Preface

The Division of the General Information Programme of UNESCO in order to better meet the needs of Member States, particularly developing countries, in the specialized areas of records management and archives administration, has developed a coordinated long-term Records and Archives Management Programme - RAMP.

The Basic elements of the RAMP programme reflect the overall themes of the General Information Programme itself. RAMP thus includes projects, studies, and other activities intended to:

- develop standards, rules, methods and other normative tools for the processing and transfer of specialized information and the creation of compatible information systems;

- enable the developing countries to set up their own data bases and have access to those now in existence throughout the world, so as to increase the exchange and flow of information through the application of modern technologies;

- promote the development of specialized regional information networks;

- contribute to the harmonious development of compatible international information services and systems;

- set up national information systems and improve the various components of these systems;

- formulate development policies and plans in this field;

- train information specialists and users and develop the national and regional potential for education and training in the information sciences, library science and archives administration.

The present study prepared under contract with the International Council on Archives examines the principles of records management and archives administration and relates them to the decision making process. It is intended to highlight those aspects of the archival field that government officials should be aware of. The study will be useful to both the decision makers as well as the archivists who must provide information to the decision makers. It includes interesting appendices, the third of which concerns staffing levels in relation to population.

Comments and suggestions regarding the study are welcomed, and should be addressed to the Division of the General Information Programme, UNESCO, 7 place de Fontenoy, F-75700 Paris. Other studies prepared under the RAMP programme may also be obtained at the same address.