Sweden
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Country Profile for Sweden
Legislative and organisational background
National Archives (Riksarkivet, RA) and the regional state archives (landsarkiven) of Sweden together form Statens Arkiv and are lead by the general manager of National Archives in Stockholm, Riksarkivarien. The National Archives regulate the preservation and disposal of common records at the governmental agencies and together with the regional state archives receive transfers of archival records from all governmental agencies. National Archives is a independent governmental agency and is formally under the Culture Department. The general legislation concerning public records is found in the Freedom of Press Act, Chapter 2[1], and to some part in the Secrecy Act[2] . Issues concerning personal integrity in electronic systems are regulated by the Personal Data Act[3].
In the Archival Act[4] is stated that archives is formed by public records, the responsibility the governmental agencies have for their archives, that there shall exist archival authorities and that appraisal shall be undertaken. In the Archival Ordinance [5] is assigned the right of National Archives to issue regulations in the archival field and the right to make archival appraisal decisions. In some cases archival appraisal decisions can be stated in other Acts which then is superior, like concerning health record or specific databases. National Archives has issued a number of regulations. Some of them about electronic records will be mentioned bellow.
Swedish Administrative Development Agency (VERVA) issues regulations and guidelines concerning e-government.
In the culture heritage field National Archives have a developed cooperation with National Library (KB) and National Audio-Visual Archives (SLBA), where the LDB-center being one important part. There is also a growing cooperation with the museums.
Management of databases
Handling of databases falls under National Archives' general regulations concerning electronic records at agencies, RA-FS 2003:2.[6] Here is prescribed the obligation that all electronic record should be able to be exported and migrated from the original system and that there shall be a preservation plan. Some concrete arrangements are also specified. For each system there should be a generally described amount of documentation, metadata. A definition of appraisal then migrating electronic records is also found in RA-FS 2003:2.
There is an number of Acts regulating the use specific databases, mainly dealing with integrity and security issues. National Archive has an internal inventory of these acts.
Electronic Records Management Systems
National Archives' general regulations concerning electronic records at agencies, RA-FS 2003-2[6] has the same relavance for these systems as for databases.
Records Management generally is regulated in chapter 15 of the Security Act [2]and further in the Administrative Act[7].
Ingest and pre-ingest in general
As with all transfers of archival records there has to be agreement between National Archives and the agency and National Archives will get economical compensation. Normally a transfers in initiated by a request for transfer from the agency. If National Archives accepts there will be a negotiation concerning the agreement.
For electronic records National Archives has issued a special regulation for transfer [8] Here is specified the arrangements for transfer of electronic records. Normally there shall be carried out a test transfer containing only a minor part the whole transfer. Should there be to many errors further test transfers might be needed. A transfer shall consist of the actual electronic data files, parts of the original documentation but also of documentation about the transfer process. The original documentation shall be supplemented to support the long time comprehension of the information and to document appraisal and change of structure. For each transfer of electronic records the transfer agreement should contain a technical profile. The profile is set up from a suitable selection of the technical demands of National Archives. The technical demands is a specific regulation and consist of a number of standards and some other technical specifications [9].
Pre-ingest actions for datasets
A more in-depth technical description of the pre-ingest workflow for datasets and an overview of the tools and standards used (both for archival formats and metadata) should go here. If different approaches are used for different datasets (statistical data, national datasets, personnel and accounting databases) this could also be addressed briefly.
Pre-ingest actions for ERM systems
A technical overview of tools and methods regarding the preparation of transfer of records to the archives. Possible issues are archival file formats (if dealt with in agencies), requirements for metadata, mandatory functionality in ERM systems etc.
Transfer to archives
An overview of transfer standards and methods. On-line transfer protocols and standards, also requirements for off-line transfer media should be described.
Ingest actions for datasets
An overview of the SIP to AIP conversion process. This section should mostly describe issues like generating the archival description for datasets, normalisation and validation, tools used and future plans.
If appropriate the process for initiating a retransfer could be mentioned
Ingest actions for electronic records
An overview of the SIP to AIP conversion process for electronic records originating from ERM systems. Normalisation of files, metadata conversions and the tools used could be some issues to explain.
If appropriate the process for initiating a retransfer could be mentioned.
Other comments and remarks
This is a section for additional comments and remarks, if needed.
References
- ↑ Freedom of Press Act (in English)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Secrecy Act (in Swedish)
- ↑ Personal Data Act (in Swedish)
- ↑ Archival Act (in Swedish)
- ↑ Archival Ordinance (in Swedish)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Regulations and Recommendations concerning Recordings from Automatic Data Processing (EDP-recordings), RA-FS 2003-2 (in Swedish)
- ↑ Administrative Act (in Swedish)
- ↑ Regulations and Recommendations concerning Delivery of Recordings from Automatic Data Processing (EDP-recordings) to the National Archives and the Regional Archives, RA-FS 2003-3 (in Swedish)
- ↑ Regulations concerning technical demands for EDP-recordings, RA-FS 2003-1 (in Swedish)
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