1996 Literature Review on ERM

The first, and to date, single most comprehensive literature review on ERM was published in 1996:

• Erlandsson A. Electronic records management: A literature review. ICA Studies 10. Paris, International Council on Archives, 1996, pp.144. ISBN 0-9682361-2-X. http://www.ica.org/biblio.php?pdocid=5

This review was produced by the International Council on Archives (ICA) as part of their mandate: “to undertake study and research, promote the exchange of experience and draft standards and directives concerning the creation and archival processing of electronic records”. This review was an enormously influential ‘stake in the ground’ providing an “overview of the evolution that has taken place in the concepts and strategies related to the management of electronic records from an archival perspective”. It supported other activities of the ICA, e.g. their ‘Guide for managing electronic records from an archival perspective’, by providing the contextual and strategic background.

As the commissioning body was the ICA, the review was conducted from the archival perspective, with the aim “to identify and analyze the latest thinking and theories of leading experts in the management of electronic records, and the technologies that may help in formulating strategies in this field”. It covered mainly the period 1992-1996, and because of the fast-moving, rapid-changing nature of the topic a lot of the sources covered were from the grey literature. Material analysed included academic research projects, generic case studies, policy development and applications in national archives. The majority of the literature covered work from Australia and North America, but European activities were also included, particularly from The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Bulgaria.

The review was broken down into strategic and tactical issues. The strategic section emphasised the need for a ‘new paradigm’. A new approach was needed for the definition of a record in the e-environment, and the management and archiving of e-records required a new intellectual framework. The discussion of this new paradigm was placed within the wider ‘records continuum’ debate. Additionally, the review emphasised the need for records managers and archivists to participate in the design of computerised recordkeeping systems. These debates are still active today. The tactical section covered topics such as functional requirements, appraisal, metadata, storage media and preservation, and distribution and access. Many of the ideas covered in the review underpin the design of current ERMS.

We have undertaken a brief analysis of the documents covered in the review. 48 citations were included, comprising: peer-reviewed journals (37%), reports (28%), conference proceedings (21%), listserv (16%), books (14%), websites (14%), drafts (5%), unpublished material (4%), journals (3%), course material (2%), e-journals (1%), letter (1%), official publications (1%). Most of the literature was in English, with some coverage of other European language literature (German (7%), Finish (5%), Dutch (2%), French (2%), Russian (1%)). One of the strengths of our literature review based on the systematic review approach (see the post on Systematic Literature Review Methodology, under Methodology, March 2007) will be the details provided of the review process and a comprehensive mapping of the characteristics of the literature.

Sue Childs