The field of records management is governed by International Standard 15489-1 (ISO 15489-1) and is defined as “…that field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of information about business activities and transactions in the form of records” (ISO 15489-1). The purpose of standardizing the management of records is to ensure that proper protection is given to all documents and that the information contained within these documents can be retrieved in an effective manner. As such, record managers are held accountable for their actions and may be required to explain those actions in a court of law. Therefore, the Records & Information Management course moves beyond the lifecycle management of records by focusing on those subject areas that future Records and Information Management (RIM) professionals must master so that they will be able explain their actions to others when responding to policies and practices concerned with the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records. Some examples of RIM subjects reviewed within this course include data governance, risk management, digital preservation, information economics, privacy and security, methods for auditing records and information management programs, and tools one can use in developing a legally defensible records management program and an effective information governance strategy.
