Conceptualisations of the use of records

Abstract

The archival community has an ambivalent attitude towards use of record. In one sense, use could be said to be the ultimate purpose of keeping records, on the other hand, it has not been theorized in archives and records management discourse. The purpose of this study is to contribute to an enhanced understanding of the use of records by an empirically underpinned analysis of the concept. Based on an analysis of theoretical conceptualizations of use and an analysis of data from two major case studies of contemporary public organizations, several dimensions of use covering different aspects of user behaviour were identified. The most important of them were the purposes of use, the objects of use, and the applications, i.e. the actual use. As a result, a conceptual model was constructed. Transformed into more abstract conceptual categories, the findings of the case studies could be applicable in other contexts, and the model used as an analytical framework in different settings.