Book Review: Records and Information Management 2nd Edition

April 22, 2020

Dr. Pat Franks is a well-known teacher and author throughout the Record and Information Management (RIM) profession.  Her countless articles and publications have helped many of us run and manage our RIM programs.  It is an honor to review her latest book, Records and Information management:  Second Edition.  It is no secret that her contributions and writings have inspired many, and the wealth of knowledge in this book is essential for any RIM, IG, CIO, CTO, Privacy, Security, Audit, Accounting, and technologist to have on their shelf.

The nearly 500-page book contains 14 chapters, illustrations, and a healthy appendix.  Topics covered in her book are:

• The Origins and Development of RIM
• Building an IG Program on a solid RIM Foundation
• Information Creation, Capture, Classification, and File Plan Development
• Record Retention Strategies
• Access, Storage, and Retrieval
• Electronic Records Management
• Developing and Emerging Technologies
• Vital Records including Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
• Monitoring, Auditing, and Risk Management
• Information Economics, Privacy, and Security
• Record Centers and Archives
• Long-Term Digital Preservation
• Lifelong Learning
• RIM to IG and Evolution
• A Sampling of RIM Laws and Regulations Outside of the US

Some of my favorite topics covered in this book are:

1. Records continuum model
2. Key US Federal Statutes Related to RIM
3. Record Management File Plans and Classifications Examples
4. Record Retention Samples and Examples
5. Case Study:  Leveraging a New Retention Schedule to Launch an IG Program by Susan Cisco, PhD, CRM, FAI
6. Unstructured Data Overview and Examples
7. Data Mart, Data Warehouse, and Data Lake Systems
8. Metadata Overview
9. Electronic Records in the Cloud
10. Emerging Technology:  Blockchain
11. E-discovery and Legal Preparedness and the FRCP rules affecting discovery
12. Information Economics:  Valuing Information Assets
13. Case Study:  Establishing an Archive at Jelly Belly
14. Digital Preservation
15. Entire Life-Long Learning Chapter

Further, this book is used to prepare students in many colleges and universities, and also those who wish to become a Certified Records Manager (CRM) and a Certified Records Analyst (CRA) from the Institute of Certified Records Managers.  Her book contains about 150 illustrations to help visualize and validate her findings and for those who are excited about RIM and IG, this book is hard to put down.

Andrew Ysasi, MS

FIP, FIIM, CIPM, CIPP, CISM, PMP, CRM, IGP, CIP

Vice President, Advocacy

VRC Companies, LLC

President, IG GURU