This article explores development and characteristics on appraisal of electronic records management in the federal government of the United States. First, it notices traditional methodologies of appraisal in the federal government. Next, it observes recent trends on electronic records management and focuses on issues on appraisal. It also examines what kind of contexts have influenced on the development of such systems and policies. This article especially focuses on appraisal of e-mails. It analyses how discussions on the topic in the government and records professionals have changed in the United States during and after 1990s.

In contemporary society, issues pertaining to governance have become prevalent. Consequently, the significance of information governance is on a constant rise. ISO 30300 and ISO 30301 play a crucial role in this domain by defining fundamental concepts and terms associated with record management, outlining the requirements for a records management system, and presenting best practices for effective information governance implementation. These standards are also adopted and published as the Japan Industry Standards JIS X 30300 and JIS X 30301 on May 22, 2023, respectively. Additionally, ISO 30302, currently in development, will soon have its equivalent JIS standard, making these standards indispensable for establishing robust information governance frameworks in the digital environment.

This report is a proposal, from the perspective of a young member, to develop the Records Management Society of Japan and suggest directions for its activities in the age of DX and AI. First, we examined the benefits of being designated as a Cooperative Science and Research Body by the Science Council of Japan. The authors also reviewed Project Research Grants, which support members’ research activities, and proposed improvements to make them more efficient. Next, this study focused on research themes conducted in the past 20 years in academic societies related to records management and archives. Analysis of these research topics using natural language processing gave us suggestions on research areas that our society has strengths and those we should focus on in the future. Furthermore, this report focused on research data management, which is essential to realize open data in the scientific field, and proposed our role and ways to contribute.