Processen bakom processerna : en studie av Riksarkivets arbete med att ta fram en ny modell för arkivredovisning

Sammanfattning: Since January 2013 a new archival description system applies to all government agencies in Sweden. The system, developed by the Swedish National Archives, is based on the actual records and the organizational processes from which they originate and has been implemented since the guidelines RA-FS 2008:4 came into effect in 2009. In order to better understand the process oriented archival description system I study the work done by the Swedish National Archives from the launch of the first project in 1997 to the formulation of the final guidelines, decided on in 2008. My research questions in particular deal with the different aspects taken in consideration when forming the new system and how they were prioritized. My intent is not to list all possible aspects, but to highlight those that stand out from the empirical material. This material consists of reports from the projects and complementing interviews with some of those active in the forming and the implementation of the description system. These aspects concern the regard taken to the organization of the Swedish government agencies, to legislation with the Principle of Public Access in particular, to the principle of provenance as the foundation of archival thinking and to international record management standards and models. To put my findings in perspective I turn to the new institutional theory to give a possible explanation to why and how these aspects shaped the archival description system and to some extent the Swedish National Archives at large. New institutionalism is a theoretical frame¬work that looks at how all organizations are influenced by the field in which they operate and how they become more alike or isomorph by conforming to that field and its actors. My study shows that the Swedish National Archives are no exception.