Introduction
The JISC infoNet award for innovation in records & information management has been established to promote the positive role records management can play in institutional life, and to encourage innovation in the way in which records management issues are addressed. We are grateful to Facet Publishing for their generous sponsorship of this award.
Records & Information Management steps into the limelight
Records management is often perceived to be a backroom activity, toiling away behind the scenes to ensure the institution is as efficient and legally compliant as possible, but rarely making much of a splash on the 'front line'. Two institutions bucking that trend were rewarded at the JISC conference 2008 as part of the inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards.
From a strong field, representing both the further and higher education sectors, a project at the University of Abertay Dundee, which has transformed the structure and quality of resource discovery within their intranet through the application of a records management approach to taxonomy development, emerged as the clear winner. In particular, the judges praised the way in which this project has taken theoretical concepts usually only applied within a narrow, records management context and has applied them in practice within a totally new arena to realise practical benefits across the institution.
The judges also rewarded a project from Gloucestershire College which has developed an in-house web based application which aggregates a range of performance data to enable staff to quickly identify both those students who may not be progressing to an acceptable standard, or conversely who are excelling in their development. In both scenarios prompt access to key aggregated data sets allows staff to take the proactive steps required to fully support such students throughout their studies.
Representatives from both project teams received their prizes of book tokens, kindly provided by the award's sponsors, Facet Publishing, at JISC's annual conference in Birmingham.
Steve Bailey, Senior Adviser at JISC infoNet and organiser of this award said: "These projects demonstrate the direct and positive contribution that good records and information management can make to institutions and their staff. Hopefully, by making the details of these and all the other entrants we had publicly available via our website it will help support and encourage further innovation in this area."
