Assessing the impact of ISO 15489 – a preliminary investigation
| Pages | 70-82 |
| Date | 01 August 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09565690310485298 |
| Published date | 01 August 2003 |
| Author | Julie McLeod |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Assessing the impact of
ISO 15489 ± a
preliminary
investigation
Julie McLeod
Introduction
This article shares the results of a preliminary
investigation into the impact of ISO 15489-1,
the international records management
standard, which was conducted between
January and April 2002 and augmented in
January/March 2003. The purpose of the
investigation was threefold:
(1) to gauge initial reactions to ISO 15489
and plans for using it;
(2) to support an application for a research
grant to conduct a longitudinal study into
the impact of the standard on records
management practices in organisations;
and
(3) to raise awareness and interest in the
research project within the records and
archives community and, hopefully
beyond, into the wider management
community.
Context for the study
ISO 15489 was officially launched on
3 October 2001 at the ARMA International
Conference, Montreal in the presence of
members of TC46/SC11, the ISO
subcommittee responsible for leading the
work on the standard over the previous four
years. So significant was its publication that
Sarah Tyacke, Keeper of Public Records for
England and Wales, endorsed it via a live link
to the Public Record Office's annual
conference in Stratford-upon-Avon in the
UK.
As the first international standard on
records management, ISO 15489-1 and
ISO/TR 15489-2, the accompanying
Technical Report (International Standards
Organisation, 2001a, b) represent a milestone
for the records management profession
globally. As Stephens (2000) put it:
... in its entire history, the RIM [records and
information management] discipline has never
had anything like this.
However, the profession has had a national
standard for records management since the
mid-1990s, in the form of AS4390:1-6
The author
Julie McLeod is a Senior Lecturer in the School of
Informatics, Northumbria University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Keywords
International standards, Records management
Abstract
This article shares the results of a preliminary
investigation into the impact of ISO 15489, the
international records management standard, conducted
between January 2002 and March 2003. Attendees at a
series of records management and information
management events were asked about their awareness
of, initial reactions to and plans for using the standard.
The results show a relatively high level of awareness of
the standard within and beyond the records management
profession and very positive reactions to its publication,
despite any imperfections. Most encouraging of all was
the range of plans for using the standard. As well as using
it for policy/strategy development, to underpin records
management procedures and to benchmark current
practice, many records professionals plan to use the
standard to raise the profile of records management
within their organisations.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
The author would like to thank all those people
who responded to the questionnaire or took part in
an electronic discussion forum and particularly
those who gave such full and thoughtful feedback
and shared examples so willingly.
70
Records Management Journal
Volume 13 .Number 2 .2003 .pp. 70-82
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/09565690310485298
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