[IARA - State Agency Records Managers] Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation, January 2022

Happy New Year, Agency Records Managers! 

I even typed the right year in the Subject line on the first try, which clearly bodes well for a glorious year to come! 🥳 (Or at least one that isn't 2021.)

To refresh all our memories because we've eaten and slept since then: before we all scampered off to our various holiday celebrations, we had our December 2021 RM Chat on the 16th. Attending (aside from my purple Santa-suited self) were Meaghan Fukunaga, Deputy Director for Records Management, Jeannine Roe (Electronic Records Archivist), Amy Christiansen (Records Management Liaison for County and Local Agencies), and Kara Chinn (Records Management Coordinator), alongside four Records Managers representing four different agencies. It was a cozy group, but for the week before Christmas, still a pretty impressive turnout.

We discussed December's bulletin topics, with State Imaging and Microfilm Lab Director Kim Hagerty stepping in to give us a recap of the Lab's successful Open House on December 7th, and an overview of your Records Management Team from... your Records Management Team! We then moved on to questions and general discussion, including our collective thoughts about more peer-to-peer connections between Records Managers, and discussion ideas for the upcoming year.

 

News You Can Use

Fresh off the Microsoft Forms presses, we bring you our new Records Managers Survey! 

One of our goals in Records Management for 2022, as mentioned above, is to get everyone talking, because the more we communicate, the more we figure out how to solve our own records management issues and each other's.

With that in mind, we've compiled a short survey to collect thoughts and feedback from Records Managers for both State Government agencies and County/Local Government offices, about IARA's outreach and services. Please let us know which topics you'd be interested in learning more about, and how we can make our interactions more accessible and useful for all of you!

Feel free to share the link to this survey with other Records Managers in your agency; if they work with records and they have feedback they'd like to give, we want to hear from them.

 

News You Can't Use

David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, will be retiring in April, after twelve years of overseeing both the National Archives itself, and the National Archives and Records Administration: the people who do for the federal government what IARA does (or hopes to do) for all of you.

Your humble Records Analyst will not be applying for the vacancy. (For one thing, it's a Presidential appointment, so there's no application form.)

 

RM Topic of the Month: IARA's Divisions and Services!

Expanding outward from last month's overview of your Records Management Team, here's a short guide to our whole agency, and the services we provide that can help your agency with its records management needs:

Records Management

Develops records retention schedules, provides online, public access to all active retention schedules, works with government offices and employees to apply those retention schedules to their actual records.

Contact: Questions about your agency retention schedule should go to arobinson@iara.in.gov. (That's me!) General records management questions come to me as well, or you can send them to rmd@iara.in.gov, where the whole Records Management Team has access.

 State Records Center:

Provides temporary storage, document circulation, and destruction for inactive records, if indicated on the applicable Records Retention Schedule. 

Contact: recordscenter@iara.in.gov

Indiana Archives:

Permanently collects legally and historically valuable Indiana government records, provides public access to those records that are not confidential by law, and maintains secure storage of microfilm negatives created by the State Imaging and Microfilm Laboratory.

Contact: archives@iara.in.gov

Electronic Records Program:

Advises government agencies on the management of electronic record formats and systems, works with Records Management, Indiana Archives and government offices to develop policies/procedures for e-records, transfers and accessions archival electronic records into the Indiana Archives collections.

Contact: erecords@iara.in.gov

Conservation Laboratory:

Restores and repairs legally and historically valuable records, serves as a resource for disaster preparedness and emergency planning, advises government agencies on proper records preservation methods.

Contact: Elizabeth Hague, ehague@iara.in.gov

State Imaging and Microfilm Laboratory:

Performs preservation microfilming of critical, permanent and long-term records, with experience in handling delicate and or damaged records, converts microfilm and paper-based records to digital access formats as technology/work environments change, preserves electronic records by writing files to microfilm as a secure back-up file to digital content management systems.

Contact: imaging@iara.in.gov

Forms Management:

Assigns a master number (State Form Number) to all official state government agency forms, both paper and electronic, maintains a master file folder and database record for each State Form, designs forms for agencies, and analyzes/approves the design of agency-created forms.

Contact: fmd@iara.in.gov

 

January Records Managers Chat

Our next Records Managers Chat will be happening next week! 

Date: January 27th, 2022
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. eastern time
Place: Microsoft Teams

About the Meeting

This 30-minute meetup is an informal setting in which to ask questions or talk about records management concerns; normally I'll begin by introducing any IARA colleagues attending, talk a bit about the topic of the monthly bulletin and make any announcements, then open things up for questions and discussion.

I've included an agenda to help keep me us all on topic, so there'll be plenty of time for your questions and records management discussion once Amy remembers to click Mute!

Adding the Meeting to Your MS Outlook Calendar

✉ Desktop Outlook

• Save the attached MonthlyStateRecordsManagersChat.ics file to your desktop.
• Make sure Outlook is open.
  
• Double-click the .ics file.
  
• Outlook will open it up as a traditional meeting invitation.
• Click "Accept" to add it to your calendar.

✉ Outlook on the Web

• Save the attached MonthlyStateRecordsManagersChat.ics file to your desktop.
  
• In your web version of Outlook, go to the Calendar page.
  
• Choose "Add Calendar," then in the left pane, "Upload from file."
  
• Click "Browse" and find the .ics file, then click "Open."
  
• Choose a preferred calendar from the dropdown list. (Even if you only have one.)
• Click "Import."
• Outlook will add the meeting to your calendar.

Meeting-Up in MS Teams

Are you new to using Microsoft Teams? No worries, IARA can help you navigate.

MS Teams is a collaboration app that many state agencies are now using to stay organized and have conversations with colleagues inside and outside of the agency.

But if your agency doesn't use Teams? No worries. You don't need to have the software installed on your computer to participate in a Teams call. 
 

To Join the Meeting By Phone

1. Dial 1-317-552-1674 at the designated meeting time, then enter this PIN when prompted: 
   489 794 94#
   
   
2. We'll let you into the meeting.
    

To Join the Meeting by Computer

1. Click here at the designated meeting time.
   
   
2. A new tab or window will open in your default web browser. From there:
   
   
   • Choose the option to join on the web if you don't normally use Teams, then click "Join now."
     
     
   • Join through your desktop or mobile application if you're familiar with using Teams and would prefer that to the web version. 
      

If you have other questions about how to use Teams, or about the meetup, just contact me and we'll figure things out together!

. . .

Looking forward to seeing you,

Amy A. Robinson  (CIP) | (she/her)
State Government Records Analyst
Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 317-232-3285  |  f: 317-233-1713
e: arobinson@iara.in.gov |  w: www.in.gov/iara
a: 402 W. Washington St., Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204

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• Monthly State Records Managers Chat January 2022.ics
• StateRMChat-agenda-2022-01.pdf