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

Indiana Archives and Records Administration sent this bulletin at 11/21/2023 08:51 PM EST
Indiana Archives and Records Administration logo  

Records and Information Management
402 W. Washington St. Rm W472
Indianapolis, IN 46204
e-mail: rmd@iara.in.gov
phone: 317-232-3285
web: http://www.in.gov/iara

 

🥧🍁🦃 Hurrah for the Pumpkin Pie! 🦃🍁🥧

 

After all, people who can actually cook have to do something with all those leftover Halloween pumpkins.

(People who can't cook, like me, just put the giant pile of purple plastic ones away in a drawer until next October with a sad little sigh.) 

But enough about October!

Welcome to NoWorkVember, Records Managers, the month of

 file drawer marked
  • many holidays
  • No Sugar Added pumpkin pie actually showing its face in the bakery section again
  • the official beginning of Cancelled Meetings Season!

(We're celebrating that last one by not having a November Oversight Committee on Public Records meeting this month.)

Last Month on As The Record Turns... 

On MS Teams, we had our October State Records Managers Chat on the 26th. 

We met with 30 Records Managers from 26 agencies.  Attending from IARA were Amy Robinson (State Records Analyst), Amy Christiansen (County/Local Records Liaison),  Anna Lucas (Electronic Records Archivist), and Sam Putnam (Records Center Director). 

 Spinning record on a turntable. They're like big CDs but you read them with a needle instead of a laser.
We discussed October's bulletin topics, which were
  • Halloween
  • Welcome, Madison!
  • Halloween
  • Our then-upcoming now-recorded Critical Records Webinar
  • Halloween

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

News You Can Use: E-Records Program Staff Changes and Contact Information

If you attended last month's RM Chat, you will have already heard that one of our Electronic Records Archivists, Jeannine Roe, has moved all the way down the hall from us to IDOA's Department of Public Works. She'll still be working closely with IARA, just on the other end of the electronic records transfer process, sending us records of state buildings and properties.

IARA has posted that position, so if you're good with both records management and Electronic Records Management Systems, or know someone who is, head on over to the Job Bank!

Meanwhile, we want to let you know that:

  • Our E-Records Program is still going strong with Electronic Records Archivist Anna Lucas and our fearless RIM leader Meaghan Fukunaga, who also specializes in electronic records management, here to help.
  • The best way to contact the team, no matter who might join or leave, is by emailing erecords@iara.in.gov.
   erecords@iara.in.gov

The erecords@iara.in.gov mailbox will remain active no matter how our team structure changes. All of the E-Records staff has access (as do I, in case of emergency backup needs) and it's the best place to send your e-records questions, rather than to any individual member of the team. Employee mailboxes go away when the employee does, but shared divisional mailboxes never die will remain.

More News You Can Use: 11/3 Critical Records Program Webinar Now Online

On Friday, November 3rd, State and County/Local Records held a joint Lunch & Learn webinar focused on IARA's brand-new Critical Records Program, and 162 people showed up to do the Learn part! (Lunch not mandatory.)

135 attendees were county or local records custodians, nineteen were state records managers, six were IARA staff from other divisions, and two folks joined us from Indiana University. 

We discussed what critical records are, why exactly they're critical, our new guidance on the best ways to preserve them, and how our updated format conversion and destruction information can be applied to your non-critical records as well.

The webinar was recorded, and is now available on our website! You can find it on the Critical Records Program page, under Workshops and Training, or you can just go straight there.

News You Can't Use

Records Management is an anagram for:

  • derangement macros  - (We have a lot of these in RIM. Most of them start with "According to IC 5-15-6-7...")
  • danger: mermen tacos - (Thank you for the warning.)
  • gnome dancer stream - (The things  you see on YouTube these days...) (I would follow that channel.)
  • recent mango dreams - (Imagine having so many that you have to specify when they happened.)
  • nerd scream montage - (Also known as San Diego Comic-Con.)
  • teen germs drama con - (Also known as San Diego Comic-Con.)
  • cats derange me morn - (Also known as every day.)

RIM Topic of the Month: Destroying Records Converted to Another Format

As more and more government agencies move toward a less-paper office (it's like a paperless office but it has a chance of actually existing in our lifetime), there are two questions about public records that just about everyone has, so this seemed like a great place to answer them:

Q1: After copying records to another format, can I destroy the originals?

Short Answer: Yes, if your agency is comfortable accepting the responsibility for maintaining the records in the new format for their scheduled lifetime.

Long Answer: If you convert physical records (generally microfilm or paper) to an electronic format and wish to destroy the originals, you may choose to do so under certain circumstances.

If you are converting permanent or critical records from a physical to digital format, it is particularly important to ensure you are following applicable policies and guidelines (see below for a list). Maintaining electronic records permanently is no small task, and it is crucial to be aware of the long term financial and staff costs that electronic records require.

If you are confident that you have followed all applicable policies and guidelines, you may destroy your original copies and maintain the digital files as the Copy of Record. You do not need to seek approval from IARA for this type of destruction or let us know that you have destroyed physical originals after digitizing them. However, if you would like to consult with IARA prior to beginning a digitization project, we are always happy to help!

Guidelines and policies pertaining to converting physical records to electronic formats:

  • Vendor Qualifications
    • Recommended qualifications to look for in a vendor for digitization or other conversion projects.

Q2: I've seen "DESTROY hard copies after verification of electronic records for accuracy and readability"  spelled out in some retention schedules, but there's nothing like that in mine; do I need to update it?

Short answer: Probably, most agencies do! (If that last-approved date is more than five years ago, it's time.)

Long answer: Maybe, but you don't need to update it to add that language.

In fact, going forward, you'll see much less of that language, because IARA is moving toward retention instructions that don't talk about what format the information should be retained in or converted to.

We call this "format-agnostic" or "format-neutral" language, and it reflects both evolving practices in the information management field, and the fact that a document or a file or a roll of microfilm isn't a record.

The information stored in or on those things is the record, and that's what we want to help you preserve.

_ 

  • For more information about format conversion and best practices for retaining short-term, long-term, permanent and critical records, see... everything on that list up above!

 

The Most Important Records Management Question You Will Ever Be Asked

What are you did your RIM Team dressing up as for Halloween? 

 

W472 Staff Halloween Picture: Madison, Meaghan, Amy R, Anna, Amy C, Imelda

L to R: Her awesome self, an awesome elf, goth Alice in Wonderland, her other awesome self, goth Doc (sadly, dwarf doesn't rhyme with elf) and a black cat who manages records. (In real life, she's a black cat who manages forms.) Yours Truly is not in front because I'm important; I'm in front because I'm short.

November Records Managers Chat

Meeting Information

Date: 2023-11-30
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