Governance and Recordkeeping, September 2026

The new standard establishes the minimum security and preservation requirements that federal institutions must follow when transferring digital archival records to LAC. Its purpose is to ensure that records remain authentic, reliable, intact, and accessible over the long term while protecting them from unauthorized access, alteration, or loss.

LAC is proud to launch its Intellectual Freedom Statement, reaffirming a core principle at the heart of its mandate: the human right to seek information, learn, and share ideas without barriers. At a time when access to information and the diversity of viewpoints are often being challenged around the world, this statement highlights the essential role LAC plays in defending and promoting intellectual freedom.

This tool enables users to keyword search all Generic Valuation Tools (GVTs) based on the following fields: GVT name, business process and subprocess, record, retention period, and retention trigger. This new browsable structure and search interface will significantly improve the experience for users looking for relevant GVT content, including retention recommendations.

The GVT for Treasury Board submissions has been updated. This updated tool supports Government of Canada institutions in identifying business processes and developing retention specifications, helping them meet recordkeeping requirements.

The article argues that Treasury Board proposals to create more integrated government data systems under a revised Privacy Act could increase the risk of privacy violations by allowing broader collection, sharing, and control of personal information. It also points to the potential harm that could be caused by the proposal because it downplays the differences in access to public records and to personal data.

The article argues that recent changes to freedom of information laws in several Canadian provinces are reducing public access to government records and weakening transparency. It examines legislative changes in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario that give public bodies more discretion to withhold, delay, or reject information requests.

Yukon Archives launched a new online archival database during International Archives Week, significantly improving public access to the territory's documentary heritage. The new platform brings together descriptive information for nearly 400,000 archival records into a single searchable system for the first time.

The Association des archivistes du Québec has launched a new mobile app as part of its broader digital modernization strategy, which also includes redesigning its website and upgrading its member management system.

The German government argues that the reforms are needed to better protect sensitive government data in an era of cyberattacks and heightened security threats. Some of the reforms include restricting information requests primarily to individuals—potentially excluding organizations such as non-governmental organizations and media outlets—and raising fees.

The article reports on Guinea's formal request for France to return manuscripts and other written cultural heritage taken during the colonial period, marking a significant expansion of the international movement for the restitution of colonial-era cultural property.

The article argues that when public institutions fail to disclose information, opportunities for corruption increase, investigative journalism is hindered, and public trust in government declines. Without meaningful access to official records, democratic accountability is weakened.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in archival management, focusing on preserving shared historical records, expanding archival access, and supporting joint research. The agreement reflects the two countries' broader efforts to preserve their common documentary heritage and improve collaboration between their national archival institutions.

The article examines how African cultural heritage—particularly historical sound recordings—has long been stored in archives and museums outside the continent as a legacy of colonial collecting. It highlights a growing movement to digitize, repatriate, and openly share these collections, with a focus on new archival initiatives that are making African musical heritage accessible to local communities and global audiences.

UNESCO, together with regional partners, convened a webinar on risk and emergency management for documentary heritage to help archives, libraries, and other memory institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean better prepare for and respond to disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, humidity, and inadequate infrastructure, which increasingly endanger the region's documentary heritage.

The article reports that the Pentagon has asked Congress for a new legal authority to withhold certain unclassified records from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, a move that transparency advocates say could significantly expand government secrecy.

The article highlights Pakistan's dual focus on recovering looted cultural heritage and strengthening its long-term preservation. The return of 513 artifacts is presented as both a diplomatic success and a reminder of the ongoing need to combat antiquities trafficking, invest in museums and conservation, and safeguard archaeological sites for future generations.

The article describes how archival records are helping identify fallen soldiers and locate their remains decades after the war. It highlights the critical role of historical documents in supporting Vietnam's nationwide effort to account for missing service members.

AI+IM Regional Forum

ARMA InfoCon—Where the IG community comes to learn

Information Processing & Management Conference 2026

Digital Preservation 2026

International Workshop on Archives 2026—From innovation to practice: applying emerging technologies in archives and records management

Basics of Email Preservation Workshop - Association of Canadian Archivists

ISACA 2026 Virtual Conference

Talking Records 2026: Spaces and places of care

Eleventh Computational Archival Science Workshop

Annual IRMS Conference

The study demonstrates how a mobile X-ray computed tomography scanner can non invasively read ancient cuneiform tablets that remain sealed inside their original clay envelopes. The approach allows researchers to recover the contents of approximately 4000-year-old Mesopotamian letters without breaking the protective envelopes, preserving the artifacts while making their texts accessible.

For over 20 years, the Mountain Legacy Project (MLP) has partnered with LAC and other heritage organizations on multidisciplinary initiatives focused on environmental and Indigenous heritage in the Canadian mountain regions. The MLP's [MM1.1]collection includes handwritten and typed field notebooks that contain valuable contextual information about historic mountain photographs. Much of this information is difficult to search because it exists only as scanned images. The article explains how MLP uses OCR to convert these documents into machine-readable text, making them more discoverable.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia has launched a redesigned version of its global maritime history database, improving public access to a large collection of information about ships, vessels, maritime figures, and related historical records. The project is intended to make maritime research easier for historians, researchers, and the general public.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions has released a practical resource designed to help libraries translate sustainability principles into concrete actions. The guidance encourages libraries to integrate environmental responsibility into areas such as governance and strategic planning, building and facilities, and equipment and resource use.

The Creative Commons Open Heritage Companion is intended to make the transition to open cultural heritage more practical and accessible by providing a single, well-organized guide to existing knowledge. Rather than creating new standards, it helps institutions navigate established best practices, make informed decisions about openness, and join a broader community committed to increasing access to and reuse of cultural heritage.

By publishing the guidance in English, Digisam aims to share Swedish best practices internationally and facilitate collaboration with organizations outside Sweden. Digisam is a governing institution designed to help Sweden's cultural heritage sector adopt consistent, sustainable approaches to digitization and digital preservation, making collections easier to preserve, share, and reuse over the long term.

The project evaluated several generative AI tools to extract descriptive metadata from digitized government documents and other library materials. AI was able to identify titles, subjects, creators, dates, and other descriptive elements that can provide a useful first draft for cataloguers.

Lebanon's Ministry of Culture is undertaking a major project to sort, preserve, digitize, and eventually make public its neglected audiovisual archives. The initiative aims to safeguard the country's cultural heritage while filling gaps in a national history that has often gone undocumented or remains politically contested.

The Delhi government is launching two annual research fellowship programs, one in archives and one in archaeology, to strengthen the study, preservation, and documentation of the city's historical heritage. The archival fellowship focuses on the following: records management, conservation, digitization, public access, microfilming, research and publication, and historical languages.

An introductory training module that explains the vision, purpose, and operation of the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage. It introduces cultural heritage professionals, researchers, and students to a shared European digital environment designed to enable institutions to discover, connect, analyze, and reuse cultural heritage data using collaborative tools and services.

The initiative aims to improve preservation, streamline public administration, and expand access to the country's documentary heritage. Moldova is moving from paper-based administration toward electronic record management, with government institutions increasingly creating and managing records digitally.

The Dutch government has announced plans to expand cooperation with Curaçao and the other Caribbean countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands to improve access to colonial archives, strengthen digital heritage infrastructure, and develop a new framework for managing records from the colonial era. The initiative is part of a broader effort to address the legacy of Dutch colonialism through greater transparency, preservation, and collaboration.

The survey measures the economic and social contributions of Canada's heritage sector by collecting information on revenues, expenditures, employment, visitation, research services, educational programming, community outreach, and infrastructure. Governments and heritage organizations use the results to inform policies and programs.

Key findings include discovering that copyright metadata is spread across sector-specific and national databases using different identifiers, metadata formats, and technical standards. This leads to duplicate records, inconsistent information, legal uncertainty, and higher transaction costs for creators, users, collecting societies, and cultural institutions.

The paper examines how research data repositories can improve the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) quality of their data by publishing richer, standardized metadata at the variable level, rather than only describing datasets as a whole.

The guide sets out ethical and practical recommendations for documentary filmmakers using generative AI. Its central message is that AI can be a valuable creative tool, but documentary filmmaking depends on maintaining public trust through authenticity, transparency, and accountability.

As AI systems increasingly access and summarize scholarly works without directing users to publisher websites, traditional measures of impact—such as downloads and page views—are becoming less effective. The report identifies new challenges in tracking the provenance, attribution, and usage of scholarly content, particularly when AI systems process content at the level of individual figures, tables, or text passages rather than entire articles or chapters.

The report provides guidance for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums that are considering or already using generative AI. It states that generative AI should be viewed as one element of an institution's wider digital strategy rather than as a standalone solution. Many organizations are still working through foundational challenges such as digitization, metadata quality, and digital infrastructure.

Since early 2025, dozens of organizations, researchers, and volunteer groups have mobilized to preserve vulnerable U.S. government datasets. A key takeaway is that saving data is only the first step. Without sustained investment in the technical and organizational infrastructure that supports preservation, today's emergency rescue efforts may not ensure that the data remains accessible and usable for future generations.

The episode features Michael Geist's testimony before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-22, Canada's proposed lawful access legislation. One of his principal criticisms is the bill's proposed requirement that service providers retain transmission metadata for extended periods.

Archives for Accountability: Rule of Law, Truth, and Transitional Justice is an online session that examines how archives and records support justice, accountability, and historical truth in societies affected by conflict, repression, or human rights abuses. The session features four case studies presented by members of the International Council on Archives.

Maynard emphasizes that lengthy delays in responding to access requests are one of the biggest failures of Canada’s access-to-information system. She argues that delayed access effectively denies the public’s right to information because records lose value when they arrive too late.

This book examines the legal challenges surrounding the copyright of AI-generated works, focusing on the lack of clear rules for determining copyright ownership, authorship, and the rights of AI developers, users, and potentially AI systems themselves. It explores how existing copyright laws can adapt to advances in artificial intelligence while balancing the protection of intellectual property with the need to encourage innovation and creativity.

Aimed at professionals working in libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations, the book is also valuable for anyone responsible for managing digital photographic collections. It equips readers with the knowledge and strategies needed to develop sustainable preservation practices and ensure long-term access to born-digital photographs.

This book presents a machine-generated review of three decades of literature on the legal, ethical, and technological dimensions of privacy and data protection. It explores how expectations for protecting personal information have evolved alongside rapid technological advances, highlighting the challenges of translating privacy principles into effective practices across different technological and organizational environments.

Through real-world case studies and practical guidance, the book demonstrates how AI powered knowledge management can enhance organizational resilience, growth, and competitive advantage. Designed for business leaders, knowledge managers, and academics, it combines theoretical foundations with actionable approaches, making it a valuable resource for organizations seeking to leverage AI to modernize knowledge management and leadership in the AI era.

This book is a practical guide for mid- to senior-level data professionals on creating and managing an effective data governance program. It explains how to choose the right governance approach, build a framework, develop policies, and make a strong business case for governance. The book also provides guidance on planning implementation, improving data quality, and using real-world examples to demonstrate value.

RIMPA Live Convention 2026 is one of the leading events for the records and information management profession, bringing together practitioners, industry experts and thought leaders to explore the issues shaping the future of records and information management.

Held on October 20–22, 2026, at the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, the convention will cover AI, information governance, privacy, risk, emerging technology and digital transformation. For those unable to attend in person, the virtual ticket provides online access to live sessions across all three stages, along with selected session recordings after the event. It is an opportunity to access the insights, ideas and practical knowledge of RIMPA Live from anywhere.