[IARA - State Agency Records Managers] March 2023 Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation

💗 🌙🌟🔷☘️ Feeling Lucky, Records Managers?  ☘️🔷🌟🌙💗

I am, because for every records catastrophe, and it's probably no shock that they do happen, there's someone(s) from the agency working with us. People who care about the public's records and really want to help to clean up the mess; people who want to make sure it never happens again.

This is probably more of a November statement to make, but I flagrantly defy cultural calendar norms to say that we're lucky to have you. The ones who care enough to read the bulletins, or attend the chats, or look up your agency retention schedule, or just email us a question when you can't figure out the solution by yourself. Records Management exists to help you, but we wouldn't be able to do it without you. So. Thanks.

But you still can't have our Lucky Charms.

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We Got Chattery!

On MS Teams, we had our February State Records Managers Chat on the 23rd.

We met with 21 Records Managers from 18 agencies!  Attending from IARA were Amy Robinson (State Records Analyst), Amy Christiansen (County/Local Records Liaison), Anna Lucas and Jeannine Roe (Electronic Records Archivists), Meaghan Fukunaga (Deputy Director for Records Management) and Samanatha Putnum  (Records Center Director).

We discussed February's bulletin topics, which were:

• The RM Chat schedule for the rest of 2023, which can also be found here, just under the header for the year.
  
  
• Lake County is weird.* But full of casino revenue, so we might not want to hand it over to Illinois just yet. *I'm a native; I get a free pass on Calumet Region jokes. Starting with my accent.
  
  
• What To Do When You Have Severely Damaged Records
  
  
• Upcoming changes to the State General Retention Schedule... that didn't get made because
  
  
  • We cancelled the November Oversight Committee on Public Records meeting because holidays.
    
  • We cancelled the December Oversight Committee on Public Records meeting because different holidays. 
    
    
  • We cancelled the January Oversight Committee on Public Records meeting because snow.
    
    
  • We cancelled the Feb --- wait, WE DIDN'T! We actually made changes to the General Retention Schedule!
    
    
    • ...That I didn't get to tell you about in last month's chat because we talked about severely damaged records until we completely ran out of time.
      
      
      • So instead (shh, spoilers), I'll tell you about them in the RM Topic of the Month.

I've posted a link to the YouTube video of the February chat in our RM Bulletins and Chat Archive, where you can also find all of the previous bulletins we've sent out.

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News You Can Use

These little guys? Both hilarious (to some) and cute (to others), or both (to me). Also relatively inexpensive. Buuuuuuuut... A thumb drive should never be used to hold your agency records. Thumb drives are too easily lost or stolen, too quickly degradable or often broken right out of the box, and too easily loaded up with viruses to use them to store anything you're legally required to preserve. Your mp3 collection? Awesome; have a great road trip in your vehicle that's new enough to have USB ports.
The only copy of a permanent meeting recording? No. Nope. Nein. A backup copy of confidential records? If it's an IOT-approved encrypted drive and you're carrying it across the room to someone because the server is down. But if that backup is meant to last for longer than ten minutes? Find another place to store it. Save your agency the money -- both the negligible purchase price and the much bigger costs that may show up down the road. Flash drives are a terrible records storage medium. (Also, back up that music collection. Free records management advice from somebody who's been through at least 3 catastrophic hard-drive losses.)

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News You Can't Use   (That's absolutely what I am saying.) (93% plagiarized from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.)

 

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RM Topic of the Month: Updates to the State General Retention Schedule

 

Finally!

First of all, you can find the new version of the State General Retention Schedule right here where you left it. If you downloaded your current copy before February 22nd, though, you'll want to save yourself another one.

For all of the delays, there aren't actually any major changes rolling out to the State GR this time, but we still want to make everybody aware of the small, but hopefully useful, updates we did make. 

Ch-ch-ch-Changes...

There are two new record series, and updates to two existing ones. Let's take them in the order in which they show up on the schedule itself.

1. First, there's an update to the description of our old friend GRADM-4, which just adds language at the end saying that GRADM-4 can include confidential records, and if so, they should be retained and eventually disposed of confidentially. This was added because there was some confusion over whether confidential records could fall under GRADM-4. The answer is yes! Records which would normally fall under GRADM-4 don't stop being general files just because there's a piece of confidential or personal information in them.  
   
   (Think of a paper mailing list that you run. The information you send is routine updates about what your office has been up to, but that list of recipient names, addresses, and phone numbers shouldn't be made public.)
   
   
2. Then there's new Record Series GRADM-11, Agency Electronic System Documentation. This series covers the stuff we always tell you to maintain when you move from paper to electronic records, or from one system to another: all of the information about your system itself. What it's called, what it does, menus, functions, problems and workarounds for those problems, contact information for the vendor and/or designer, and any other information that will tell your future colleagues how this system they've inherited works.
   
   
3. Next, there's a tiny addition to GRVID-1, Personnel and Staff Training Recordings. No change to the retention or the subject matter; we just added a notation that trainings created in Powerpoint and other presentation software that might not technically be video (or might contain videos) would also fall into this category.
   
   
4. Finally, there's our second new Record Series, GRTRN-1, Education and Outreach Materials. This new series was created to cover materials from trainings and outreach events that aren't for agency staff. They're for the public, or for a specific subset of the public. Park Ranger worksheet on fire safety? GRTRN-1. CPR certification records from the State Police? GRTRN-1.  If you're training the public, unless there's a longer and more specific retention requirement for that particular type of training, use GRTRN-1.

And that's it! As mentioned above, no major changes - just two clarifications that increase the coverage of existing series, and two new additions to cover records that agencies have been creating all along, but never had their own statewide record series until now.

If you or your agency have questions about the updates, feel free to contact us for more information at any time. Or you can share them with other records managers by bringing them up in March's monthly RM Chat!

Speaking of which...
.

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March Records Managers Chat

Meeting Information

Date: 2023-03-30
Time: 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST
Place: Microsoft Teams

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 (the me one, not the other Amy) remembers to click Mute!

Adding Yourself to the Meeting Invite List

✉ Desktop Outlook

• Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.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.
• Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

✉ Outlook on the Web

• Save the attached Monthly State Records Managers Chat.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.
• Because this meeting is recurring, you should never have to add yourself again.

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:
   707 553 068#
   
   
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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• StateRMChat-agenda-2023-03.pdf
• Monthly State Records Managers Chat.ics