ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 43. (ZAGREB, 2000.)

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P. Horsman, Izgubljeni u obilju. Paradoks elektroničkih zapisa, Arh. vjesn., god. 43 (2000), str. 19-27 Defining a record as a document, and an electronic record as an electronic document implies that one characteristic of both an electronic and a traditional record is that it must be complete, intelligible in itself. One characteristic is according to the UBC project most essential for any kind of record: its interrelationships. A record can only be fully understood in conjunction with other records, for instance being part of a series or a case file. Archivists are first of all responsible for keeping records, therefore a major question is how electronic records must be kept. The assumption that electronic records must be kept electronically, contrary to printing them out on paper, find a strong support by many archival thinkers, because of the recognition that a record created, communicated and used electronically, finds its authentic form in its original electronic format. For this very reason it is needed for each legal, political and societal system to define functional requirements for recordkeeping. Starting with the identification of the required quality of the records any recordkeeping system must preserve these required quality. It must be able to keep the records complete, reliable, authentic. It must be able to protect the records against change, illegal access, unwanted deletion. It must preserve information about the context in which the records have been created, information about who created the record, when it was communicated, when it was read, and in the course of what business process. These requirements derive from archival theory, from diplomatics, from the legal systems, from political demands, societal behaviour, financial regulations. One other functional requirement about which the opinions seem to agree, is that the recordkeeping system has to be or to become pro-active, not waiting for records eventually to enter into the system, but avoiding any risk of having records be lost, or violated. Recordkeeping systems, unlike information systems, provide time bound, non-manipulable, and highly redundant information. A recordkeeping system is not a piece of software, an application. It is more than that, it is the whole of procedures, rules, knowledge, hardware, software, tools, methodologies, and people, including the records themselves of an organisations, preserving them and making them available for use by providing access for those who have the rights to access them. Key Words: electronic records, archives, records management Članak preveo i sažetke izradio Jozo Ivanović 27