Standards drive the profession worldwide.

• Position: In focus: a message from the editors

The right to drive necessitates rules for the road. Likewise, managing records and information requires standards. Both activities are significant responsibilities and require the proper training, experience, and knowledge. Both driving laws and RIM standards are evolving constantly to suit their current environments. Neither is perfect, so changes and additions must be made to ensure that they continue to meet their stated and intended purposes. In the end, both come down to a simple tenet: the rules of the road are set for the good of society and RIM rules are established for the good of the organization. This is true worldwide, no matter where that driver or RIM program might exist.

In this issue of The Information Management Journal, we look at some of today's critical standards, how they affect RIM, and what they require of organizations and RIM professionals. For example, Bob McLean takes a look at "The ISO 15489 Imperative" and the requirements of this global standard. In her article, "Everything You Wanted to Know About DoD 5015.2," Julie Gable sheds some much-needed light on this U.S. standard for electronic records management software applications that is not well understood in the industry.

Some standards are understood but not agreed upon. The NFPA 232 revision, centering on compartmentalizing records centers, currently is being hotly contested. "Records Under Fire" examines the pros and cons of compartmentalization.

This issue also examines some hot topics that will require new standards in the near future. For example, Bob Johnson and Willie Geiser's article, "A Brave New World," discusses the need to implement a prudent information destruction program--something that every organization worldwide should be doing. In "Information Preservation: Changing Roles," Charles E. Arp and Joseph C. Dickman...