The aim of this investigation is to show the evolution of public discussions about archival classification in a Swedish context. The study covers the whole period from the introduction of the traditional Swedish classification system, det allmänna arkivschemat (AA), in 1903 until this day, when verksamhetsbaserad arkivredovisning (VBA) has replaced it as the standard model, starting in 2009. For this purpose, primarily journals and education books through the years have been used. Argumentation analysis is used as a method. The study is framed with theories about paradigm shifts by Terry Cook and theories of archival classification attitudes by Geoffrey Yeo among others. Results show that in the first directed wave of criticism against AA, the focus was mainly on its structural inconsistency. The criticism later developed to be more and more about that the classification scheme was outdated, hard to understand and clearly made for a reality of paper-based and not digital archives. AA was also accused of not reflecting the reality of business archives. This meant that when VBA was introduced, the model was heavily influenced by process models used in business life. The fact that VBA still is not so widely adopted as planned could be a proof that the new model is not much easier to understand. No views demanding that AA should be restored are however found in the sources. But the discussion will of course be a never ending story, and continue as long there are archives. This is a two years master ́s thesis in Archival Science.

The focus of the thesis is to investigate how four university archivists perceive the functionality of the new Swedish process-oriented archival description system. University archivists are at the center of the study since the organizational structure of a university is process-oriented to some degree. However universities still have activities that are more challenging to view as processes, such as research. Universities were thus identified as a suitable candidate to analyze how process-oriented archival description functions in an environment that both is and is not clearly process-oriented. The research questions posed in this study are all related to the new archival description model, and archivists own experiences and views of the system. The main questions in the study concern the functionality of the system, its durability (if there is a repeated call for modification of the model), how the archival description system works with organizations that are not process-oriented, as well as if the system can operate as a finding aid in a long term perspective. The theoretical aim of the study is based around two different and sometimes contrasting views on the nature of archival records; namely the life cycle- and continuum-model. According to the life cycle-perspective records follow a linear-path from birth to death, reaching pre-destined pit stops along the way. The continuum theorists imagine records not as linear but as multifaceted, having multiple lives and never reaching a “death”-state. In Sweden, earlier research has shown that the life cycle-model has dominated the archival scene, but the new process-oriented archival description system could open up for a continuum-related approach. This study shows that no archivist made any statements that hinted in a continuum-way of thinking, and the results rather substantiated earlier research claiming the dominance of the life cycle-model. Investigation results show that three out of four archivists don’t believe that the archival description model is suitable for universities, as the organizational structure is not process-oriented. All of the archivists are struggling with describing activities as process-based, and three out of four archivists claim that description ends upcontrived. All archivists however concur that the positive effects of the system could result in government agencies increases transparency and accountability, but only if the system works as intended. The long term durability of the description model is also put in question from three out of four archivists. All archivists additionally regard the model as sensitive to organizational changes, and all universities are preparingfor and expecting numerous future modifications. The conclusion of the study is that the process-oriented archival description system is difficult to apply to organizations that have activities with unclear processes. The results furthermore indicate that the system needs continuous effort to maintain, due to the nature of ever changing organizations. As a finding aid the model is viewed as flawed, as the classification schema will be revised several times, which will certainly demand that the user have assistance in understanding the schema. All archivists claim that the archival function (and not the classification schema) of the university will be the main search tool for all users in the future.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the records management in an enterprise in the private sector. The thesis dis-cuss the process construction within the core business and how the employee interpreters its construction. Also the goals in the processes are discussed by their Quality Management System and what the employees sees as their goals in the processes. To understand how people manage their records the information culture is studied in different variations, for example in observations and in records management systems.The case study which has been examined is a multinational enterprise in the medical technology industry. The industry is characterized by regulations, such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and International Organi-zation of Standardization (ISO). To put the findings in the thesis in a perspective the Swedish process oriented archival description is used as a counterpoint, to highlight similarities and contradictions with the aim of develop-ing the different perspective in both private and public sector from an archival science point of view. The position-ing is organization theory with the aim of process orientation and different ways to perform a process description. As a method to understand the organization and how the core business is assembled, a process description was created based on both the enterprise's Quality Management System and the interviews performed. To overview the general records management in the enterprise, the employees were asked to perform a survey about their hab-its and point of views about records management.The result of the analysis shows that the enterprise's Quality Management System mainly describes their pro-cesses in a way to achieve quality, requirements and efficiency. And not in a way that helps the employee to pre-form records management in a sustainable and long-term way. A long-term storage is in this case study about 10 years after the product has been out of production and in some few cases more. The thesis has shown that in many cases, only adequate solutions occur in records management in the enterprise, and this attitude is part of the in-formation culture. Adequate solutions means that the enterprise still fulfills the regulations that FDA and ISO require. But the records management that's part of their daily work routines can improve to prevent human errors and to ensure the quality of long-term storage. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive studies.

Uppsatsen är en kritisk diskursanalys av Riksarkivets kommunikation kring verksamhetsbaserad arkivredovisning utifrån informationen på riksarkivets hemsida, och med ett särskilt fokus på förekomsten av spår av New Public Management. Huvudmaterialet består av Riksarkivets FAQ, och som sidomaterial används även Riksarkivets allmänna föreskrifter. Utifrån analytiska begrepp som transitivitet, modalitet, intertextualitet med flera analyseras materialet för att komma fram till slutsatsen att Riksarkivets kommunikation inte innehåller några problematiska mängder spår av New Public Management, och uppsatsen skriver in sig i arkiv- och informationsvetenskapen genom att anknyta till det första steget som tas vid införande av verksamhetsbaserad arkivredovisning.

In this essay I seek to examine how the Principle of Provenance can be discerned in the new activity-based wayof establishing an archival description. In which terms do authors of reports and works about archival descriptionspeak about provenance. Do they at all?In order to do so I have studied the history of the Principle of Provenance and what is to be its future – theregulation from the Swedish National Archives, RA-FS 2008:4. I have also read the referrel that was sent out toSwedish authorities, universities and other archival institutions. This to see how the referrel and the new ways ofarchival description was recieved, and also what was to be changed. To get a more extensive grip on the matter itwas necessary to read up on international standards on archival description, such as ISAD(G) and ISAAR(CPF),and standards for records management. How do they fit in to the activity-based archival description?

In 2009, the Swedish National Archive introduced a new way of maintaining and cataloguing documents within the archives, which all national governments were to implement within four years. But for the local gov- ernments it was voluntary and, moreover, they did not have the same requirements to fulfil the guidelines that the National Archives put forward. The result was completely different archival descriptions.  The aim of this investigation is to examine whether formation of a functional classification structure can be streamlined, with the goal of helping the municipalities and counties succeed in developing an efficient, concise and functioning archival description. This search is based on a systematic document analysis, in which studied and revised seven municipalities and six counties in Sweden.  Certain aspects recur in all archive descriptions that were included in the study, such as the municipalities' and counties' function for the local library organisations and promoting local culture. Differences are visible in the structure of the archival descriptions and the individual unique functions developed to suit the local government.  The differences between archive descriptions are due to three main factors: the organizational structure, the archivist’s experience and the financial conditions. All three aspects affect the work to produce a functional clas- sification in different ways.  The discussion is based on Terry Eastwood's and John Robert's archive theory regarding the archivist's re- sponsibility and the focus on keeping the original in the archive. In order to maintain the principle of provenance. This theory was used in the study in order to get an idea of whether a standardized functional classification is possible, which we concluded that it is and desirable. Mainly, because it creates an overall perspective of the archive.