Recordkeeping Metadata, the Archival Multiverse, and Societal Grand Challenges

This paper defines recordkeeping metadata and offers the concept of the Archival Multiverse and the Records Continuum Model as complementary frames within which research and development in recordkeeping metadata can be situated. To demonstrate the significant and evolving nature of this work and how it is situated within the Records Continuum, the paper first provides a brief overview of key efforts in recent years by the archival and recordkeeping community to automate the creation, management and reuse of recordkeeping metadata in order to address diverse social, cultural and technological as well as bureaucratic concerns and imperatives. It then introduces two examples of new recordkeeping metadata research initiatives that extend the scope and applicability of this work within the Archival Multiverse and in response to other local and global concerns. The first is a project that aims to build an exemplar metadata-driven Sustainable Living Archive for Indigenous communities in Australia. The second is a project of the Building the Future of Archival Education and Research Initiative (AERI) to identify ways in which archival and recordkeeping metadata research can contribute to nationally and internationally-identified “societal grand challenges” such as climate change, peace and security, human rights, and sustainability.