Threats to Future Knowledge: The Impact of the Pandemic on Organisational Recordkeeping

Abstract

This paper reports the outcomes from the first phase of an international research project investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organisational recordkeeping. Recordkeeping is a critical component of organisational knowledge management, as the making and keeping of records as evidence of organisational activities and transactions enables core memory and accountability functions over time. Working from home during the pandemic has disrupted routines of records creation, storage, and management, and will likely result in substantial black holes in future knowledge.
 The objective of the first phase of our study was to find out what records-related initiatives were underway in academic settings and in archival institutions in the initial stages of this global crisis. We conducted an environmental scan, which showed that much attention was being paid to documenting the pandemic (e.g., collecting and preserving social media discussion, promoting the use of diaries by citizens); however, the provision of advice and standards for organisational recordkeeping at a time when regular access to organisational systems could not be guaranteed was largely missing. In the second phase, we designed a survey aimed at capturing the experiences of recordkeeping professionals who worked from home for varying lengths of time in Europe, North America, and Australasia.
 It is expected that this comparative study will help us envision a “new normal” for the time when the current health emergency is over. This paper concludes with a discussion of how our environmental scan and literature review have informed the multilingual survey that is currently underway.

Pandemic recordkeeping – the New Zealand experience

“…It is anticipated that a comparative research project looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on information professionals’ experience will facilitate this deeper understanding (Foscarini et al , 2022). Currently underway and in stage two, the research project has completed a survey targeted at professionals in The Netherlands, Italy, Iceland, Canada and New Zealand [11].…”

“…COVID-19 has accelerated and complicated many of the information-related processes and attitudes that were already in place in most organisations before the pandemic (Oliver et al , 2021, as cited in Foscarini et al , 2022, p. 399).…”

Working from home: the experience of records management professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…As mentioned above, the decision to undertake an online survey was motivated by findings from our preliminary environmental scan (Foscarini et al , 2022). The goal of the survey was to gain insight into experiences and perspectives of recordkeeping practitioners in the researchers’ countries.…”

“…collecting and preserving social media discussion, promoting the use of diaries by citizens). However, the provision of advice and standards for creating, managing and preserving organizational records, at a time when regular access to organizational systems could not be guaranteed, was largely missing (Foscarini et al , 2022).…”