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ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF ARCHIVAL
SCIENCE

EDITED BY
Luciana Duranti
AND
Patricia C. Franks
 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

A R C H IV A L S T U D IE S • P R E S E R V A T IO N 475, boulevard De Maiscnnt uvo Esi

Montré-^ (Québec) H2L BC4 301

“Encyclopedia of Archivai Science is both timely and necessary. It provides a panoramic view of archival science
theoretically and practically, from history to modern society, from the traditional basics of archives management
to digital long-term preservation. It will become a frequently used tool for researchers and opens windows to the
public for understanding archival science.” —H U ILIN G FEN G, chief editor, The Encyclopedia of
China on Archival Science, Renmin University, China

“Although compiling such a work as this is a daunting endeavor for anyone, Luciana Duranti and Patricia C.
Franks have brought together a wealth of knowledge representing diverse perspectives on numerous topics in a
remarkably holistic fashion.” —TH O M A S H IC K E R S O N , vice provost and university librarian.
University of Calgary; fellow and former president. Society of American
Archivists; former president, Canadian Association of Research Libraries

Here is the first-ever comprehensive guide to archival concepts, principles, and practices.

Encyclopedia o f Archival Science features 154 entries that address every aspect of archival professional knowledge.
Entries range from traditional ideas (like appraisal and provenance) to today’s challenges (digitization and
digital preservation). They present the thoughts of leading luminaries like Ernst Posner, Margaret Cross-Norton,
and Philip Brooks, as well as those o f contemporary authors and rising scholars. Historical and ethical
components of practice are infused throughout the work.

Edited by Luciana Duranti from the University of British Columbia and Patricia C. Franks, this landmark
work was overseen by an editorial board comprised of leading international archivists and archival educators,
including: Adrian Cunningham (Queensland State Archives, Australia), Fiorella Foscarini (University of
Toronto and University of Amsterdam), Pat Galloway (University of Texas at Austin), Shadrack Katuu
(International Atomic Energy Agency), Giovanni Michetti (University of Rome La Sapienza), Ken Thibodeau
(National Archives and Records Administration), and Geoffrey Yeo (University College London).

LUCIANA DURANTIis chair and professor of archival studies (MAS and PhD) at the University
of British Columbia.

PATRICIA C. FRANKS is program coordinator for the Master of Archives and Records
Administration at San José State University.

ROWMAN &
LITTLEFIELD IS B N
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8 0 0 -4 6 2 -6 4 2 0 • www.rowman.com Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

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Encyclopedia of archival science / edited by Luciana Duranti, Patricia C. Franks,

pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-8810-4 (cloth : alkaline paper) - ISBN 978-0-8108-8811-l (ebook)
1. Archives-Encyclopedias. 2. Records-Management-Encyclopedias. I. Duranti,
Luciana. II. Franks, Patricia C., 1945-
CD945.E53 2015
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^ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

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Printed in the United States of America

 Authenticity 119

These issues might not be problematic during the Cornell University Law School. “Rule 902. Evi­
active life of the record, but on the archival timescale dence That Is Self-Authenticating.” Legal In­
they can pose significant challenges that require at­ formation Institute, 2011. www.law.comell.edu/
tention. As in the traditional context, the preservation rules/fre/mle902.
of electronic records, in both the “physical” sense Cullen, Charles T., Peter B. Hirtle, David Levy,
and the “moral” (provenancial) sense, is carried out Clifford A. Lynch, and Jeff Rothenberg. Authen­
by a trusted custodian in a preservation environment ticity in a Digital Environment. Washington, DC:
that maintains the digital files, manages required Council on Library and Information Resources,
migration, and records archivally relevant metadata. 2000 .
The digital signature (electronic seal) is one of those Duranti, Luciana. Diplomatics: New Usesfo r an Old
pieces of metadata; it authenticates the record upon Science. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
its introduction to the preservation environment, but ------- . “From Digital Diplomatics to Digital Re­
thereafter that environment itself takes over the au­ cords Forensics.” Archivaria 68 (2009): 39-66.
thentication role, the nonauthentication functions of http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archi-
the signature are recorded, the process is documented, varia/article/view/13229/14548.
and the digital signature becomes redundant. Jenkinson, H ilary.^ Manual o f Archive Administra­
tion Including the Problems o f War Archives and
Conclusion Archive Making. Economic and Social History of
the World War (British Series). London: Claren­
Authentication is not only a one-time certification don Press, 1922.
but also a continuous process throughout the life MacNeil, Heather. “Providing Grounds for Trust:
of the record, since the process of maintaining or Developing Conceptual Requirements for the
preserving authenticity is a prerequisite to future Long-Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic
authentication. Specific elements of authentication Ktcords." Archivaria 1 (50) (2000): 52-78. http://
such as signs, seals, or symbols, digital signatures, or joumals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/ar-
a later assessment or certification of authenticity by a ticle/viewArticle/12765.
person competent to make it, make the assertion that “National Conference of Commissioners on Uni­
the document was authentic at that specific point in form State Laws.” Uniform Electronic Transac­
time. The authentication function performed by them tions Act, 1999. www.uniformlaws.org/shared/
is, therefore, temporally limited. This single, bounded docs/electronic%20transactions/uetafinal99.pdf.
act of authentication is carried forward by the custo­ Public Law 106-229, 106th Congress. “Electronic
dian of the record, be it the creator or a record custo­ Signatures in Global and National Commerce
dian such as an archives or electronic document and Act.” U.S. Code, Title 1— Electronic Records
records management system.— Will Suvak and Signatures in Commerce, 2000; 464-73.
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-106publ229/pdf/
Keywords: authentication, signature, signs, digital PLAW-106publ229.pdf.
signature, public key infrastructure United Nations Commission on International Trade
Related Entries: Accountability; Archives (Insti­ Law. Uncitral Model Law on Electronic Signa­
tution); Archives (Material); Authenticity; Digi­ tures with Guide to Enactment, 2001. New York:
tal Records Forensics; Diplomatics; Electronic United Nations, 2002.
Document and Records Management Systems
(EDRMS); Provenance
A UTH EN TICITY
Bibliography
The predominant notion of authenticity in archival
Blanchette, Jean-François. Burdens o f Proof: Cryp­ science is derived from the field of diplomatics, the
tographic Culture and Evidence Law in the Age critical analysis of records. In diplomatics, authen­
o f Electronic Documents. Cambridge, MA: MIT ticity speaks to the status of a record, and is there­
Press, 2012. fore relevant to archivists, who seek to identify and
120 Authenticity

describe the materials in their custody, and histori­ has prompted a resurgence of interest in the no­
ans, who seek to build narratives on them. tion of authenticity. Heather MacNeil, reporting
Diplomatic authenticity is assessed through a on her work with the Authenticity Task Force of
comparison of the forms, formulae, and format of a the International Research in Permanent Authentic
particular document with those of other instruments Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) Proj­
issued by the same source and produced under simi­ ect, explains that despite technological differences
lar circumstances. Special attention is paid to the between paper and electronic records, authenticit)
internal and external elements of a document, for can nevertheless be adjudicated through the identity
instance, the style, vocabulary, signatures, or seals, of the record, or its particular characteristics and
as well as textual layout and orientation, which may attributes—“i.e., was it written by the person who
betray idiosyncrasies of an era or office. If a docu­ purports to have written it?”—as well as its integ­
ment shares adequate similarities with its peers, it rity, namely, soundness and completeness inferred
may be deemed authentic from a diplomatic point through the appearance of the record and an unbro­
of view. As the result of an informed judgment, ken chain of custody—“i.e., has it been altered in
the assessment of authenticity cannot be absolute. any way since it was first created and, if so, has such
Indeed, “the designation of being diplomatically alteration changed its essential character?” (2000b.
authentic indicates only that a particular record “ap­ 53, 69). The notion of continuous custody was fur­
pears” to meet a measure of consistency with other ther developed by the Preservation Task Force of the
similar documents of the same origin” (Mak 2012, InterPARES Project in relation to electronic records
5). Furthermore, the adjudication of documentary to entail an unbroken chain o f preservation, which
authenticity relies on the ability of the scholar to recognized that digital entities might demand an ac­
understand the record in the context of comparable tive and intentional program of refreshing, migrat­
instruments. At the same time that early diplomatists ing, and copying to remain accessible and legible
were cultivating their notion of authenticity around (Durant! 2005, appendix 6). Because these practices
the material aspects of documents in the seventeenth are frequently undertaken by agents who may not
and eighteenth centuries, a competing school pro­ be invested with public trust, supporting documen­
posed that institutional custody should instead be tation of each transformation is required to aid the
the principal criterion for determining trustworthi­ determination of the authenticity of the records in
ness. Emerging from the practices of the imperial their care. Furthermore, the comprehensiveness of
courts, the ius archivi capitalized on the Roman such documentation may be subject to scrutiny. As
tradition of public faith. This view understood the MacNeil writes, “Verification o f the authenticity
public archives to be the only reliable guarantor of of electronic copies of authentic electronic records
authenticity, and thus marked a developing bifurca­ depends on the accuracy of the documentation of
tion in the work of historians and jurists with respect the reproduction process, and on the preservation of
to the constitution of reliable evidence. As Randolph the documentary and administrative context of the
C. Head characterizes it, “Whereas the diplomatists records themselves” (2000b, 72). This approach to
eagerly catalogued seals, subscriptions, and hands, authenticity in contemporary archival science thus
the ius archivi actively denied that such material blends the perspective of early modem diplomatists
details necessarily mattered for the authority of a and historians, in which material form, formulae,
document from a sovereign archive” (2013, 929). and format were paramount, with that of the ius ar­
According to the ius archivi, archival provenance— chivi ramified through Hilary Jenkinson’s emphasis
that is, the institutional context of the records— su­ on continuous custody.
persedes all other considerations in the assessment The recent participation of computer scientists
of authenticity. in discussions related to the preservation of digital
records has brought forward yet another under­
standing of authenticity. This specialized notion of
The Concept
authenticity concerns itself with information secu­
The adoption of digital technologies for activities rity, and often with data integrity in particular. The
related to the creation and preservation of records authenticity of data, in this view, may be assessed
 Authenticity 121

by the deployment of communication protocols, for reliability of the testimony is still evaluated in each
example, checksum algorithms that attach a code to individual instance by the courts. For this reason,
the data that are later used as a control with which to what may be deemed authentic by the field of digital
detect modifications or errors. The checksum value forensics cannot be assumed to be legally authentic,
itself may furthermore be verified with regards to nor does data integrity guarantee legal authenticity.
when that assertion was made, and the identity of Likewise, establishing the legal authenticity o f a re­
the person who made it, for instance, with a digital cord may rely in part on diplomatic or documentary
signature (Blanchette 2012, 68ff). Like diplomatic authenticity, but it need not; furthermore, diplomatic
analysis, such tools offer a measure of consistency, authenticity operates separately from the status of
and their results are subject to interpretation. For the document in the eyes of the law, and has inde­
instance, checksum mismatches may occur for a va­ pendent and nonjuridical applications in historical
riety of reasons, ranging from disk error or the poor and archival research.
implementation of the algorithm to more serious Meanwhile, historical authenticity may indicate
interventions, such as intentional tampering. Mean­ faithfulness to an object, image, text, event, or at­
while, other changes may not be flagged at all. Luci- titude. It is often employed to indicate the ability of
ana Durant! observes that the notion of authenticity a source to stand as witness to a historical moment
in fields with a computational orientation, such as or experience, and may be used in reference to
digital forensics, seems to focus on “the data or con­ archival as well as nonarchival materials, includ­
tent in the record rather than on its formal aspects” ing images, artwork, performances, and cuisine.
(2009, 57), and thus can be distinguished from the Although historical authenticity is sometimes used
conventional uses of the same term in diplomatics to refer to the reliability or truth-value of the infor­
and archival science that refer to not only the con­ mation relayed in a document’s message, it can also
tent, but also the form, material instantiation, social refer more narrowly to the circumstances in which
context, history, and provenance of a document. the record was produced. For this reason, a forgery
Also relevant to the present discussion are the from the twelfth century may still be called histori­
notions of legal and historical authenticity, neither cally authentic insofar as it is a relic o f the twelfth
of which should be conflated with diplomatic au­ century and is a reliable witness of its time. Such
thenticity or data integrity. Legal authenticity is a a forgery can be exploited by the historian in an
status conferred by the legal system, and relates examination of the ways in which contemporaries
to the admissibility and weight of a document as conceived and communicated information, or in a
evidence in a particular case (MacNeil 2000, 32ff; broader discussion o f the symbolic function of such
MacNeil and Mak 2007, 38ff). The admissibility instruments within a community. Likewise, the re­
of a document as evidence is a matter of discretion creation o f an obsolete video game from the early
on the part of the Judge, and the weight accorded to twentieth century might be called authentic even if
it is negotiated through the adversarial process and it violates the computational notion of authentic­
ultimately determined by a judge or jury. Thus, even ity, for instance, relying on a different platform,
after a record has been admitted for consideration operating system, hardware, and arrangement of
in the common law system, its reliability may be data; nevertheless, its performance in an updated
cross-examined and its authoritativeness destabi­ and modified context could prove critical for inves­
lized by a competing narrative. Because the field of tigations o f storytelling, aesthetics, or game-play.
digital forensics was developed chiefly to assist in The foregoing examples illustrate that competing
establishing the admissibility of digital evidence, its notions of authenticity can operate simultaneously,
particular notion of authenticity continues to evolve and that a document may be valuable and trustwor­
in response to the rules governing digital evidence thy for certain kinds of analyses despite being con­
and the expectations of the courts with regards to sidered inauthentic by some measures. As Alfred
demonstrating chain of evidence in the service of Hiatt observes, most scholars “have been sensitive
litigation. Despite the controls of digital forensics to the ambiguous status of many documents that are
that support attestations of data integrity and an neither ‘pure and simple’ forgeries, nor completely
unbroken chain of evidence, the admissibility and authentic” (2004, 6).
122 Authority Control

Conclusion MacNeil, H., and B. Mak. “Constructions of Au­

thenticity.” Library Trends 56 (1 ) (Summer 2007):
The purpose of establishing the authenticity of a
26-52. DOI: 10.1353/lib.2007.0054.
record is to position it as trustworthy for a particular
Mak, B. “On the Uses of Authenticity.” Archivaria
purpose, and authoritative within a particular frame­
1 (73) (2012): 1-17. http://Joumals.sfu.ca/archi-
work. As such, the determination of authenticity is
var/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13381.
specific to and delimited by the needs of a com­
munity, and therefore should not be taken as a char­
acteristic that is universally recognized, or one that
inheres in the document itself Rather, what consti­ A U TH O R ITY C O N TR O L
tutes authenticity in any given context is negotiable,
and will change over tim e — Bonnie Mak Until the mid-1980s few archivists were familiar
with “authority control,” although the phrase had
Keywords: trustworthiness long been part of the basic vocabulary of librarians.
Related Entries: Archival Custody; Authentication; In introducing the concept to archivists, writers in
Diplomatics; Principle of Provenance; Reliability North America explained that authority control is
the process of ensuring the consistency of certain
terms used to describe entities. For librarians the
Bibliography
controls applied to headings or access points (names
Blanchette, J.-F. Burdens o f Proof: Cryptographic and subjects) incorporated in book catalog entries in
Culture and Evidence Law in the Age o f Electronic order to increase both the accuracy and the preci­
Documents. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012. sion of searches (particularly automated searches)
Duranti, L. Diplomatics: New Uses fo r an Old Sci­ conducted against these entries. By the mid-1990s
ence. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998. archivists worldwide were embracing the idea that
------- . “From Digital Diplomatics to Digital Re­ searches o f archival descriptions might also benefit
cords Forensics.” Archivaria 68 (Fall 2009): from the incorporation of controlled access points.
39-66. In 1996 the Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive
-, ed. The Long-Term Preservation o f Au­ Standards, sponsored by the International Council
thentic Electronic Records: Findings o f the In- on Archives, gave substance to this thinking by for­
terPARES Project. San Miniato: Archilab, 2005, malizing the concept o f archival authority control
appendix 6. and issuing a standard for undertaking it.
Duranti, L., T. Eastwood, and H. MacNeil. Pres­
ervation o f the Integrity o f Electronic Records.
Traditional Authority Control
Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2002.
Head, R. C. “Documents, Archives, and Proof The “control” in traditional authority control is
around 1700.” The Historical Journal 56 (4) provided by a list of terms approved for use in a
(2013): 909-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ given descriptive element. The descriptive element
SOOl 8246X12000477. might be the name of the author of a book (or the
Hiatt, A. The Making o f Medieval Forgeries. False creator of archival records) or another element that
Documents in Fifteenth-Century England. To­ serves as an access point, such as a book’s subject
ronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004. (or the function that led to records creation). In a
MacNeil, H. “Providing Grounds for Trust: Devel­ fully functional authority control system, each of
oping Conceptual Requirements for the Long- the approved terms in the controlling list is itself the
Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Re­ subject of a descriptive record, called an authority
cords.” Archivaria 50 (Fall 2000): 52-78. http:// record. The organized set of such records constitutes
journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/ar- an authority file. Authority work consists of estab­
ticle/view/12765/13955. lishing, through research and/or collegial consulta­
--------. Trusting Records: Legal, Historical, and tion, a preferred term (or name) and associating with
Diplomatic Perspectives. Dordrecht and Boston: this term information that serves to disambiguate it
Kluwer Academic, 2000. from similar terms. The term and associated dis-
116 Authentication

for examination and report. If, in the opinion of the an ongoing cycle of audit and certification.—Adam
auditor, the repository has conformed to all the re­ Jansen
quirements laid out in the standard, then the auditor
body can provide the repository with certification Keywords: trust, digital preservation, audit, risk
as a TDR. The validity of this external certifica­ management
tion, however, is based largely on the competency Related Entries: Digital Preservation; Digital Re­
and reputation of the auditing body. The audit and cords; Preservation; Archival Standards
certification standard does not address what knowl­
edge, experience, and competencies an auditor must Bibliography
possess in order to be qualified to perform an audit,
evaluate the evidence, and determine whether a re­ International Organization for Standardization. ISO
pository can be certified as trustworthy. Recogniz­ 14721:2003 Space Data and Information Transfer
ing this, the CCSDS has submitted another specifi­ Systems— Open Archival Information System—
cation to ISO for evaluation that details the specific Reference Model. Geneva: ISO, 2003.
requirements for accrediting those auditors seeking ------- . ISO 16363:2012 Space Data and Informa­
to audit and certify a repository as a TDR conform­ tion Transfer Systems—Audit and Certification o f
ing to ISO 16363. At the time of this publication, Trusted Digital Repositories. Geneva: ISO, 2012.
the requirements for auditing bodies, provisionally Online Computer Library Center. Trusted Reposito­
ISO 16919, is currently listed “in development” and ries Audit and Certification: Criteria and Check­
at “approval stage.” lists. Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2007.
Research Library Group. Trusted Digital Reposi­
tories: Attributes and Responsibilities. Mountain
Conclusion
View, CA: Research Library Group, 2002.
To be considered trustworthy, a repository must
understand and mitigate the threats to and the risks
within its system while providing evidence of its AUTH EN TICATION
ability to store, migrate, and provide access to digi­
tal records over the long-term. This process of pres­ For most people the word authentication might
ervation is not one of simple accumulation; rather it raise images of art historians determining whether
is a resource-intensive process that requires constant a painting is genuine or a forgery, or perhaps it
and proactive monitoring, maintenance, planning, suggests the process of user identification and veri­
and migration involving not only the repository fication required to access a computer system using
but also the record donors, designated community, a password or some other technique. Archival glos­
executive management, and various other stakehold­ saries generally define authentication using some
ers. Conducting an audit, either internal or through variation of: the process by which we verify that
the use of an external auditor, allows a repository to a thing is what it is purported to be; the process of
take measure of its ability to preserve digital records assuring authenticity. For archivists, authentication
over the long-term. Achieving conformance with the includes the concept of verification, but sidesteps
audit and certification criteria ensures that a reposi­ the assertion of truth implicit in colloquial use. This
tory has sufficient documentation of its organiza­ entry will distinguish archival authentication from
tional infrastructure, digital object management, and the everyday understanding of the concept, discuss­
infrastructure and security risk management to at­ ing both the traditional and digital environments,
tain status as a trusted digital repository. This status, including electronic signatures, digital signatures,
however, is not a permanent honor. As technology, and public key infrastructures (PKI).
institutions, and designated communities evolve, so
must the repository. To retain its status, a trusted
Traditional Authentication
digital repository must perform periodic evaluations
and updates of its policies, procedures, resources, There are two senses in which the term authentica­
infrastructure, and documentation so that it can con­ tion is used in archival practice. In the more collo­
tinue to provide evidence of conformance through quial sense of the term it is a process o f establishing
 Authentication 117

that a record is what it is purported to be. In the sec­ available for analysis. Diplomatic analysis of the
ond, legal and diplomatic, sense an authentication document, paleographic analysis of the handwrit­
is a specific “declaration o f authenticity made by a ing, application of historical knowledge, or other
competent officer, and consists of a statement or an more extreme methods (e.g., laboratory analysis of
element, such as a seal, a stamp, or a symbol, added the paper and ink) may all be required for the au­
to the record after its completion.” In this context a thentication of an out-of-context record or a record
declaration of authenticity “only guarantees that a of otherwise dubious authenticity (Cullen, Hirtle,
record is authentic at one specific moment in time, Levy, Lynch, and Rothenberg 2000). An out-of-
when the declaration is made or the authenticating context record is self-authenticating if it is notarized
element or entity is affixed” (Duranti 2009, 53). or certified by a third party who is competent to do
The authentication of archival documents in a tra­ so (e.g., certified copies of public records), while an
ditional paper-based context uses both internal and old record might fall into the ancient documents ex­
external evidence to make an assertion that a record ception, legally, and can be presumed authentic if it
was created authentic and has not been modified is found where it is reasonably expected to be found
since its creation or that the record is an authentic and shows no evidence of tampering.
copy of such a record. The analysis of internal evi­ The archivist, as the custodian of the records, can
dence is one of the functions of diplomatics and is only attest, or formally certify, if required, that a
based on careful analysis of the intrinsic and extrin­ record in their care is the record received from the
sic properties of the record in order to verify that it creator and that it is as authentic as it was when it
has the features that documents of that type are most was received. Further analysis, if necessary, is gen­
likely to have and is lacking elements that it should erally the responsibility of the user.
not have (Duranti 1998). The external evidence is
primarily that of provenance, the chain of custody,
Digital Authentication
and the record’s place in aggregation, the preser­
vation and elucidation of which is the archivist's In the digital domain the traditional physical tools
responsibility. (i.e., seal, stamp, symbol, or notary signature) used
The level of confidence one can have in an authen­ in the authentication of paper records cannot be di­
tication is related to the strength of the evidence, and rectly applied to a digital record, and therefore new
should not be considered absolute. In a strong case, tools are required to fulfill this function. The two
the authenticity of a record is established (authen­ concepts “electronic signature” and “digital signa­
ticated) at its creation through the testimony (e.g., ture” are closely related, and it is important to un­
via seal, stamp, or symbol) of a juridical person derstand the distinction. An “electronic signature” is
competent to attest to the fact. The record is used a general class of signatures transmitted in an elec­
by the creator in the regular course of business and tronic format that perform the attestation function
maintained in the creator’s recordkeeping system, of traditional signatures. These may be as simple
then transferred to the archives when no longer as signing an email with one’s name typed at the
needed. The initial authentication and subsequent bottom, or as complex as digitized biometric signa­
reliance on the record by the creator attests to the re­ tures; the essential element is the signer’s intention
cord’s authenticity, and the chain of custody ensures to apply a signature; the specific technology is sec­
that the record has been protected from alteration ondary (see E-Sign and UETA in the United States).
between the time the record was received and when A digital signature is a cryptographic function that
the authentication is required. serves to authenticate both the signer and the spe­
There are many records for which this ideal pro­ cific bitstream of the signed document. In addition
cess will not be entirely followed; it is impractical to to the function of attestation, a digital signature is
authenticate every single business record, and per­ also “characterized as an electronic seal because,
sonal records are unlikely to be maintained in a for­ like the traditional seal, it allows the recipient to
mal recordkeeping system. In those cases all of the verify the origin of the record and check that it has
factors, both internal and external, will need to be not been altered during its transmission” (MacNeil
evaluated insofar as those features are present and 2000, 62). While all kinds of electronic signatures
118 Authentication

play some role in digital record authentication, it but if any element is corrupted or altered in any way,
is the more specific cryptographic digital signature or the wrong key is used, the authentication will fail.
that is discussed below. To understand how a digital One problem with this method is ensuring the as­
signature works, it is important to understand the sociation between the public key and the signer. It is
basics of encryption and hash functions. not practical to expect users to personally verify the
There are many types of encryption and many key/person association of everyone whose digital
uses for it, but the kind of encryption involved signature they want to authenticate. The solution to
in digital signatures is asymmetric, or public- this problem is a public-key infrastructure (PKI). A
key, cryptography. Cryptographic algorithms be­ PKI is a set of trusted systems whose responsibility
gin with a long random number and generate two it is to certify the association between a person and
related numbers, called “keys.” The security of a public key. The certificate authority (CA) is an
the encryption is related to the algorithm used and entity in the system which issues documents known
the key length, measured in bits (e.g., 128 bit, 256 as certificates. These certificates contain informa­
bit, 1024 bit, and so forth). Generally speaking, tion about the identity of the person to whom it is
the longer the key, the more secure, but longer granted, the public key associated with that identity,
keys are slower to use, so there is a practical up­ and the digital signature of the CA. Thus within the
per bound on key length in a given technological PKI, trust in the key/person association is ensured
context. In asymmetric cryptography, one key is by the CA, who has a business interest in ensuring
used to encrypt the target text and the other key to these associations and is disinterested in the matter
decrypt it. In public-key cryptography one key is to which the exchange between users pertains.
kept private, and the other key is made public. A Due to the relationship between the person sign­
message for an individual then can be encoded us­ ing the document, the strong sense in which the
ing the public key and transmitted; only someone signature verifies the identity of the record, and the
knowing the private key would be able to decode third-party authority maintaining the PKI, digital
it. When Alice wants to send an encrypted message signatures are substantially more volatile over time
to Bob, she can use his public key, knowing that than their traditional parallels. Where a paper record
only Bob has the private key needed to unencrypt might sustain substantial damage and still allow au­
it. Similarly, when Bob encrypts a message using thentication, a digital signature is a binary pass/fail.
his private key and sends it to Alice, she can un­ If even a single bit is changed, perhaps as a result of
encrypt it with Bob’s public key; while anyone can bit rot or a glitch in copying, the cryptographic func­
unencrypt Bob’s message, Alice knows that only tions will return a failure, regardless of the impact
he could have encrypted it, so she can be certain it that change has on the record. Responsible digital
came from him. preservation often necessitates document migration
A hash function is an algorithm that takes an in­ in order to combat issues of format, hardware, or
put (e.g., a message) and generates a string of fixed software obsolescence, and while a digital signature
size, called a hash, which is relatively unique to that will theoretically always be able to verify the origi­
input. If the message changes by even one bit, the nal unmodified document, its strong verification
output hash will be different. A digital signature will not migrate with the record. Since the strength
is created by generating a hash of the record and of a digital signature is related to the computational
encrypting that hash with the private key of the difficulties of attacking it, the ability to confidently
signer. The document remains in plain text and the use the signature on the original bitstream for au­
encrypted hash is the signature. The public key of thentication diminishes as computing power and
the signer can be used to decrypt the signature, and the technology for cryptographic attacks improve
the hash can verify that the record is unchanged. over time. Digital signatures have another type of
The use of the private key ties the signature to the obsolescence to worry about: infrastructure obso­
individual whose key it is, and the hash ties the sig­ lescence. If the third-party authority that maintains
nature to the specific record in question. The signa­ keys ceases to perform this function (e.g., bank­
ture authenticates the record when all three elements ruptcy, hardware failure, or human error), then the
(record, signature, and public key) are bit-perfect. digital signature will not be able to verify the signer.
 Authenticity 119

These issues might not be problematic during the Cornell University Law School. “Rule 902. Evi­
active life of the record, but on the archival timescale dence That Is Self-Authenticating.” Legal In­
they can pose significant challenges that require at­ formation Institute, 2011. www.law.comell.edu/
tention. As in the traditional context, the preservation rules/fre/rule902.
of electronic records, in both the “physical” sense Cullen, Charles T., Peter B. Hirtle, David Levy,
and the “moral” (provenancial) sense, is carried out Clifford A. Lynch, and Jeff Rothenberg. Authen­
by a trusted custodian in a preservation environment ticity in a Digital Environment. Washington, DC:
that maintains the digital files, manages required Council on Library and Information Resources,
migration, and records archivally relevant metadata. 2000 .
The digital signature (electronic seal) is one of those Duranti, Luciana. Diplomatics: New Usesfo r an Old
[ pieces of metadata; it authenticates the record upon Science. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
I its introduction to the preservation environment, but ------- . “From Digital Diplomatics to Digital Re­
thereafter that environment itself takes over the au- cords Forensics.” Archivaria 68 (2009): 39-66.
i thentication role, the nonauthentication functions of http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archi-
I the signature are recorded, the process is documented, varia/article/view/13229/14548.
and the digital signature becomes redundant. Jenkinson, Hilary, yf Manual o f Archive Administra­
tion Including the Problems o f War Archives and
Conclusion Archive Making. Economic and Social History of
the World War (British Series). London: Claren­
Authentication is not only a one-time certification don Press, 1922.
but also a continuous process throughout the life MacNeil, Heather. “Providing Grounds for Trust:
of the record, since the process of maintaining or Developing Conceptual Requirements for the
preserving authenticity is a prerequisite to future Long-Term Preservation o f Authentic Electronic
authentication. Specific elements of authentication Records.” Archivaria 1 (50) (2000): 52-78. http://
such as signs, seals, or symbols, digital signatures, or journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/ar-
a later assessment or certification of authenticity by a ticle/viewArticle/12765.
person competent to make it, make the assertion that “National Conference of Commissioners on Uni­
the document was authentic at that specific point in form State Laws.” Uniform Electronic Transac­
time. The authentication function performed by them tions Act, 1999. www.uniformlaws.org/shared/
is, therefore, temporally limited. This single, bounded docs/electronic%20transactions/uetafinal99.pdf
act of authentication is carried forward by the custo­ Public Law 106-229, 106th Congress. “Electronic
dian of the record, be it the creator or a record custo­ Signatures in Global and National Commerce
dian such as an archives or electronic document and Act.” U.S. Code, Title 1— Electronic Records
records management system.— Will Suvak and Signatures in Commerce, 2000; 464-73.
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW -106publ229/pdf/
Keywords: authentication, signature, signs, digital PLAW-106publ229.pdf
signature, public key infrastructure United Nations Commission on International Trade
Related Entries: Accountability; Archives (Insti­ Law. Uncitral Model Law on Electronic Signa­
tution); Archives (Material); Authenticity; Digi­ tures with Guide to Enactment, 2001. New York:
tal Records Forensics; Diplomatics; Electronic United Nations, 2002.
Document and Records Management Systems
(EDRMS); Provenance
A UTH EN TICITY
Bibliography
The predominant notion of authenticity in archival
Blanchette, Jean-François. Burdens o f Proof: Cryp­ science is derived from the field of diplomatics, the
tographic Culture and Evidence Law in the Age critical analysis of records. In diplomatics, authen­
o f Electronic Documents. Cambridge, MA: MIT ticity speaks to the status of a record, and is there­
Press, 2012. fore relevant to archivists, who seek to identify and
176 Diplomaties

Santa Monica, CA: Getty Art History Information in Duranti 1998, 43). Diplomatics provides a sys­
Program, 1995. www.getty.edu/research/publica- tematic method to analyze the external and internal
tions/electronicpublications/introimages/index. elements of documentary form, the circumstances
html (accessed November 11,2012). of the writing, and the juridical nature of the fact
“Copyright and Fair Use Overview.” Stanford Uni­ communicated.
versity, 2010. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copy- Diplomatics developed in Europe in the seven­
rightandF airU seO verview /index.htm l. teenth century in order to establish the authenticity
“Copyright Law of the United States and Related of medieval deeds and charters whose origins were
Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States unknown or suspect. Following publication of Dorn
Code.” U.S. Copyright Office, 2012. www.copy- Jean Mabillon’s foundational text on the subject. De
right.gov/titlel 7/circ92.pdf. Re Diplomatica Libre VI (1681), diplomatics came
Damton, R. The Case fo r Books: Past, Present, and to be taught in faculties of law across Europe, and
Future. Public Affairs: New York, 2009. formed the foundation of modem archival science
“Moving Theory into Practice. Digital Imaging Tu­ and of textual criticism of historical sources. While
torial. How Scanning Works 2000-2003.” Cornell diplomatic criticism continues to be used today in the
University, www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/ study of ancient documents, the science of diplomat­
tutorial/technical/technicalB-02.html. ics has been extended to aid analysis of contemporaiy
NISO Framework Advisory Group. A Framework o f legal, governmental, and bureaucratic documents,
Guidance fo r Building Good Digital Collections, and its theory and methods are finding particular rel­
2nd edition. Bethesda, MD: National Information evance in the study of bom-digital material.
Standards Organization, 2004. http://framework.
niso.org (accessed November 11, 2012). History of Diplomatics
Noerr, P. The Digital Library Tool Kit, 3rd edition.
Santa Clara, CA: Sun Microsystems, 2003. www. The term diplomatic derives from the Greek diploo
ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/raja/is214 /is214-2005-01 -04/ (to double), and Latin diploma (doubled), exempli­
digital_library_toolkit-ed3.pdf (accessed Novem­ fied by the Roman diptych formed from two plates
ber 11,2012). hinged together and conferring various rights and
Sitts, M., ed. Handbook fo r Digital Projects: A privileges. The use of the term diploma to refer to
Management Tool fo r Preservation and Access, formal documents was resurrected by Renaissance
1st edition. Andover, MA: Northeast Document humanists and still today describes legal records
Conservation Center, 2000. www.ncsi.iisc.emet. characterized by solemnity, such as those conferring
in/raja/is214/is214-2006-01 -04/dman.pdf (ac­ academic degrees.
cessed November 11, 2012). The need for a rigorous analysis of ancient di­
plomas arose from the proliferation of forgeries in
the early Middle Ages, due to war, dislocation, and
DIPLOM ATICS the increasing requirement to document transac­
tions previously validated by oral traditions. Until
Diplomatics (diplomatic— British; diplomatique— the sixth century, however, there were no formal
French) is defined as the analysis of the creation, criteria for identifying these documentary forgeries.
form, and status o f transmission of archival docu­ Authenticity—the quality of an archival document
ments or records, and their relationship with the or record that it is what it purports to be—was
facts represented in them and with their creator, in understood as deriving from the circumstances of
order to identify, evaluate, and communicate their documents’ creation— if known, or from the place
true nature (Duranti 1998). Its focus of inquiry is of preservation. As historical documents of ques­
the document, specifically the archival document, tionable provenance were increasingly presented as
defined as “the written evidence, compiled accord­ evidence of rights, the need for alternative ways of
ing to a determined form—^that is variable depend­ establishing authenticity increased, and techniques
ing on place, period, person, transaction—of facts of documentary criticism began to be developed and
having a juridical nature” (Von Sickel 1867, quoted formalized.
 Diplomaties 177

Sophisticated methods of analysis developed in the procedures by which the act is realized, and the
the seventeenth century in response to legal conflicts rules of representation determining its form.
resulting from the Thirty Years’ War in Germany
and struggles to assert ancient privileges in France Diplomatic Criticism and Special Diplomatics
(known as the bella diplomatica or diplomatic
wars). One specific conflict led to the articulation Diplomatic criticism is the use of diplomatic con­
of the fundamental principles and methods of the cepts and methods to assess the authenticity and
science of diplomatics. Dom Jean Mabillon, of the authority of a given record. A decontextualized
Benedictine order, wrote the seminal work on diplo­ analysis based solely on general diplomatics can
matics, De Re Diplomatica ( 1681 ), to systematically only take a scholar to a basic understanding of the
refute claims of forgery of Merovingian documents record, in terms of time period, function, documen­
(most of them from Benedictine monasteries) made tary type, purpose, and so on, but cannot proceed to
by the Jesuit Daniel van Papenbroeck. Papenbroeck a complete authentication without the use of special
subsequently acknowledged the validity of Mabil- diplomatics, based on the knowledge of documen­
lon’s work, which became the foundation of subse­ tary traditions and procedures of the alleged author’s
quent treatises on diplomatics in Germany, Spain, specific environment.
England, Italy, and France. One of the most compre­ Diplomatic criticism starts from the record form,
hensive was the book produced by Dom René-Pros- comprising extrinsic elements that constitute the
per Tassin and Dom Charles-François Toustain, the physical make-up of the document, and intrinsic
Nouveau traité de diplomatique ( 1750-1765), which elements that represent its internal logical structure.
introduced “special diplomatics,” that is, the appli­ Extrinsic elements of form can be examined with­
cation of the concepts and methods of diplomatics out reading the content of the record, and will only
to the criticism of documents produced by specific be fully visible in the original, defined as the first
chanceries (Duranti 1998). Subsequently, diplomat­ complete and effective version of a record. They
ics began to be taught in faculties of law across are: medium, script, language, special signs identi­
Europe and, from the nineteenth century onward, fying the persons who participated in the making of
studies in diplomatics and paleography became part the record, seals, and annotations. While the detailed
of the medieval history curriculum. Publication of analysis of the first three elements is the subject of
collections of medieval documents promoted dip­ paleography, diplomatics analyzes them for their
lomatic knowledge. When in 1821 the École des capacity to illuminate administrative processes and
Chartres was founded in Paris to train French archi­ activities.
vists, diplomatics was further developed to support The medium and its preparation are critical to
the study of documents for both historical and legal helping establish date and provenance and test au­
research. thenticity. Mass production of paper lessened the
relevance of medium in analysis of modem docu­
ments, although there have been some notable ex­
General Diplomatics
amples of its value in identifying forgeries (e.g., the
General diplomatics is the body of concepts and Hitler Diaries). With the advent of digital document
methods that guide diplomatic criticism. At its core production, medium has lost its status as an extrinsic
is the concept that all records can be analyzed, element of form and has become part of the techno­
understood, and evaluated in terms of a system of logical context.
formal elements that are universal in their applica­ An analysis of script may include description of
tion and decontextualized in nature. The context of the layout of the document, the presence o f different
a record’s creation is revealed in elements of its hands or typefaces, correspondence between para­
form, which can be separated from, and analyzed graphs and conceptual sections of text, punctuation,
independently of its content. Regardless of where abbreviations and initials, inks, and erasures or cor­
and when a record is created, it can be conceived as rections. In modern type-written documents some
a system comprising the act that causes the record’s of these elements lose their influence, and in digital
creation, the persons who concur in its formation. records or archival documents the software can be
178 Diplomaties

considered as part of the script, where it may give directed (general or nominal inscription—^the mod
clues to procedure, function, purpose, provenance, em addressee), the date (including time and place)
modes of transmission, and so on. Language reveals title, subject, invocation (symbolic or textual, lend
rhetorical or genre conventions. ing a character of solemnity to the document), an<
Special signs identify persons involved in docu­ initial formulae, the most common of which is th(
ment production. They may be the signs of writers salutation (also the formula perpetuitas, typical o
and subscribers (e.g., symbols of notaries or crosses documents conferring privileges and rights that ar
or other signs used by subscribers in place of names) not circumscribed by time: in perpetuum, ad per
or the signs of chancery or record offices (includ­ petuam rei memorian, p.p.), and the appreciation, i
ing the rota and bene valete of the papal chancery, short prayer for the realization of the content of th
the manu propria—“signed with one’s own hand,” document {féliciter, amen).
sometimes used at the end of typewritten or printed The text consists of preamble, notification, expo
documents or official notices when there is no sition, disposition, and final clauses. O f these pare
handwritten signature, monograms of a sovereign’s the disposition, which states the action or purpos
name, and various office stamps). Seals, the subject of the record, must be present. The other parts ma
of the discipline of sigillography, are of great im­ be present. The preamble is an introduction express
portance to medieval documents but are of lesser ing the ideal motivation guiding the issuing of th
relevance in modem document analysis, although record, but no concrete or immediate reason as t
they are still the primary clue to the forgery of of­ why the document is generated. It may cite ethia
ficial diplomas, especially the embossed seals. Seals or juridical principles, general considerations m
reveal the degree of formality, provenance, function, directly linked to the subject, moral or pious exprès
and authority of a document. sions, administrative policies, political conception
Annotations most clearly reveal the formative legal principles, expressions of friendship or adm
process of the document and may be added in the ration, cooperation, interest, sympathy, and so oi
process of execution, as a means of authentication The notification, when present, is a publication <
or registration, in the process of handling a complete the purport o f the document, introduced by a phras
and effective document while carrying out subse­ such as “be it known” or “know ye.” The expositic
quent steps in the transaction in which the document sets out the real motives determining the issuing (
participates, or in the process of managing the docu­ the document. It is a narration of the concrete ar
ment in a records office or archives for purposes of immediate circumstances generating the act and tl
classification and retrieval. / document and may include history, or the nam(
Intrinsic elements of form are the integral com­ of participants in the action. The core of the text
ponents of the document’s intellectual articulation the disposition, the expression of the will or jud
manifested through the presentation of the docu­ ment o f the author. Any final clauses may imps
ment’s content. These elements tend to be arranged instructions to the addressee, ensure the fulfillme
in groups according to their purpose, regardless of the disposition, or guarantee the validity of tl
of the provenance or date of the document. Every document.
document can be divided into three sections: the The eschatocol presents the documentary co
protocol, which presents the administrative context text of the action and may enunciate the means
of the action; the text, which articulates the object validation (the corroboration). It may begin with
or purpose of the document; and the eschatocol, complimentary clause, followed by the core of t!
which presents the documentation context of the ac­ section, which is the attestation, or subscriptio
tion. The protocol and eschatocol can display great through signature(s) or special sign(s), and by t
variety depending on the practice of the chancery or qualifications of the persons involved in issuing a
record office in any given time period. witnessing the document. If not already express
The protocol may identify all or some of the per­ respectively in the text and in the protocol, the e
sons involved in authoring or issuing the document chatocol may include an appreciation (a wish 1
(through entitling or superscription—^the modem the realization of the disposition), and the date (tir
letterhead) and the person to whom the document is and/or place).
 Diplomaties 179

Diplomatic criticism results in the determination Digital diplomatics identifies two more categories
of the authenticity of the record and of its authority, of records: instructive records, which indicate the
based on the identification of its status o f transmis­ way in which data, documents, or records are to be
sion, or degree of perfection (i.e., on whether it is presented, and enabling records, which allow for
found to be a draft, an original, or a copy). automations of such things as the performance of
digital artworks, business workflows, the conduct
of experiments, or analysis of observational data.
Conclusion
The salient characteristic of instructive records is
In the digital age the science of diplomatics contin­ that the record as it is stored differs from the record
ues to be relevant and is developing in two direc­ as it is manifested on the computer screen, while
tions. The first direction involves the use of digital the salient characteristic of enabling records is that
tools and techniques to support the diplomatic they usually do not have a corresponding manifested
criticism of digitized medieval and early modern record. Research will continue to make advances in
charters and legal documents or compare their this field.—Corinne Rogers
extrinsic elements (in modem terms, metadata).
These include tools for analyzing and interpreting Keywords: diplomatic criticism, document analy­
historical sources such as optical character recogni­ sis, digital diplomatics
tion (OCR), the production of critical editions, and Related Entries: Auxiliary Sciences; Document;
the use of analytics and visualization to assist in the Record(s); Record Functions; Status of Transmis­
comparisons of large numbers of items. sion (Records)
The second direction involves the application
of diplomatic concepts, principles, and methods
Bibliography
to the analysis of bom-digital records, documents,
and data. Diplomatics is helping to identify digital Duranti, Luciana. Diplomatics: New Usesfo r an Old
records in information systems and applications, Science. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1998.
and to understand their characteristics and behavior ------- . “Diplomatics.” In Mary Bates, Niles Maack,
in relation to their use, management, and preserva­ and Miriam Drake, eds.. Encyclopedia o f Library
tion. At the University of British Columbia, Canada, and Information Science. New York: Marcel
the InterPARES Project has applied traditional Dekker, 2009.
diplomatics, integrated with archival knowledge -. “From Digital Diplomatics to Digital Re­
(hence, archival diplomatics), to various digital cords Forensics.” Archivaria 68 (Fall 2009):
objects in a variety of digital environments, and 39-66. http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/
extended the knowledge of classic diplomatics to a archivaria/articIe/view/13229/14548.
diplomatics of digital records. Digital diplomatics -. The Long-Term Preservation o f Authentic
defines a digital record as a digital component, or Electronic Records: Findings o f the InterPARES
group of digital components, that is saved, treated, Project. San Miniato: Archilab, 2005.
and managed as a record. The classic diplomatists Duranti, Luciana, and Randy Preston. Research on
were concerned with legal records, and categorized Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Sys­
them according to their relationship to the actions tems (InterPARES) 2: Experiential. Interactive
in which they participated, acknowledging records and Dynamic Records. Padova, Italy: Associazi-
that put the action into effect (dispositive records) one Nazionale Archivistica Italiana, 2008.
or documented a juridical action undertaken before Duranti, Luciana, and Kenneth Thibodeau. “The
the issuing of the record (probative records). As Concept of Record in Interactive, Experiential
diplomatics developed to encompass a wider range and Dynamic Environments: The View of Inter­
of documentary forms through the nineteenth and PARES.” Archival Science 6 (1) (2006): 13-68.
twentieth centuries, new categories of discretionary DOl: 10.1007/s 10502-006-9021-7.
records were recognized (narrative records and sup­ Herde, Peter. 1975 The New Encyclopedia Britan­
porting records), whose existence was not required nica. 15*’’ ed.. Volume 5. S.v. ‘diplomatics.’
by the juridical system in which they were created. Mabillon, Dom Jean. De Re Diplomatica. Paris, 1681.
180 Diaster Plan

MacNeil, Heather. Trusting Records: Legal, His­ and technologically caused events” (Franks 2013,
torical, and Diplomatic Perspectives. Dordrecht; 211) .
Kluwer Academic, 2000. The first step in preparing for a records disaster
Tessier, Georges. “Diplomatique.” In Charles Sama- is to prioritize your data— identify those records
rin, ed., L ’Histoire et ses methods. Paris: Librarie containing information necessary to the operations
Gallimard, 1961, 633-76. of the organization during the emergency created by
a disaster and those records containing information
necessary to protect the rights and interests of per­
DISASTER PLAN sons or to establish and affirm the powers and duties
of governments in the resumption of operations after
A disaster plan is an essential tool employed by a disaster (Sturgeon, Gray, and Lucente-Kirkpatrick
organizations to ensure they can continue opera­ 2014, 11, 35). Refer to the “Vital Records” entry in
tions after an earthquake, flood, terrorist incident, this encyclopedia for additional information.
pandemic, power outage, or other serious disruption. All physical installations face risk from natu­
The loss of life as a result of a natural or man-made ral disasters and, therefore, to records retained a
disaster is tragic, and the damage to the local infra­ those locations. Preparedness can take the form o
structure can be significant. These sudden and unex­ planning to store copies o f records in a geographic
pected events can also result in a “records disaster,” location not affected by similar natural threats; fo
the loss of records and information essential to an example, companies located in earthquake-pron^
organization’s continued operations. areas could protect physical and digital assets b;
A disaster plan is also referred to as a business- locating disaster-recovery sites in a region not likel
continuity plan, a disaster preparedness and recovery to be affected by earthquakes.
plan, or an emergency preparedness plan. However, “In spite of the attention devoted to loss of infoi
each of these plans strives to achieve different goals; mation due to major disasters, records damage mo;
therefore, the overall disaster plan should address often comes from preventable conditions such £
three elements: preparedness, recovery, and conti­ equipment failures, arson, terrorism, vandalism, ar
nuity. Recordkeeping professionals can lend their carelessness” (Franks 2013, 211-12). Pre-disast
expertise to the development of a disaster plan for preparedness efforts can take the form of more tho
their organization that protects the organization’s ough pre-employment screening, frequent equi
valuable business assets, its vital (essential) records. ment safety checks, improved security systems, ai
initial and ongoing employee training.
Technology-related events affect computer s>
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
terns located within the enterprise, records and i
While many disasters cannot be prevented, steps can formation stored in third-party systems, and suppc
be taken to lessen the impact of records loss or dam­ systems (e.g., telecommunications and utilitie
age by many of those hazards. Disaster prepared­ Pre-disaster planning can include care taken in r
ness and recovery should be addressed in a single gotiating terms of service agreements with serv
document. “The disaster preparedness and recovery providers and implementing cyber-security ri
plan should identify procedures to be implemented management programs.
to prevent disasters from occurring in the first place,
and steps that can be taken to mitigate the effect of
Disaster Recovery
those disasters that cannot be prevented” (Franks
2013,210). Disaster-recovery plans should include steps to
cover essential records, regardless of the medi
used to store the records. As soon as possible a
Pre-Disaster Preparedness
a disaster, a records damage assessment site sur
“Pre-disaster preparedness involves identifying the should be conducted to determine the type of d
types of risks most likely to impact an organization, age incurred. Physical records should be tre;
irds. human-caused events. based on priorities set previously and the severit