This study is grounded in the critical awareness that oral records should function not merely as objects of preservation but as practical tools for the formation of social memory and the realization of human rights. Accordingly, it seeks to propose im...
This study is grounded in the critical awareness that oral records should function not merely as objects of preservation but as practical tools for the formation of social memory and the realization of human rights. Accordingly, it seeks to propose improvements to the structure of oral history service systems to ensure their sustainable use. While archival science has made theoretical advancements regarding the collection and management of oral records, there remains a significant lack of discourse surrounding the concept of "sustainability" necessary for maintaining the social vitality of records. For a record to function as such, it must go beyond preservation and be structurally guaranteed both social accessibility and the potential for repeated interpretation. In particular, oral records—due to their narrative and contextual nature—are sensitive materials that embody the speaker’s memory and emotions and serve as records that constitute the identity and rights of a community.
Therefore, the sustainability of oral records must be realized not through mere technical preservation but through a service structure that simultaneously guarantees the self-determination rights of
narrators and the access rights of users. However, in practice, oral history services remain confined within a closed framework focused on collection and preservation, with insufficient incorporation of human rights sensitivity and user-centered principles. This study first theoretically examines the archival characteristics unique to oral records and then proposes service design principles required for their sustainable functioning. Particular attention is paid to the structural conditions that ensure repeated interpretation and social responsiveness of oral records. To this end, the study conducts a comparative analysis of the current state of oral history services at three institutions: the National Assembly Archives, the Center for Contemporary Korean Oral History at the Academy
of Korean Studies, and the Open Archive of the May 18 Memorial Foundation. The analysis criteria include the institutional foundation for service operations, accessibility and retrieval systems, and the extent of user-centered service implementation. The results reveal common limitations such as the absence of clear standards for narrator rights protection, insufficient semantic search mechanisms (e.g., thesauri and authority control), and a lack of user segmentation and participatory structures. In response, this study proposes the following key tasks: (1) the establishment of formalized operational guidelines incorporating human rights-based standards throughout the entire oral history service process; (2) the enhancement of context-based accessibility through strengthened subject term control and search functions; and (3) the diversification of services based on an analysis of the characteristics and needs of various user groups. These directions represent the minimum conditions required for oral records to function not merely as accessible information but as a foundation of social memory. Sustainability in oral history services does not refer simply to the longevity of records, but to the establishment of a structure in which records can be continuously interpreted and socially engaged. By applying the concept of sustainability—long neglected within archival studies—to oral history, this study presents the potential for a structural transformation in archival information services and lays the groundwork for practical initiatives that enable oral records to function as a rights-based infrastructure for social memory.