Missing in action? Content of records management metadata in real life

During the last 15 years, records managers and archivists have focused on defining requirements for functionality and metadata of electronic records management systems. So far little is known about metadata that are actually created in these systems. This study examines metadata in records of a Finnish government agency. The metadata comply with the national SÄHKE records management metadata specification. The main findings are that a substantial number of metadata elements in SÄHKE remained unused. Generated metadata were largely about event history. Optional metadata elements were used rarely. The metadata show clear patterns, which may suggest systematic recordkeeping processes and possibly minimal human intervention in metadata creation.