A couple of years ago I wrote an article about my recommendations for someone entering the field of records management. I think it is time to revise my recommendations as the profession has changed and there are additional books available that may provide a wealth of information for some just starting out.
If the person asking this question is an ARMA chapter member I direct them to our chapter’s resource library. Our chapter budgets funds to purchase a select number of books each year to add to our library collection. Some of my recommendations include, but are not limited to:
Organize Your Office: A Small Business Survival Guide to Managing Records, Author: Teri Mark, CRM. This is a new book that I picked up at a recent Conference and it would be a good starter book for someone working in the private sector. While it states the book is a survival guide for small business owners with fewer than 20 employees, home-based businesses, and the self-employed; the principles and information provided on organizing business records may be applied to both public and private sectors. It is easy reading and written in non-technical terms.
Sample Forms for Archival and Records Management Programs, Author: ARMA International and Society of American Archivists. For those in public or private sector, this is a great resource that provides some good sample forms and polices that MAY be used and/or customized to meet your requirements. The book comes with camera-ready originals that can be photocopied and a CD with the forms in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats. Some of the information in the book includes:
Inventorying and Scheduling: Records Inventory, Records Retention ScheduleS, Records Retention Authorization
Records Centers/Records Control: Records Transfer, Transmittal, Request, and Authorization
Records Destruction/Disposition
I personally thought the two books by Randolph A. Khan, Esq., and Barclay T. Blair, Information Nation: Seven Keys to Information Management Compliance, 2004 and Information Nation Warrior: Information Management Boot Camp, 2005. Both were worth reading and provided good tips and advice.
The books referenced above represent some of many excellent books on records management that can be purchased from the ARMA bookstore (http://www.arma.org/bookstore/index.cfm).
Another good book that I know is being used at one of the local colleges as a textbook is Information and Image Management, 3rd Edition, 1992, by Ricks, Swafford and Gow. Although the book is dated, the information is still relevant. I note that the book is not available through the ARMA bookstore, but I’m sure you can purchase IT from some Internet store (i.e., Amazon).
Check out your chapter library to see if these books are part of your chapter resources. Our chapter has each of the above books as part of our library collection. I consider the library an excellent resource for our members. Since I order the books for our chapter I get to review each new accession to see if I want to include it in my personal records management library.
Another excellent resource for anyone who is remotely involved in establishing a records management program in their organization is the annual ARMA International conference. I highly recommend attending the ARMA Conference as the programs are excellent. If you are unable to attend the association programs, then attend the vendor show that has about every major RIM provider showing their latest and greatest system.
Finally, take advantage of the local resources of your ARMA chapter by networking at your monthly meetings. Your fellow ARMA members have a wealth of knowledge and resources and are willing to assist and share their information.
Bob Dalton, CRM of Dalton Consulting
Note: My thanks to Barbara Werelius, Records Manager and Guru at Tacoma Public Utilities for her assistance in the development of this article and also the Puget Sound Chapter of ARMA.
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