ulatory load is to forget about the container – and this is classic library stuff – it’s the content we’re supposed to be interested in.” He highlights a few challenges posed by NCCCs, saying: “It’s indicative of the per- meable nature of the information perimeter for organisations. It’s not just what’s on the organisation’s shelves or servers, now it’s what is on an individual’s personal devices. And because it’s a Whatsapp chat, there may just be one relevant item in a long chat. You could start ‘what are you doing at the weekend’ but then move onto some- thing relevant to a public inquiry. “But it’s on your private phone, so who decides relevancy within this very foggy regulatory environment? It is something we are working through at present, aiming to strike a balance between organisational transparency and personal privacy.”
Ethics
Because of this mixing of transparency and privacy, David says: “The ethical aspect is very important and I actively use CILIP’s ethics code because, in terms of retrieving information and looking for information in increasing volumes, how do you indicate to staff the ethical standards you adhere to in carrying out your KIM work? Who do you trust? And the answer is the KIM team because ethical handling of information is central to our role: users trust us to ensure we scrupulously look for information and treat it with due care and in line with any applicable information governance.”
Stranger things
David’s work also supports the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the biggest departmental record he ever had to manage: a seven foot square metal replica deck hatch of a container ship called the Derbyshire which sank in 1980. It is the biggest ever British ship to have been lost (over 91k tons) and it sank in a matter of minutes (research now shows it may have been hit by a ‘super rogue wave’). Taking three members of staff to manhandle it out of storage, this was a key bit of evidence in the second Public Inquiry into the Derby- shire sinking, and as a result of its findings a number of significant recommendations to improve ship safety were made which have saved thousands of lives over the years since then.
Treasure
Another exotic, but ‘live’ part of David’s records collection are the War Risk Indemnity records. These provide proof of ownership by the Government of merchant shipping and their cargoes sunk during the second world war. He said: “In an age before electronic banking, a number of the ships sank carrying cargoes of gold or silver bullion, and the files provide evi- dence of Government ownership and some
26 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL Silver rupees recovered from the wreck.
details as to where the ships sank,” David said, adding that the collection of treasure maps is one of the most consulted parts of his collection. In one case, in 2012-2013 a salvage company was able to recover a large amount of the £34m of silver rupees that went down with the SS City of Cairo, torpedoed in 1942. David’s “treasure map file” ensured that the salvaged money was split between the salvage company and the Government. At the time it was the deepest salvage opera- tion that had ever taken place.
Risk Looking to the future, David identifies a number of challenges KIM will face in the coming years: “The use of AI in helping KIM staff review the huge amount of electronic material held by Government, and to identify what needs to be kept and what needs to be destroyed will be a major advance in current practice.” David also identifies risk and KIM’s ability to manage this as a key skill for the future, saying: “The profession has tended to be overly risk averse in its management of information and knowledge. Too often things are not done because we want ‘per- fection’ rather than ‘good enough’. “This builds up problems for the future, and leaves us vulnerable to other groups doing work KIM could do because they are better at assessing risk and can, con- sequently, deliver more quickly and in a more agile fashion.”
Future KIM
Is he optimistic about the future of the information profession in Government? “Definitely,” he says. “Increasingly KIM are
SS City of Cairo, torpedoed in 1942.
the go-to people for eDiscovery services in support of departments responding to Public Inquiries and Judicial Reviews, with their knowledge of information retrieval and how knowledge is managed in their organisations. The profession is now a far bigger player in providing information governance within Govern- ment, not just enacting it; in my own department we recently provided guid- ance on the use of AI, and are heavily involved in the development of data sharing arrangements for DLUHC. “Related to that, I think KIM has a role to play in the provision of information governance advice on the adoption of controls to secure data which are set out in the ‘Microsoft 365 Guidance for UK Government – Information Protection’.” (
https://tinyurl.com/4whdkm9p)
Within his own department for exam-
ple, he has a small team working on the implementation of a Data Loss Preven- tion pilot. This is building on the work the KIM team is already doing on data sharing agreements, and it will provide a method of classifying and protecting files, controlling who can access them and allowing greater sharing of informa- tion between departments and trusted organisations.
Future… As for the future of David, he will be retiring in 2024 after a career of over 50 years in the KIM profession, having worked in school, public and academic libraries and the European Parliament, as well as four decades in Government libraries and KIM units. In his latter role as Government Head of Profession for KIM, what has helped during that time? “Undoubtedly, the people.” David says. “As a profession we are very supportive of each other, and as Head of Profession I have been supported by the many groups that operate in and around the GKIM space, including the Association of Departmental Records Officers (ADRO), the Committee of Departmental Librar- ians, the Network of Government Library and Information Specialists and,
October-November 2023
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