[IARA - County/Local Records Custodians] Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation August 30, 2023

🎲🏈🥧 Welcome to August, Records Custodians! 🥧🏈🎲

For me, August in Indianapolis means the arrival (and now departure) of Gen Con, football returning, the Indiana State Fair and all its delicious goodies although I'm constantly told the Dairy Bar will always be the best thing there, AND the beginning to the end of summer! Summer is quickly ending and I'm not ready for it. 

Last Month's Chat

On MS Teams, we had our July Records Custodians Chat. We met with 35 Records Custodians from various county/local offices.

Attending from IARA was just me, Amy Christiansen!

We discussed July's bulletin topics, including the Surveyor's training, my GARA certification, and the SF44905/Notice of Destruction forms.

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

News You Can't Use:

News You Can Use

The State Archives is hosting a presentation on military records in their collection, dating from WWII and later. When: Wednesday, August 23rd 10:00 a.m. eastern Cost: Free! and will hopefully be recorded.  To register: Email Daniel at dstearns@iara.in.gov

News You Can Also Use: IARA Building Groundbreaking & Construction

Construction of the new Indiana State Archives Building will broke ground on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 and be accompanied by several updates to street and pedestrian traffic. Approved in 2021 by Governor Eric J. Holcomb and the Indiana State Legislature, this new Indiana State Archives building will house priceless documents and artifacts managed by the Indiana Archives and Records Administration. And during construction, Pepper Construction will be introducing new technology that allows a person to hold up their phone by the site on the canal and see the renderings with a 30-second recorded message.

Updates to street and pedestrian traffic:

• Ohio Street will be down to one lane in either direction starting in August.
• New York Street will have one lane restricted, but will still have two one-way lanes going east.
• The crosswalk from Senate Garage to Government North Center will be moved towards Ohio Street, spanning the Ohio Street entrance to the State Library.
• The tunnel from Senate Parking Garage to Government Center North will be closed from September to November.

The project will affect some street parking but should have minimal impact on garage parking and surface lots.

News Only County Coroners Can Use: Upcoming CO Webinar!

 

RM Topic of the Month: IARA Website Updates

If you've visited our website recently, you've probably noticed that IARA's homepage has a new look; if you haven't, it does! We've removed or re-homed a few outdated or redundant articles and informational blurbs, added a row of QuickLinks for people who use the website a lot to get directly where they need to go, and created a set of Resources for Records Managers tabs, which you can see to the right.
Those cover Publications, Training, the Electronic Records Program, the Records Center, the Imaging and Microfilm Lab, Records Retention, and Records Disposition. Each tab has an overview, links to most recent or most frequently-needed publications and forms, and except for the last two (which are more informational), one or more Big Fat Buttons to send you to the dedicated page(s) for that service. IARA hopes that this will make it easier for both new and experienced Records Custodians to quickly find the things they need, as well as provide a central place for IARA to let you know about new publications and training opportunities. As part of this revamp, we've also streamlined our News and Events page, with the intent to limit it to just recent news and upcoming events, so that again, you can quickly find out what you need to know. (Our social media information has moved to the bottom of the homepage, and the State Archives' blog entries can all be found on the From the Vault blog page, which has its own brand new Big Fat Button on the homepage as well!) Many thanks to the State Archives staff for especially helpful feedback, and the IN.gov staff for figuring out what we needed to fix to make it actually work!

August Records Custodians Chat

Our next Records Custodians Chat will be happening on the 30th. 

Meeting Information 

Date: August 30, 2023
Time: 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  EST
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 Yourself to the Meeting Invite List

✉ Desktop Outlook

• Save the attached 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 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.

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 317-552-1674 at the designated meeting time, then enter this PIN when prompted: 
   614 865 189#
   
   
2. We'll let you into the meeting.
    

To Join the Meeting by Computer

1. Click meeting link 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!

. . .

AMY CHRISTIANSEN

Records Management Liaison

Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 812-929-3882

e: achristiansen@iara.in.gov

w: www.in.gov/iara

a: 402 W Washington St, Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204

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