Archival systems and records management models in international context

Abstract

This article, first presented in the Pre-Congress Seminar of the 14th International Congress of Archives (Seville, 2000), analyses the possible fusion of notions of archival systems and records management in the Latin American archival doctrinal field. Therefore, it is necessary to begin with the definition of the archival system –including the impact of the General Theory of Systems-, the evolution of its implementation in Latin American and the Caribbean countries and its most outstanding characteristics. This article continues analyzing the records management concept, its origins in North America, its principles and most important features, its impact on international archival institutions (UNESCO, International Council on Archives), the existing international models (establishing a typology about original models, second-generation models, models by assimilation and models in construction, vis-à-vis the characteristics of institutional models), and the conceptual approaches in Latin America countries. In conclusion, the author proposes, more than a methodological search for a specific model of record management for Latin America, an approximation between the two concepts through a reflection on the notion of «records management policy» –its «program» element in particular- defined by Carol Couture and Jean Yves Rousseau (Les Archives au XXe Siècle, published in Montreal in 1982), which helps to enlarge the traditional view of the life cycle of records by (current, intermediate and historical) archives to a consideration in (active, semi-active and inactive) phases. Despite the time, this article keeps its permanent actuality. With the publication in 2001 of the norms ISO 15489-1 and 2, about records management -and related normative, which were aimed to establish a common guideline in the development of records management and archival systems in the world, this work contributes with indispensable elements for a reflection previous to its interpretation in the different national contexts, by any reckoning necessary, to consider before the application of these norms