Abstract:

This paper analyzes and systemizes the research achievements of electronic records in Western community from the published time, subject and authors. According to the paper result, from the 1960s to the present, the characteristics of the three perspectives mentioned above are: first, the research time span manifests three different phases; second, the research subjects include legal admissibility, metadata, appraisal, long-term preservation of electronic records, etc; third, David Bearman and Luciana Duranti are the key authors of this field.

Key words: Western community, Electronic record, Machine-readable archive, Long-term preservation