Coding status of Records (text-paper document) in the National Archives of Iran and ways to improve the current situation

Examining coding practice of records in the National Archives of Iran and making recommendations for improvement. Methodology/Approach: This research combines quantitative and qualitative techniques for data collection. A questionnaire was designed and distributed and structured interviews were carried out to collect data about arrangement and description, and the coding system used for records. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 15 out of 17 professional archivists working in the National Archives. Semi structured interviews were also carried out with 8 of them. Data collected through the questionnaire revealed that the majority of respondents believed that the coding and retrieval system, and dissemination of archival records, is necessary. However, less than half of them believe that the current practice is efficient and satisfactory. Respondents are of the opinion that the current system of coding uses too many codes for retrieval. Therefore, it is too complicated and causes many problems. The majority of participants in the study suggest that coding to be at item level of arrangement. We recommend that coding of text records starts by country code, followed by transfer code, origin number, repository number, series, and ends with item code.