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Standards help needed and Records in the movies



Standards

A Standards Generating Body (SGB) for Records Management and Archives is in
the process of being established in South Africa.  The SGB will generate
standards to be used in the National Qualification Framework controlled by
the South African Qualification Authority.  This is really something new to
us here and as a member of the body, I will appreciate it if members of the
list who were involved in similar processes abroad can provide me with some
input on how the process was planned and coordinated.  Some details on what
was addressed and how will also be helpfull.

Records in the movies

The film Erin Brokovich was released in SA about two weeks ago (must be an
old movie in some parts of the world by now). For those who did not see it,
it is based on a true story about an unskilled lady who desperately seeks
work and landed up in a lawyers office as some kind of clerk.  While filing
she came across medical documents filed in a land related case.  It puzzled
her and she started to research the matter.   The end result was that 400
million dollar was paid out to citizens who became ill due to a toxic
substance which permeated into their drinking water from a plant operation
owned by a private company.  After seeing the movie I just realised the
importance of records again and how ill they are treated in some (most?)
instances.

What bothers me is that the records of the private company, retained
information which affected 'public interest'.  How do we make sure that
records holding public information managed by a private company remains
preserved and accessible?

The movie also demonstrated, what I have observed over the years and feel
very strongly about and that is that interest, passion and dedication and
not not necessarily qualifications (it deninetely helps) are important for a
person involved in the collection, management or presentation of record
information.

Annelie Nel
an@transnet.co.za

Information contents reflect my personnel opinion.

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