[IARA - County/Local Records Custodians] Monthly Bulletin and Chat Invitation October 25, 2023

👻🎃🦇 Happy October, Records Custodians! 🦇🎃👻

October means time for buying all the Halloween candy and prepping for 300 children to come through my neighborhood trick or treating! It also means I should probably switch my wardrobes from summer to winter clothes even though I know I'm not ready for winter to approach yet. I hope your October was filled with pumpkin spice and everything nice!

Last Month's Chat

On MS Teams, we had our September Records Custodians Chat. We met with 41 Records Custodians from various county/local offices.

Attending from IARA were Amy Christiansen and Anna Lucas.

We discussed September's bulletin topics, including the No Travel October and New Guidance Coming and the Customer Satisfaction Survey.

I've posted a link to the YouTube video of September'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 Use:  *No November 29th Monthly Chat*

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday and that I will be out of the country on my honeymoon to Spain, the November monthly chat on the 29th will be cancelled entirely. The December monthly chat is still scheduled for Wednesday, December 27th at 11 a.m. eastern. Talk to you then, hopefully with fun pictures from Spain!

News You Can Also Use: Welcome to Madison Young!

Please officially welcome Madison Young to IARA's Records & Information Management division. She's been working at IARA for 1.5 years and transitioned into RIM from another division. She will be helping with both state agency and county/local office questions. You will be seeing her respond more often to your emails, reviewing CCPR minutes, among other things. Welcome, Madison! We are excited to have you in IARA's RIM division.

News You Can Definitely Use: 11/3 Lunch & Learn on Critical Records Program

There is a joint Lunch & Learn for both state agencies and county/local offices on Friday, November 3rd at 12 p.m. eastern focused on IARA's brand-new Critical Records Program. There is no cost to attend, it is free.  ***I highly recommend that any state agency or county/local office that has critical records attend this online workshop. CCPR secretaries, please notify your county/local offices about this opportunity.*** It will be recorded and available for viewing on IARA's website in November.  Want to register? Email the phrase, "Register me for the Lunch & Learn: Critical Records Program" to cty@iara.in.gov or rmd@iara.in.gov, contact the Amy's (Amy Christiansen & Amy Robinson) for more information, achristiansen@iara.in.gov or arobinson@iara.in.gov.

RM Topic of the Month: Critical Records Program

This month we are launching a new program which will help guide you in the maintenance and care of critical records. Please view our Critical Records Program page to learn more. Critical records are defined by Indiana Code as records necessary to:

1. resume or continue governmental operations;
2. reestablish the legal and financial responsibilities of government in Indiana; or
3. protect and fulfill governmental obligations to the citizens of Indiana.

Critical records are identified as such on retention schedules, and you can also look at the appendix of the Critical Records Guidance for a full list of those record series. If you believe your office creates critical records that are not identified as such on your office-specific retention schedule, please reach out to cty@iara.in.gov for assistance. 

We have streamlined and modernized our format guidance for records designated as critical - going forward your office will decide if microfilm, electronic, paper, or a combination is best for your needs. This is a departure from previous guidance which required that critical records be microfilmed. This change is based on your feedback, current practices of offices, and the fact that microfilm production and the equipment required to create it is on the decline. 

IARA still generally recommends using microfilm for critical records, but understand this may not meet current business practices.  So, if you have critical records and you wish to move away from microfilming and you aren't sure where to begin, please reach out to cty@iara.in.gov and we can help walk you through your options and discuss risk management with you. 

Please let us know if you have any questions and look for training on this topic later this month.

October Records Custodians Chat

Our next Records Custodians Chat will be happening on the 25th. 

Meeting Information 

Date: October 25, 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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