• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.21
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• pp.355-383
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• 2009

The greatest mission of archival community lies in collecting records to document past and present Korean society and in safeguarding them to pass over to the next generation. For the last decade, Korean archival community has actively pursued this mission and accomplished it to the certain extent. A series of events occurred during the last year urged the community to regretfully accept that the so-called accomplishment was by no means satisfactory. The present study aims to review what has been achieved against what should be if the community is to be truthful to the fundamental mission. It begins with addressing attributes of electronic records. To be specific, attributes of electronic records as 'records' are compared against those as 'digital objects.' Current state of long-term preservation of electronic records is reviewed. Suggestions follow in terms of four directions: establishing a policy framework based on principles of electronic records management, building integrated electronic records management system, researching and developing functionalities for long-term preservation, and finally, knowledge transfer and coordination.