The document was not found at that site; perhaps it has been removed.
Best regards, Steve
Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
Records Systems Manager; City of Reno
>>> [log in to unmask] 03/09/06 07:23AM >>>
I agree with Laura. I also think Larry's response to Jerry yesterday
was excellent.
I haven't looked at the NARA rule Laura mentions, I'll have to look for
a URL. A couple of observations:
(1) As Larry and Laura mentioned, the way organizations use email is
likely to vary widely. Knowledge-oriented institutions and functions
are likely to generate more substantive emails than ones which use
email mostly for routine announcements or transmittals. If you write
lengthy emails that respond within the message text to inquiries about
history, policy, organizational re-alignments, etc., you are likely to
save the emails so you can copy and paste from them should similar
reference inquiries recur. Or if you send substantive comments that
reflect policy formulation, those also are likely to warrant
preservation. If you mostly use email to announce "today's staff
meeting is cancelled" or to say, "here is the form you requested," you
are much less likely to need to save messages for any length of time.
(2) NARA is a subordinate agency of the executive branch. In
considering the positions taken in court in the PROFS email litigation
(Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President), don't assume that
they always reflect an archival perspective. The Department of Justice
(DOJ) speaks for NARA in court and, as Acting U.S. Archivisit Trudy
Peterson once noted, "in litigation, the government speaks with one
voice." (Trudy also noted that public access issues sometimes are
resolved "through the fires of litigation."
DOJ's position likely will reflect White House interests above all.
Knowing how these things work, as a former NARA insider, it's hard for
me to tell what the Archives' real position is on email.
For an early (1998) assessment of the PROFS case, see David Wallace's
paper at
www.ercim.org/publication/ ws-proceedings/DELOS6/wallace.pdf .
Maarja
-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Bell <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 08:34:59 -0500
Subject: [RM] What percentage of emails are records
This discussion reminded me of NARA's new policy on Emails and
Electronic records. It seems their new rule on Email (announced in
Feb
in the Federal Register) stands by the belief that most emails are
only
for convenience and most are records of temporary value - 180 days or
less to be exact. Some of the emails received by some of our folks
are
the starting point to where we answer questions where research is
required, contractual matters are proposed, questions from the public
are answered, etc. It always depends on the content with the email as
to how long you keep it.
Ms. Laura F. Bell
DOT Directives & Records Management
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
[log in to unmask]
202-366-9761
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