• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.1
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• pp.23-76
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• 2000

In this paper, I examined what have been researched and determined about preservation strategy and selection of preservation media in the western archival community. Archivists have primarily been concerned with 'preservation' and 'use' of archival materials worth of being preserved permanently. In the new information era, preservation and use of archival materials were faced with new challenge. Life expectancy of paper records was shortened due to acidification and brittleness of the modem papers. Also emergence of information technology affects the traditional way of preservation and use of archival materials. User expectations are becoming so high technology-oriented and so complicated as to make archivists act like information managers using computer technology rather than traditional archival handicraft. Preservation strategy plays an important role in archival management as well as information management. For a cost-effective management of archives and archival institutions, preservation strategy is a must. The preservation strategy encompasses all aspects of archival preservation process and practices, from selection of archives, appraisal, inventorying, arrangement, description, conservation, microfilming or digitization, archival buildings, and access service. Those archival functions should be considered in their relations to each other to ensure proper preservation of archival materials. In the integrated preservation strategy, 'preservation' and 'use' should be combined and fulfilled without sacrificing the other. Preservation strategy planning is essential to determine the policies of archives to preserve their holdings safe and provide people with a maximum access in most effective ways. Preservation microfilming is to ensure permanent preservation of information held in important archival materials. To do this, a detailed standardization has been developed to guarantee the permanence of microfilm as well as its product quality. Silver gelatin film can last up to 500 years in the optimum storage environment and the most viable option for permanent preservation media. ISO and ANIS developed such standards for the quality of microfilms and microfilming technology. Preservation microfilming guidelines was also developed to ensure effective archival management and picture quality of microfilms. It is essential to assess the need of preservation microfilming. Limit in resources always put a restraint on preservation management. Appraisal (and selection) of what to be preserved was the most important part of preservation microfilming. In addition, microfilms with standard quality can be scanned to produce quality digital images for instant use through internet. As information technology develops, archivists began to utilize information technology to make preservation easier and more economical, and to promote use of archival materials through computer communication network. Digitization was introduced to provide easy and universal access to unique archives, and its large capacity of preserving archival data seems very promising. However, digitization, i.e., transferring images of records to electronic codes, still, needs to be standardized. Digitized data are electronic records, and st present electronic records are very unstable and not to be preserved permanently. Digital media including optical disks materials have not been proved as reliable media for permanent preservation. Due to their chemical coating and physical character using light, they are not stable and can be preserved at best 100 years in the optimum storage environment. Most CD-R can last only 20 years. Furthermore, obsolescence of hardware and software makes hard to reproduce digital images made from earlier versions. Even if when reformatting is possible, the cost of refreshing or upgrading of digital images is very expensive and the very process has to be done at least every five to ten years. No standard for this obsolescence of hardware and software has come into being yet. In short, digital permanence is not a fact, but remains to be uncertain possibility. Archivists must consider in their preservation planning both risk of introducing new technology and promising possibility of new technology at the same time. In planning digitization of historical materials, archivists should incorporate planning for maintaining digitized images and reformatting them in the coming generations of new applications. Without the comprehensive planning, future use of the expensive digital images will become unavailable. And that is a loss of information, and a final failure of both 'preservation' and 'use' of archival materials. As peter Adelstein said, it is wise to be conservative when considerations of conservations are involved.

• 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.18
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• pp.139-178
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• 2008

The functional requirements standards for electronic records management systems which have been published recently describe the specifications very precisely including not only core functions of records management but also the function of system management and optional modules. The fact that these functional requirements standards seem to be similar to each other in terms of the content of functions described in the standards is linked to the global standardization trends in the practical area of electronic records. In addition, these functional requirements standards which have been built upon with collaboration of archivists from many national archives, IT specialists, consultants and records management applications vendors result in not only obtaining high quality but also establishing the condition that the standards could be the certificate criteria easily. Though there might be a lot of different ways and approaches to benchmark the functional requirements standards developed from advanced electronic records management practice, this paper is showing the possibility and meaningful business cases of gaining useful practical ideas learned from imaging electronic records management practices related to the functional requirements standards. The business cases are explored central functions of records management and the intellectual control of the records such as classification scheme or disposal schedules. The first example is related to the classification scheme. Should the records classification be fixed at same number of level? Should a record item be filed only at the last node of classification scheme? The second example addresses a precise disposition schedule which is able to impose the event-driven chronological retention period to records and which could be operated using a inheritance concept between the parent nodes and child nodes in classification scheme. The third example shows the usage of the function which holds or freeze and release the records required to keep as evidence to comply with compliance like e-Discovery or the risk management of organizations under the premise that the records management should be the basis for the legal compliance. The last case shows some cases for bulk batch operation required if the records manager can use the ERMS as their useful tool. It is needed that the records managers are able to understand and interpret the specifications of functional requirements standards for ERMS in the practical view point, and to review the standards and extract required specifications for upgrading their own ERMS. The National Archives of Korea should provide various stakeholders with a sound basis for them to implement effective and efficient electronic records management practices through expanding the usage scope of the functional requirements standard for ERMS and making the common understanding about its implications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.69-94
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current status of the records management science education in Japan, and to examine the implications of the rapid growth of this filed while noting some of its significant issues and problems. The goal of records management science education is to improve the quality of information services and to assure an adequate supply of information professionals. Because records management science programs prepare students for a professional career, their curricula must encompass elements of both education and practical training. This is often expressed as a contrast between theory and practice. The confluence of the social, economic and technological realities of the environment where the learning takes place affects both. This paper reviews the historical background and current trends of records management science education in Japan. It also analyzes the various types of curriculum and the teaching staff of these institutions, with focus on the status of the undergraduate program at Surugadai University, the first comprehensive, university level program in Japan. The Faculty of Cultural Information Resources, Surugadai University, a new school toward an integrated information disciplines, was opened in 1994, to explore the theory and practice of the management diverse cultural information resources. Its purpose was to stimulate and promote research in additional fields of information science by offering professional training in archival science, records management, and museum curatorship, as well as librarianship. In 1999, the school introduced a master program, the first in Japan. The Faculty has two departments and each of them has two courses; Department of Sensory Information Resources Management; -Sound and Audiovisual Information Management, -Landscape and Tourism Information Management, Department of Knowledge Information Resources Management; -Library and Information Management, -Records and Archives Management The structure of the entire curriculum is also organized in stages from the time of entrance through basic instruction and onwards. Orientation subjects which a student takes immediately upon entering university is an introduction to specialized education, in which he learns the basic methods of university education and study, During his first and second years, he arranges Basic and Core courses as essential steps towards specialization at university. For this purpose, the courses offer a wide variety of study topics. The number of courses offered, including these, amounts to approximately 150. While from his third year onwards, he begins specific courses that apply to his major field, and in a gradual accumulation of seminar classes and practical training, puts his knowledge grained to practical use. Courses pertaining to these departments are offered to students beginning their second year. However, there is no impenetrable wall between the two departments, and there are only minor differences with regard requirements for graduation. Students may select third or fourth year seminars regardless of the department to which they belong. To be awarded a B.A. in Cultural Information Resources, the student is required to earn 34 credits in Basic Courses(such as, Social History of Cultural Information, Cultural Anthropology, History of Science, Behavioral Sciences, Communication, etc.), 16 credits in Foreign Languages(including 10 in English), 14 credits on Information Processing(including both theory and practice), and 60 credits in the courses for his or her major. Finally, several of the issues and problems currently facing records management science education in Japan are briefly summarized below; -Integration and Incorporation of related areas and similar programs, -Curriculum Improvement, -Insufficient of Textbooks, -Lack of qualified Teachers, -Problems of the employment of Graduates. As we moved toward more sophisticated, integrated, multimedia information services, information professionals will need to work more closely with colleagues in other specialties. It will become essential to the survival of the information professions for librarians to work with archivists, record managers and museum curators. Managing the changes in our increasingly information-intensive society demands strong coalitions among everyone in cultural Institutions. To provide our future colleagues with these competencies will require building and strengthening partnerships within and across the information professions and across national borders.