In a message dated Fri, 1 Jul 2005 14:52:53 -0400
Maarja Krusten  <[log in to unmask]:

Have any  of you attended any conference sessions where Eduard Marks has
presented  papers?  I don't attend RIM-related conferences so I don't know how
narrow or broad the focus might be.  Dr. Marks is an Air Force  Historian.  I
searched the recmgmt-L archives but was surprised to  see that his name did not
come up at all in any of your discussions. (?) Has  anyone in the RIM field
ever invited Dr. Marks to a conference?  I  remember talking to Rick Barry about
Dr. Marks last December but don't  remember what settings Rick had seen him
in.
Dear Maarja and other colleagues: I have never seen Eduard Mark (not Marks)
on any agenda for any archives or records management conferences. I also  try
to keep up with about 8 ARM discussion lists internationally, but have never
seen him comment on any of those. It's of course possible that I have just
missed him in a conference announcement or list. He has a great deal to  offer
and say.  On the other hand, it is a rare ARM professional who  appears on
history lists either with few exceptions such as Terry Cook and you  Maarja (who
has been active in both the archives and history professions). So it  cuts both
ways. I think one of the major difficulties in implementation of  electronic
records solutions is the dearth  of interdisciplinary communications -- even
between archivists and records  managers, let alone between either of those
groups and information technology or  history professional groups. Again, there
are notable exceptions, but many too  few to make for very early solutions to
the tremendous cultural,  organizational and technological challenges
associated with electronic  records.

I learned about Eduard from the H-DIPLO list, where I also learned about
you, Maarja. Both of you had very insightful comments. But just as ARM
professional are not tuned in much to the concerns of historians, my  conversations
with Mark revealed that most historians are not very interested in  recordkeeping
either. I've had a number of exchanges with Dr. Mark over the past  few years
by email and telephone. I included comments about him in a column I  did for
Federal Computer Weekly, _"Saving the future now:  Commentary,"_
(http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0602/pol-barry-06-02-03.asp) " which is accessible at
mybestdocs in the Recent  Papers section. Among other things, that column
draws attention to the  degradation in recordkeeping in the federal government,
and quotes Mark in that  regard. Following that, I received a number of
communications from records  management professionals who told me privately that
things were even worse than  I had characterized them in the column, including:
reductions in annual budgets  including numbers of RM positions; RM managers
retiring  (or being early retired) and their positions being reassigned elsewhere
in  the organization; smaller units under unit managers who are 2 or more
grades  lower than the previous manager; added responsibilities such a FOI; and
with  lesser capacity and skills to even begin to cope with such things as
electronic  records. I will have more to report on some of these topics in my
upcoming  report on "Overcoming Barriers to Major Users in Accessing Electronic
Records" about  the results of the survey I undertook in January.


Regards,

Rick

Rick Barry
_www.mybestdocs.com_ (http://www.mybestdocs.com/)
Cofounder, Open  Reader Consortium
_www.openreader.org_ (http://www.openreader.org/)

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