In common with many other professions, records management is experiencing rapid changes and in recent years has moved beyond its traditional boundaries. No longer focused wholly on space and cost saving, or restricted to the channelling of historical records into archival institutions, it has acquired a much greater visibility and a more proactive role. The priority given to accountability and corporate governance initiatives in many countries has given records managers a new sense of direction and has increased the range of stakeholders whose needs are served by effective and successful records management programmes. At the same time, the development of national and international standards for records management has provided a framework for best practice. The growth in the availability of professional literature, to which this book contributes, also shows the increasing maturity of the discipline.

Records management practices were originally developed to manage the large quantities of paper files generated by governments and commercial organizations, and for many years these remained the primary concern of records managers. Today paper is only one of a number of media used to create, maintain or provide access to records. The increasing prevalence of ‘born digital’ records, many of which will never have a paper manifestation, has required the traditional approaches to be rethought and reinterpreted. It has shifted the emphasis from the warehousing of older records to the development of systems for records creation and capture, and has encouraged records managers to work more closely with professionals in other disciplines and to develop new analytical skills. It has also called into question the long-standing distinction between records and archives management: in particular, the growing acceptance of the records continuum concept has highlighted the common principles that records managers and archivists share, as well as providing a richer view of the ongoing management of records and their use by organizations and the wider community. Many records managers have also welcomed the rediscovery of the evidential nature of records and the importance of protecting their authenticity and integrity in a world increasingly dominated by fast-changing information technology.

These trends are likely to continue in the coming decades, while new challenges and opportunities may arise from the globalization of business, the growth of egovernment and e-commerce, the expansion of mobile computing and distributed storage technologies, or the use of artificial intelligence in classification and retrieval.