SAA 2017: records management, the web, and open data

Courtyard of Tranquility, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon, 26 July 2017.

What follows is a quick stab at outlining a few ideas that came to the fore during two sessions -- one of which I was a participant and one in which I was an audience member -- and during the Government Records Section's annual meeting. Some are my own, and some are other people's, and all of them concern in some way our profession's inability to explain the value of records management programs, and in particular government records management programs, to the broader public:

• Government archivists and records managers have tried for decades to get public officials, policymakers, journalists, and the public at large to understand that government records management and archives programs are essential to ensuring government accountability, efficiency, and transparency. We haven't gotten a lot of traction, and I'm increasingly convinced that our lack of success is because we frame our arguments in ways that make sense to us but not to the vast majority of our fellow citizens. Why do we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results? Why aren't we working with public relations professionals and other people who are adept at crafting simple, resonant messages and communicating them to broad audiences? How would Don Draper sell records management? 
• As one archivist in a session I attended this morning noted, governments that release the data they gather or create as open data -- data that third parties can use, reuse, and redistribute subject only, at most, to the requirement that the source of the data be identified may not pose much of a records management challenge. For example, this archivist's public sector employer, which has begun sharing datasets it has created with the public in an effort to be proactively transparent, treats the versions of the datasets it posts on its open data website as convenience copies. However, as other archivists pointed out during the annual meeting of the Government Records Section, the controversy and wave of "citizen archiving" initiatives that ensued when the new presidential administration removed certain types of information from federal government websites suggests that at least some members of the public have come to expect that information posted online will remain readily accessible in perpetuity. I have the feeling that, in the coming years, we're going to devote a lot of energy to coming to grips with this expectation. Will we give into it and focus on harvesting and preserving web content, or will we ramp up our efforts to explain that managing government records appropriately may mean removing and disposing of data that was once freely available online? Or will we preserve tons of web content and explain that, in some instances, we work with agencies to identify and acquire additional, related records that are not available online and that, in others, we capture only snapshots of web content? 

NARA seeks your input

Last November, President Obama issued a memorandum that marked the start of a sweeping effort to reform federal records management practices. Among other things, the memorandum directs the U.S. National Archives and Records Adminstration (NARA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to consult with individuals and organizations -- government and non-government alike -- who have an interest in improving the management of federal government records and increasing government openness.

NARA, which particularly interested in ideas that will promote government openness, use records and information to enhance federal agency performance, and reduce unnecessary costs and burdens, is fulfilling this requirement in a variety of ways. It's hosting public meetings and has created a Managing Government Records IdeaScale community that enables archivists, records managers, vendors, and anyone else who cares to do so to offer their suggestions, read suggestions advanced by others, and comment and vote up or down on each suggestion. You'll need to create a free IdeaScale account in order to do so, but signing up is quick and painless.

The IdeaScale interface is pretty intuitive, but if you're new to IdeaScale (which is one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools), you may want to consult NARA's IdeaScale guide.

The Managing Government Records IdeaScale community will be open for comments until Friday, 6 April.

Catching up

A few things you might have missed:

• Late last month, President Obama issued a memorandum directing each federal government agency to perform a comprehensive review of its records management program and then prepare a report for the Archivist of the United States and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget that outlines its plans to maintain and improve its program, "particularly with respect to managing electronic records, including email and social media, deploying cloud based services or storage solutions, and meeting other records challenges." These reports are due on 27 March 2012.

• Paper records created during an internal military investigation of a November 2005 massacre of civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha were slated for destruction. However, the records, many of them marked as being secret, ended up in trailers purchased by a local businessman, who hauled the trailers to a Baghdad junkyard. Several weeks ago, a New York Times reporter covering the American withdrawal from Iraq inadvertently found them there. At present, it is unclear whether the military will open an investigation into the handling of these records.
  

• After a legal review, the Massachusetts State Archives has decided to open approximately 460 boxes of paper records of former Governor and current Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to researchers. Staff will review the files prior to disclosure and either remove or redact legally restricted information. The repository initially restricted access to the records as a result of a court ruling stating that gubernatorial records were exempt from the state's freedom of information law. As you'll recall, during the last days of the Romney administration, all of the files on its e-mail servers were deleted, several high-ranking officials were allowed to purchase the state-owned hard drives they used, and leased computer equipment was replaced.
  

• The administration of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley routinely deletes internal e-mails. The administration claims that it does so in order to free up storage space on its server, but Erik Emerson, Director of the state's Department of Archives and History, asserts that it violates state records laws.
  

• OccupyArchive is George Mason University's Roy Rosenzweig Center for the History of New Media effort to capture digital items documenting Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements throughout the world. As Rosenzweig Center director Sharon Leon notes, they're "documenting a post-print movement" -- something that archivists must do if they want to ensure a complete and accurate documentary record.
  

• Finally, on a lighter note, here's why we need to caution teens about sexting: sooner or later, their sexts will be all over the Internet for everyone to read.
  

ARMA International and San Jose State records management Web events

If you're searching for low-cost professional development opportunities, trying to figure out how to manage and preserve social media content, or seeking to develop workable records management policies, check out these upcoming online events.

First, Dr. Patricia C. Franks, coordinator of the Master of Archives and Records Administration (MARA) degree program at the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), will facilitate an ARMA International webinar, Records Management Policies in a Social Media World, later this month, that will focus on practical tools and strategies for managing social media records. Those who complete this webinar will be able to:

• Analyze the impact of various social media technologies on records management
• Apply current records retention schedules to records residing in social networking sites
• Identify and use existing tools to capture and manage social media records.
  

This webinar will be available online from 14-29 November 2011 and is free to both ARMA International members and non-members alike, but you must register no later than 25 November 2011 in order to access it.

I heard Dr. Franks speak about strategies for managing social media records at an ARMA Central New York meeting in October 2010, and I was really, really impressed. I refrained from blogging about it only because I was coming down with what turned out to be a really rotten cold; by the time I recovered, I wasn't 100 percent sure that my notes and memories were complete and accurate. I'm really looking forward to this webinar, and I hope that you check it out as well.

Second, SLIS itself is making an upcoming MARA guest lecture available live via the Web. On 14 November 2011 at 1:00 PM PST, Fred Diers, vice president and general manager of GRM's Solutions Group, will discuss "How to Create a Credible Retention and Information Governance Package." Mr. Diers will discuss:

• Proven steps to develop a retention schedule that is realistic and sustainable
  
• How to reduce the risk of litigation, government investigations, and audits

Instructions for viewing this lecture online via Elluminate (and for accessing recorded Webcasts of past SILS events) are available here.

Haiti, one year later

As you know, on 12 January 2010, an earthquake wreaked havoc on Haiti. Approximately a quarter of a million people died, countless others suffered devastating injuries, and countless more lost their homes and their jobs. The earthquake also destroyed much of the country's already fragile human and physical infrastructure.

On the first anniversary of the quake, millions of Haitians continue to live in cramped and increasingly dangerous tent cities. With a few notable exceptions, reconstruction efforts have not even begun -- and the political impasse that followed in the wake of November's inconclusive elections will doubtless cause additional delay.

I apologize for relying so heavily upon a single source, but last night's Frontline episode, The Battle for Haiti (viewable online) offers a provocative argument: Haiti's core problem is the culture of lawlessness and corruption that predated the earthquake and was made much worse by it.

The episode centers upon the approximately 4,000 prisoners -- many of them gang leaders and other hardened criminals -- who escaped from a Port au Prince prison on 12 January 2010, took refuge in the tent cities, and promptly began killing, raping, and stealing from their fellow citizens. Despite the dogged efforts of the police, capturing and re-incarcerating the prisoners isn't easy: many prison and court records were destroyed in the earthquake, the police are woefully outnumbered, the court system is slow and corrupt, and gang leaders can often buy their way out of prison.

However, it quickly becomes apparent that the escaped prisoners are but one symptom of a much deeper problem. Police chief Mario Andresol, who is leading efforts to recapture the prisoners and is consistently depicted as decent and devoted to his country, asserts that "honest people don't go into politics in Haiti" and that gangs proliferate and prosper because of their role in getting out the vote in Haiti's poorer districts. The corruption and the ever-present specter of violence discourage desperately needed foreign and domestic business investment, drive educated Haitians to emigrate to the United States and Canada, force hundreds of thousands of Haitians to live in constant fear, and lead the many non-governmental organizations working in Haiti to act independently of the government. Andresol's ultimate conclusion -- that Haiti would be better off under a benevolent strongman -- may be deeply unsettling, but it's not particularly surprising.

The Battle for Haiti notes repeatedly that, in addition to the destruction of prison and court records, pre-earthquake recordkeeping deficiencies limit the ability of the police to apprehend criminals. Even a cursory review of news reports and reports issued by non-governmental organizations active in Haiti reveals that pre- and post-earthquake records issues are impeding the recovery effort in a variety of ways:

• As The Battle for Haiti points out, the Haitian police never had the fingerprint and photographic records that enable police forces in many other countries to identify criminals without relying upon witnesses or informants.
• Tent cities persist because many land records were destroyed as a result of the earthquake; as a result, non-government organizations are reluctant to built temporary housing because they fear that landowners will reassert their ownership claims and evict newly settled inhabitants.
• Many Haitians either lost their birth certificates and other essential identity documents as a result of the earthquake or never had them to begin with -- and thus find it difficult to sit for school exams, apply for jobs, and register to vote. Worse yet, children without documents may also be exploited by people who falsely claim kinship.

Some of these problems are doubtless the result of poverty and lack of formal schooling. If you are living on less than $2.00 a day and have never attended school, traveling to a distant office to secure a birth certificate is not likely to be on your list of priorities. Some of them are directly attributable to the earthquake itself. Most Haitian government buildings collapsed on 12 January 2010, and most of the people who were responsible for creating and maintaining essential records perished died at their desks. And, of course, some of them are no doubt the result of pervasive corruption. The absence of good records makes it easier for crooked people to do crooked things, and if you're a corrupt official intent upon using your position to enrich yourself, you devote minimal effort to your official job duties.

Good recordkeeping can't overcome the myriad problems that Haiti faces, but it is an essential component of any effort to establish and uphold the rule of law. No one can compel the Haitian government to improve its recordkeeping practices, but non-government organizations such as Plan Canada have made detailed recommendations regarding issuance of birth certificates. Provided that the Haitian government -- or a segment thereof -- takes up the suggestion, the global archival and records management communities should be willing and able to step in and provide needed training and advice. We already have an Archivists Without Borders (which needs to be much larger than it is), and perhaps its time for a Records Managers Without Borders . . . .

On a more immediate note, the Haitian people still have pressing, immediate needs. Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health were active in Haiti prior to the earthquake, provide lifesaving services, and are widely recognized as having their financial priorities in order. Doctors Without Borders is currently operating eight hospitals and supporting several other health facilities and Partners In Health has developed an extensive and highly effective network of paid community health workers. If you're in a position to give, please click on the links at the top right of this page (N.B.: At present, Doctors Without Borders is accepting online donations only for its general fund, which may be used in Haiti or in another country in need. If you want to restrict your donation to its Haiti fund, donate via phone at 1-888-392-0392).

A friendly word of advice

If your employer's records management directives start looking like this, polish your resume and start looking for a new job: you need to get out of your current situation well before federal authorities raid the place and subpoenas compelling court testimony start flying.

MARAC Fall 2010, day one

Market Street Bridge over the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 12 November 2010. The Ionic columns at the entrance of the bridge were salvaged from the old State Capitol building, which burned down in 1897.

The Fall 2010 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference got underway today. I'm offering only a few highlights from a jam-packed and rewarding day:

• Colgate University, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and Syracuse University are investigating the possibility of developing a New York State EAD consortium, with particular emphasis on assisting repositories that have some EAD knowledge and experience but are having problems with publishing their finding aids and securing adequate technical support. If you're interested in seeing how this project proceeds or in contributing your expertise, contact Colgate University Archivist Sarah Keen at skeen - at - colgate.edu

• Kathleen Roe (New York State Archives) delivered a great plenary address on the importance of advocating for archives. Noting that we all need to explain -- to administrators, boards of directors, or local, state, and federal politicians -- the value of archives and what we need to do our jobs as effectively as possible, she offered some practical words of advice:
• Learn the rules of engagement and accept them for what they are. You don't have to compromise yourself or your principles, but you do need to learn how to find your way through established channels. For example, if you're seeking Congressional support for legislation, you simply have to accept that you'll be making your case to the incredibly bright twenty-somethings who run Congressional offices.
• Archival issues are generally poorly understood, and you need to explain, clearly and succinctly, the value of archives: records safeguard rights and benefits, influence major policy decisions, enable people to connect to family and community history, help to document and correct longstanding injustices, and, in some instances, help to save lives. When dealing with legislators, make the story local -- how do records help their constituents? Have records helped constituents secure benefits to which they're entitled? Are archives attracting tourist dollars to their districts?
• Archivists have substantial competencies and qualifications that can be of use to legislators and other stakeholders. We can help legislators manage the ever-increasing volume of records that they create and can help all stakeholders care for electronic materials.
• Don't listen to people who tell you that you can't do what you need to do; just go ahead and do it. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
• Don't forget to state plainly what you want. Legislators, administrators, and board members aren't mind readers.

• In "Replevin: Pros and Cons," Joseph Klett discussed the New Jersey State Archives' new Document Recovery and Amnesty Web pages, which encourage holders of alienated state government records to convey them to the State Archives without penalty, lists records known to be missing, and lists records that have been returned to the State Archives. Most of the missing records listed are enrolled laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey (1703-1775) and the State of New Jersey (1776-1804), which were alienated from state custody a long time ago and which have been sold openly for decades; in fact, the listing on the Web site is based upon auction catalogs from the 1950s onward. Making these lists, which have been shared with law enforcement, readily accessible alerts dealers and members of the public to the fact that the listed records are the property of the State of New Jersey. This is a good thing -- after these Web pages went live, several people contacted the State Archives and voluntarily returned listed records that they held -- and I hope other states follow New Jersey's lead.

• In "Compulsory Candor? Open Records Laws and Recordkeeping," Pennsylvania State Archivist David Haury noted that new ways of doing government business can eliminate documentation of how things are done. For example, press releases, which were once issued and retained in paper format, are now issued electronically -- and even the electronic master copies may be deleted after the releases are posted on the Web. Archivists and records managers have yet to come to grips with the transitory nature of modern recordkeeping.

"So far, it's the best job in the country"

Last week, David Ferriero, the new Archivist of the United States, delivered his first State of the Archives address. I was particularly cheered by his continuing emphasis on the challenges posed by electronic records and electronic records management, which he likened to the problems faced by Robert Digges Wimberly Connor, the first Archivist of the United States, who fought valiantly to ensure that the nation's long-neglected records were properly housed:

. . . . It seems to me that we are at a similar crossroads in the history of the Archives in the challenges we face with the electronic records of the agencies we serve. Varieties of technology, platforms, software, practice, and lack of standards complicate the work of ingesting, preserving, and making available the records of the government. The work we have undertaken with Lockheed Martin is, of course, being watched closely by our funders, our stakeholders, and the rest of the archival community who is grappling with similar issues of born digital records. We have to get this right.

I also see the Electronic Records Archives initiative as a vehicle for reestablishing our oversight of the records management programs of each agency—working with agencies to establish protocols, practices, and annual audits.

I also like that Ferriero recognizes the larger archival community's interest in the Electronic Records Archives, and I hope that he continues predecessor Allen Weinstein's effort to bring the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration into closer alignment with archival professional organizations and other repositories throughout the nation.

If you want a sense of Ferriero's background and personality, check out the lengthy profile in today's Washington Post, which highlights his decades of work in libraries and includes video footage of him examining materials in the stacks of the Archives I facility in Washington, DC. The video's only 42 seconds long, but it reveals that the new Archivist has a puckish sense of humor:

GTC East 2009: data security

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the “Security: Protecting All That Data” session, in which Simon Hunt of McAfee outlined how to implement a range of data security initiatives. Although it didn’t focus directly on records issues, it highlighted the overlapping interests of information security officers and records professionals.

Hunt began by furnishing an interesting overview of the current data security climate, which is characterized by increasingly stringent and complicated patchwork of laws specifying how governments and corporations must respond to actual or potential data breaches, proliferation of mobile data devices such as laptops, cell phones, and USB sticks, increasingly sophisticated forms of criminality. People used to write malware because they wanted to have fun and prove their intelligence, but now they do it to make money. There are gangs throughout the world that specialize in data theft, and others that specialize in leveraging stolen data. Moreover, toolkits that enable users to create or modify Trojan horse applications and viruses are now sold online; a good one costs approximately $1000.

Of the major data breaches that have happened in 2009, 31 percent were inadvertent, 50 percent were caused by some sort of outside action, 9 percent were the result of malicious action by staff, 2 percent the result of other staff actions, and 9 percent by unknown factors. Laptops, which were at the center of 17 percent of breaches, are the fattest target for thieves. Other breaches were the result of hacking (12 percent), Web attacks (11 percent), fraud-SE (11 percent), lost media (5 percent), e-mail (4 percent), and viruses (2 percent).

However, what I found most startling was that paper records account for a significant percentage of 2009 data breaches to date. Documents that were not disposed of properly comprise a whopping 11 percent of breaches, “snail mail” 6 percent, and stolen documents 3 percent. Moreover, a quick review of DataLossDB, which provided Hunt with his figures, indicates that 2009 has seen an unusually large percentage of breaches associated with improper disposal; in 2008, improper disposal accounted for only 4 percent of the breaches. My takeaway: archivists, records managers, CIO’s, and information security officers must stress the importance of safeguarding all types of records and information.

Noting that most organizations don’t focus on data security until they suffer some sort of breach and that insider theft increases when times are bad, Hunt emphasized that data security is a lot easier then many people think. He then outlined a series of proactive steps that can improve data security; although he mentioned several McAfee products that might help, most of his remarks seemed generally applicable.

• Understand the risks you face: sit down and think about how data moves within your organization and identify stakeholders, potential allies (like records managers?) and possible barriers. You should figure out what’s valuable and how it might be attacked, and how much time and effort you’re prepared to devote to protecting it. Data at rest (e.g., on desktops, laptops, etc.) is easiest to protect, but data in motion (e.g., Web 2.0, file sharing, blogs) and data in use (e.g., USB sticks, DVDs) also need attention. Remember that data protection must be tightly woven into your business, that technology is not the hard part -- training and policy are the big challenges -- and that data protection is constantly evolving.

• Encrypt your data. Non-encrypted data on laptops is a soft target, and governments and corporations that can’t account for a missing laptop are legally obligated to inform anyone whose information might have been on the laptop that their data has been stolen or exposed. Deploying hard drive encryption on all laptops and desktops is the easy fix. However, you need to manage it and to be able to prove that a lost device was encrypted. Encryption will take care of about 60 percent of the typical organization’s security issues and can be done in 2-4 man-weeks.

• Manage your removable media. Portable media can also be encrypted and policies mandating use of encrypted USB sticks can help. Port control software that limits use of USB media is also an option. Encrypting USB sticks and other portable media will address about 20 percent of the typical organization’s security needs.

• Identify your confidential data. Focus on the risk drivers specific to your organization, define the most critical vectors, and determine stakeholders’ needs. Too many security initiatives fail because people were stopped from doing what they saw as legitimate and necessary actions, so make sure you take their needs into account and provide training.

• Deploy McAfee’s Data Loss Prevention. This software finds data, indexes it, determines who has access, implements prevention techniques (e.g., blocking or monitoring users who try to copy or print sensitive information) as dictated, and monitors the flow and use of data throughout an organization. According to Hunt, DLP will take care of an additional 18 percent of the typical organization’s data security needs.

Nice, succinct presentation. Hunt emphasized solutions more than products. He also drew our attention to an awesome image of a physical security failure, courtesy of FailBlog. I have the feeling that this image is going to make its way into lots of other presentations on security.

NYS e-records symposium available online

Last year, the New York State Archives co-sponsored a series of electronic records symposia that highlighted how local governments and state agencies were addressing various electronic records issues. I was able to attend and blog about one symposium, Taming the Wild Frontier: EDMS Implementations for State and Local Government, but my synopsis really didn't do the sessions justice. Happily, these sessions were taped, and anyone who has Flash Video Player installed on his or her computer can view the slides and listen to the speakers via the State Archives' Web site; closed captioning is available.

These presentations have actually been on up on the State Archives site for quite some time, but I somehow managed to overlook them -- which is deeply embarrassing given that there's a prominent link to them on the home page! However, these presentations are so good that I'm willing to look a bit foolish in order to trumpet their existence. If you're interested in electronic document management systems, electronic records management, or recordkeeping in state and local government environments, by all means check them out.

Coming up: an e-discovery tsunami?

Earlier today, Computerworld posted an interesting piece speculating that requests for information about the lending practices of failed banks may highlight sloppy records retention policies and practices and propel regulators to crack down on institutions that don't comply fully with Sarbanes-Oxley and other records-related laws and regulations. Among those quoted in the article is Debra Logan of Gartner, who predicts that disgruntled employers and customers will file all manner of lawsuits and that e-discovery and e-recordkeeping issues will come to the fore as a result:

The amount of litigation that's going to be generated out of this Wall Street meltdown is going to be unbelievable. The regulators will be asking the banks what happened . . . . Lawsuits stemming from problems at government-backed mortgage finance companies ' Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will result in systemic change.

Other experts quoted predict that, in addition to stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations, lawmakers and regulators might impose even more stringent record-keeping controls upon the financial sector -- and the health care industry, which is moving toward electronic-record keeping despite shortcomings in its records retention practices.

It will be most interesting to see how record-keeping practices evolve as people try to make sense of the chaos that has consumed the financial industry and come to grips with the challenges of electronic medical records. Maybe we will start seeing some real attention paid to records management -- and a diffusion of lessons learned in the financial and health care sectors to other industries and government.

NYS Electronic Records Symposium

Today, I attended Taming the Wild Frontier: EDMS Implementations for State and Local Government, one of an ongoing series of electronic records symposia sponsored by the NYS Archives’ Regional Advisory Committees (Regions 3 & 4 for today's event), the State Records Advisory Committee, the NYS Association of Local Government Records Officers, the and NYS Association of County Clerks. The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library graciously allowed us to use its brand-new, attractive, and environmentally friendly facility.

Steve Goodfellow of Access Systems Consulting kicked off the morning by providing a working definition of an electronic document management system (EDMS): a system that facilitates access to scanned and born-digital documents (e.g., e-mail, GIS data, reports from other systems, office productivity suite files). According to Steve, EDMS’s are distinct from: imaging systems, which convert paper records to electronic form; electronic content management systems; which also support management of Web sites; and electronic records management systems, which also support development and application of records schedules and allow for legal holds.

EDMS’s can offer a lot of benefits: faster and more convenient access, cross referencing and searching capability, reduction of paper volume, managing of compliance needs (records schedules, security, authenticity), and improvement of collaboration and workflow.

EDMS projects typically start because someone wants to be more efficient, get to information more quickly, comply with records schedules, or improve collaboration and information sharing. However, some people decide that they want an EDMS because they want to get rid of paper records that are taking up space. Steve strongly emphasized -- and other presenters seconded this point throughout the day -- that this is not a good reason to initiate an EDM project. People who simply want paper to disappear will not engage in the careful planning needed to make the project a success.

Steve then outlined how to develop a successful EDMS:

• Understand your current process and workflows: work processes vary from unit to unit, and in many units, different people do things differently. You really need to understand how things are currently being done -- looking both at the forest and the trees -- and avoid assuming that the vendor’s default, e.g., accounts processing routine will meet your needs.
  

• Complete a full-scale business process analysis and draw upon it when designing your system; simply throwing technology at a dysfunctional work process won’t fix it. If at all possible, conduct your needs assessment and business process analysis before talking to vendors. If you don’t have a clear sense of what you want and need, you can easily become overly impressed with features and “neat stuff” that might not be all that useful to you.

• Review and update your organization’s policies and procedures and make sure that all employees are aware of them. You may need to develop training for new and veteran staff.

• Clearly define project roles and responsibilities. Every EDMS project needs: a project leader to guide the initial implementation and subsequent expansion; a system owner who is in charge of the EDMS; a technical systems administrator who provides backend support; a business process analyst who studies existing and proposed workflows; an application administrator responsible for developing indexes, applying retention schedules, etc.; and a system support resource that end users know to contact in the event of a problem. Bad project management has killed off many a worthy EDM project.

• Devote lots of attention to designing index fields that are appropriate and reasonable in number. People are busy enough; they will avoid using a system that forces them to do large amounts of additional work. Developing a set of index terms that is “good enough for now” is a surefire way to make everyone miserable. Careful planning upfront will save a lot of effort and heartache down the road. Try to be logical: if your paper system organizes records by, e.g., case number and this approach more than meets your needs, why insist upon twenty additional terms? A handful may suffice.

• Think about retention, disposition, and preservation of records that have long-term or permanent value. Your system will be replaced some day, and the data within it will be migrated. Avoid systems that will make these actions more difficult. Keep in mind that every record added to the system will eventually need to have a schedule applied and that you may need to apply legal holds, etc., to some records in the system.

• Throughout the project and afterward, communicate with staff. Provide staff with initial training, follow-up sessions, and use training sessions or focus groups to identify any problems that end users have -- and be sure to address these problems ASAP.

The remainder of the symposium was devoted to breakout sessions in which state and local government personnel discussed their own EDM projects, lessons learned, and next steps. Highlights of the presentations I attended:

• Jay Ruparel of Sunrise Systems discussed the two EDMS’s that his firm is building for the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records Management (NJDARM). One will allow NJDARM to create and update its records retention schedules for state and local government, review requests to destroy records that have reached the end of their retention period (NJDARM’s legal control over records destruction is substantially greater than that of the NYS Archives!), run reports, and provide some online services to state agencies. The other will allow local governments to track paper and electronic records, submit records destruction requests to NJDARM, provide access to shared scanning and COM services, and produce management reports. The systems are in the pilot phase of development, but they seem extraordinarily promising.

• Steve Goodfellow and Diane Myers, Tammy Hayes, and Suzanne Palmer of the Madison County (N.Y.) Department of Social Services discussed the development of an EDMS used to manage the department’s case files. They carefully planned the pilot project and made sure that their test users consisted of senior and veteran employees at all levels of the organization. They also devoted a lot of thought to indexing and quality control; every item that is scanned goes into a holding pen until a supervisor confirms that it is legible and properly indexed. Finally, in order to save time and reduce confusion, the department scans all records from 2006-01-01 onward at the point of receipt; as a result, everyone knows that all records received before this date are in paper form. Each staffer who does the scanning keeps a box at his or her desk and files paper originals chronologically. Once the box is full, it goes to remote storage; in the event that another staffer needs to retrieve the paper original, he or she uses the EDMS to identify the date it was scanned and the name of the staffer who scanned it and then has the appropriate box retrieved from storage.

• Kevin Broderick of the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal detailed his agency’s development of an EDMS that manages its case files. He reinforced, charmingly and vividly, many of the points that Steve Goodfellow made earlier that day. He debunked the Big Hopper Theorem, the false but all-too-common belief that an organization can simply dump documents into an EDMS and have the system sort them out. He also stressed the difference between pitching and throwing: to be a good pitcher, you have to think about your situation and figure out how you’re going to deliver a given pitch. A good scanning project demands the same analysis and care. He also refuted the widespread and erroneous notion that an EDMS is a “virtual shredder” that frees up physical space that could be used to house additional staff, etc. In reality, there is no free lunch: vendors typically charge $.10-$.15 per image, and there are other costs associated with developing and implementing an EDMS. Reducing the amount of physical office or storage space might offset the cost of implementing an EDMS, but it might not.

At the end of the day, my very cool colleague Andy Raymond offered the following summary of the day's discussions:

• All of us have huge problems managing electronic records—hence the theme of today’s symposium. All of the protocols we’ve developed for paper records must be applied, albeit in different ways, to electronic records, the volume of which continues to increase.

• We can see the functionality and potential functionality of EDMS’s: these systems can help us get a grip on the ever-increasing volume of electronic records. However, with great potential comes great complexity and, for the most part, substantial expense.

• Implementing these systems will lead us to a new paradigm of records management. In the past, we’ve allowed individual units, agencies, etc. to develop their own records management records programs. We need to move to a more collaborative solution. The complexity of EDMS’s will force us to work with other units in our organizations and with outside entities that have similar needs. For many of us, that’s new and challenging.

• In a time of reduced budgets, hiring freezes, and fiscal crises, our organizations are under pressure to sustain existing levels of service and meet new challenges. How can we do this? What are the next steps for us?

All in all, a wonderful and, to put it mildly, information-packed day. We all have a lot to think about.