of records and archival management system of Korea, with the case of Korean Government Archives and Records Service(GARS). Insights gained from the historical analysis of GARS are expected to provide strategies to develop and reinvent GARS so that the national agency could be the basis of reforming Korean archival system in the future. The present study firstly reviews historical context of 1960s and 1970s, during which GARS was established, as well as its role and hierarchical standing in Korean administrative system. Second, its organizational system is analyzed, focusing on the extent of its specialization and organizational independence. Third, the study proposes to develop strategies to reinvent GARS through reinforcing the public records and archives management act(1999).

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2001

After almost one century of discontinuity in the archival tradition of Chosun dynasty, Korea entered the new age of records and archival management by legislating and executing the basic laws (The Records and Archives Management of Public Agencies Ad of 1999). Annals of Chosun dynasty recorded major historical facts of the five hundred years of national affairs. The Annals are major accomplishment in human history and rare in the world. It was possible because the Annals were composed of collected, selected and complied records of primary sources written and compiled by generations of historians, As important public records are needed to be preserved in original forms in modern archives, we had to develop and establish a modern archival system to appraise and select important national records for archival preservation. However, the colonialization of Korea deprived us of the opportunity to do the task, and our fine archival tradition was not succeeded. A centralized archival system began to develop since the establishment of GARS under the Ministry of Government Administration in 1969. GARS built a modem repository in Pusan in 1984 succeeding to the tradition of History Archives of Chosun dynasty. In 1998, GARS moved its headquarter to Taejon Government Complex and acquired state-of-the-art audio visual archives preservation facilities. From 1996, GARS introduced an automated archival management system to remedy the manual registration and management system complementing the preservation microfilming. Digitization of the holdings was the key project to provided the digital images of archives to users. To do this, the GARS purchased new computer/server systems and developed application softwares. Parallel to this direction, GARS drastically renovated its manpower composition toward a high level of professionalization by recruiting more archivists with historical and library science backgrounds. Conservators and computer system operators were also recruited. The new archival laws has been in effect from January 1, 2000. The new laws made following new changes in the field of records and archival administration in Korea. First, the laws regulate the records and archives of all public agencies including the Legislature, the Judiciary, the Administration, the constitutional institutions, Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Intelligence Service. A nation-wide unified records and archives management system became available. Second, public archives and records centers are to be established according to the level of the agency; a central archives at national level, special archives for the National Assembly and the Judiciary, local government archives for metropolitan cities and provinces, records center or special records center for administrative agencies. A records manager will be responsible for the records management of each administrative divisions. Third, the records in the public agencies are registered in the computer system as they are produced. Therefore, the records are traceable and will be searched or retrieved easily through internet or computer network. Fourth, qualified records managers and archivists who are professionally trained in the field of records management and archival science will be assigned mandatorily to guarantee the professional management of records and archives. Fifth, the illegal treatment of public records and archives constitutes a punishable crime. In the future, the public records find archival management will develop along with Korean government's 'Electronic Government Project.' Following changes are in prospect. First, public agencies will digitize paper records, audio-visual records, and publications as well as electronic documents, thus promoting administrative efficiency and productivity. Second, the National Assembly already established its Special Archives. The judiciary and the National Intelligence Service will follow it. More archives will be established at city and provincial levels. Third, the more our society develop into a knowledge-based information society, the more the records management function will become one of the important national government functions. As more universities, academic associations, and civil societies participate in promoting archival awareness and in establishing archival science, and more people realize the importance of the records and archives management up to the level of national public campaign, the records and archival management in Korea will develop significantly distinguishable from present practice.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.5
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• pp.39-85
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• 2002

This paper is aimed at proposing the policies for managing archives in the process of promoting Electronic Government System. Although there have been many studies of electronic government project and plans for its establishment, this research examines the electronic government system and its problems on the basis of archival science. What I acquired in this paper is as follows. The development of information technology needs great changes ranging from the nation to the individuals. It becomes common that the use of computerized program for business purposes, computerization of information materials and the effective way of search use of electronic documents. Therefore, more and more countries all over the world have been seeking to promote 'Electronic Government', which applies the fruits of the development in information technology to administration process. Recently, Korea has been rapidly entered into the 'Electronic Government' system being against the traditional way of administration. In electronic government system, the 'Life Cycle' of public records will be computerized. Therefore, it is important to change and develop along with the government's policies for 'electronic government project' in the archival management system. This means that the archival management system which have put emphasis on the textual records should be converted to electronic records system. In other words, the records management in electronic government system requires not the transfer and preservation of the records but the consistent management system including the whole process of creating, appraising, arranging, preserving and using the records. So, the systematic management of electronic records plays an important role in realization of electronic government, but it is a subject to be realized by electronic government at the same time. However, the government have overlooked the importance of archival management for long time, especially the importance of electronic records management system. First of all, this research attempts to infer limits and problems through the theoretical considerations of the existing studies for electronic government and to clear up the relations between electronic government and archival management. Based on this, I'll seek to progress the study through reviewing the present condition of archival management in the process of promoting electronic government and suggesting the policies for enhancing the successful electronic government and the construction of scientific archival management system. Since early 1990, many countries in the world have been making every effort to concrete 'Electronic Government'. Using the examples in other nations, it is not difficult to recognize that the embodiment of electronic government is closely connected with the archival management policies. Korea have completed legal and institutional equipments including the new establishment of "Electronic Government Law" to realize electronic government. Also, Korea has been promoting electronic government with the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and Government Computer Center as a leaders. Though managing records, especially the management of electronic records is essential in electronic government system, we haven't yet discussed this section in Korea. This is disapproved by the fact the Government Archives and Records Service has played little role in promoting electronic government project. There are two problems relating this environment. First, present system can't meet the consistent 'Life Cycle' ranging from the creation to the preservation of electronic records. Second, the 'Life Cycle' of electronic records is divided into two parts and managed separately by GCC and GARS. The life of records is not end with the process raged from creation to distribution. On the other hand, the records are approved their value only whole procedures. Therefore, GARS should play a deading role in designing and establishing the archival management system. The answer to these problems, is as follows. First, we have to complete the electronic records management system through introducing ERMS not EDMS. This means that we should not change and develop towards ERMS simply with supplementing the current electronic records management system. I confirm that it is important and proper to establish ERMS system from the very beginning of the process of promoting electronic government. Second, I suggest the developmental integration of GARS and GCC. At present, the divided operations of GCC and GARS, the former is in charge of the management center for electronic business and the latter is the hub institution of managing nation's records and archives result in many obstacles in establishing electronic government system and accomplishing the duties of systematic archival management. Therefore, I conclude that the expansive movement towards 'National Archives' through the integration among the related agencies will make a great contribution to the realization of electronic government and the establishment of archival management system. In addition to this, it will be of much help to constitute and operate the 'Task Force' regarding the management of electronic records with the two institution as the central figures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.129-140
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• 2003

The ultimate goal of preserving and maintaining the records is to use them practically. The effective use of records should be supported by the reasonable recordskeeping systems and access standards. In this report, I examined the Korean laws and administrative systems related to the public records access issues. After I pointed out major problems of the access laws, the Government Information Opening Act (GOIA), and the problems in practices, I suggested some alternatives for the betterment of the access system. The GIOA established "eight standards of exemption to access" not to open some information to protect national interests and privacy. The Public Records Management Act (PRMA) applies to the archives transferred to "professional archives." The two laws show fundamental differences in the ways to open the public records to public. First, the GIOA deals with the whole information (the records) that public institutions keep and maintain, while the PRMA deals with the records that were transferred to the Government Archives. Second, the GIOA provides with a legal procedure to open public records and the standards to open or not to open them, while the PRMA allows the Government Archives to decide whether the transferred records should be opened or not. Third, the GIOA applies to record producing agencies, while the PRMA applies to public archival institutions. One of the most critical inadequacies of the PRMA is that there are no standards to judge to open the archives through reclassification procedure. The GIOA also suggests only the type of information that is not accessible. It does not specify how long the records can be closed. The GARS does not include the records less than 30 years old as its objects of the reclassification. To facilitate the opening of the archives, we need to revise the GIOA and the PRMA. It is necessary to clearly divide the realms between the GIOA and the PRMA on the access of the archives. The PRMA should clarify the principles of the reclassification as well as reclassifying method and exceptions. The exemption standards of the GIOA should be revised to restrict the abuse of the exemption clauses, and they should not be applied to the archives in the GARS indiscreetly and unconditionally.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.3
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• pp.91-113
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• 2001

History always be re-interpreted as the time flows. 'The Sillok', Which was registered in Memory of World of UNESCO in 1997, is comprehensive documents of the Chosun Dynasty, which had been compiled after kings' death, The Sillok encompasses 473 years of the reign in their 848 volumes(1,893 chapters). It was a history itself and has been main source in studying Korean history. Due to the rise of studies on the Sillok, time has come to explore the nature of the Sillok and to criticize the text, which would be called 'The Sillok-Study'. In this context, this paper examined three concepts that categorize the nature of the Sillok as historical materials ;Is it book or record?; The Sillok in register system in pre-modern society; And the Sillok as the National Archives. Korean historians, including myself, haven't yet examined the question whether the Sillok is the Book or Record in terms of archival science. At first, I regarded it as history book, and with this presupposition, wrote several papers on the characteristics of the Sillok. However, I recognized that the Sillok are close to record rather that history book as I examined the definition of glossary of librarian study, OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and Encyclopedia of Britannica, etc. Definitely, the Sillok was neither compiled and published to be read and sold publicly, nor meant to the works of literature or scholarship. one may say that the court-historians wrote comments on the facts and therefore it was just scholarly work. However, because the court-historians produced their comments on their own businesses, the outcome of 'their scholarly works' were also records conceptually, as were daily court-journalists in Rome. Its publication also had a absolutely different meaning from that of modern society. It was a method to preserve the important national records and distributed each edition of them to plural repositories for its safety and security. How can we explain its book-like shape and the procedure of compilation after a kings' death. The answer is as follows ; In pre-modern society, it was a common record-keeping system in the world to register records materials in order to arrange the materials of different sizes and to store them conveniently. And the lack of scientific preservation or conservation skill also encouraged them to register original records. Actually, the court-historians who participated in the compiling process called themselves "registering officers". On the other hand, similar to social hierarchy, there was a hierarchical system of records, and the Sillok was placed at the top of this hierarchy. In conclusion, the Sillok was a kind of registered records in the middle ages and the supreme records in the records-world. In addition to this we can also conceptualize the Sillok as archives. Through the compiling process, the most important and valuable records were selected to be the parts of Sillok. This process corresponds to the modem records appraisal. In the next step, it was preserved in the Four Archives(史庫) which located at remote site as archives and only accessible by the descendents in the future, who might be the people of the next dynasty. And nobody could access or read the documents at that time except the authorized court-historians who were archivists of the Chosun Dynasty. From this perspective, I conclude that Sillok was the supreme confidential archives in the register system. I work for the Government Archives as a historian and archivist. Whenever I entered the exhibition hall of the Government Archives and Records Service(GARS) and saw the replica of the Archives of Taebeak Mountain built during Chosun period, I always asked to myself a question whether the Sillok can be a symbol of the archival tradition of Korea and the GARS. Now, I can say, 'Yes!' definitely.