Records and Information Life Cycle Management

IM is an evolving science that is a key underpinning of effective information sharing within institutions, and externally to customers and suppliers, partners, or the public. As part of an ongoing, government-wide initiative, Library and Archives Canada has collected a number of resources to provide a foundation for building your own IM resources and competencies. While there are currently some areas where supporting resources are limited, we have opted to reveal a complete IM landscape that can be used to increase the pool of knowledge in the area of information management, and to guide efforts to build a comprehensive set of resources over time. Together with the IM community, we will be adding to the number and quality of resources found in this online Guide as time goes on.

If you have resources that you feel will contribute to the overall IM community's success, we invite you to contact us so that we can add your resources to our growing pool of shared knowledge.

Using the diagram below, you can learn more about each of the 7 steps in the Records and Information Life Cycle. Each step will provide a description of key inputs, outputs, benefits and resources to help you understand, plan, implement and improve your Information Management (IM) initiatives.

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Records and Information Life Cycle Management

• Stage 1: IM Planning
  Learn how early IM Planning integrates records and Information Management perspectives into your daily activities, setting the stage for easier and more effective practices.
  
  
• Stage 2: Collection, Creation, Receipt & Capture
  To support effective IM, many important issues need to be addressed when new information assets are created.
  
  
• Stage 3: Organization
  Making the right assets available by properly organizing them is critical to effectively finding and sharing information.
  
  
• Stage 4: Use & Dissemination
  Timely, accurate and available information assets are the result of smart practices when using and disseminating records and information.
  
  
• Stage 5: Maintenance, Protection & Preservation
  Records and information that are correctly maintained, protected and preserved remain useful and available now and in the future.
  
  
• Stage 6: Disposition
  Disposition routines ensure the availability of still-useful records over time, avoid costly storage backlogs, and transfer historically significant records into archival care.
  
  
• Stage 7: Evaluation
  Your Information Management policies and practices will improve over time when you routinely evaluate their effectiveness.