Standards for Archival Information Management Systems

In order to assess the potential utility of establishing a standard for archival information management systems, the author analyzes seven functional requirements statements written either as general instruments or to implement specific systems in particular institutional or network settings. He acknowledges the importance of the different environments in which archival information systems must operate and describes the components of an information system that a standard would need to address. He concludes that guidelines could be effective as a model for vendors to use as a baseline for system design and could serve as a foundation for other descriptive standards.