Records Management provides a professional approach to caring for the records and archives which is governed by certain key concepts. Explain the concepts that govern the care of records and archives.

Records management provides a professional approach towards caring for records. The care of records and archives is governed by three key concepts: (i) Keeping together The records must be kept together according to the department / Section responsible for their creation or accumulation, in the original order established at the time of their creation. This gives them their 'evidential' nature and distinguishes them from other kinds of information. It is the basis for retrieving information from records. Knowing who created or used a record, and where, when and why, is the key to retrieval rather than their format, subject matter or content. This is true for paper-based records as well as the electronic records. (ii) Ensure life cycle Every records follow a 'life-cycle', in that they are created, used for so long as they have continuing value and then disposed of by destruction or by transfer to an archival institution. Every record passes through three main phases, i.e. current phase, semi-current phase and non-current phase. In the current phase, they are used regularly in the conduct of current business and maintained in their place of origin or in the file store of an associated records office or registry. In the semi-current phase, they are used infrequently in the conduct of current business and are maintained in a records center. In the non-current phase they are destroyed unless they have a continuing value which merits their preservation as archives in an archival institution. The effective management of records throughout this life-cycle is a key issue in record management. (iii) Record Preservation The care of records and archives is that the care should be exercised through a coherent and consistent range of actions from the development of record-keeping systems, through the creation and preservation of records to their use as archives. The concept suggests that four actions continue or reappear throughout the life of a record: i.e., identification of records; intellectual control; provision of access; and physical control. The management of this continuum of actions provides the basis for a strategic approach to records management.