First of all, thanks to everyone who has responded to this question.  It has been very helpful and I appreciate all the thoughtful responses.
 
Now, to give it a little more context:  This discussion is taking place as part of the work being done on the ARMA Competencies.  We had quite a discussion yesterday on this issue, and decided to send it out to the listserv to see what kind of responses we would receive.
 
So, here's what I would like from all of you:  I know that many of you have worked/still work in mailroom management.  I would like everyone to step away from what we do now, and our own current job descriptions, and look at what the Records Management Profession should look like.  I would like to take the "but we do it this way" out of the discussion.
 
If you look at it that way, do you think Mailroom functions should be part of our Records Management Competencies?  
 
If so, Why?
 
If not, Why not?
 
And, if you are thinking in the area of electronic/imaging, would you call it part of the mailroom, or is it really a part of the records management function?
 
Many thanks to all of you for your assistance.  

Susan McKinney, CRM
University of Minnesota

________________________________

From: Records Management Program on behalf of Lura Harrison
Sent: Thu 4/20/06 12:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Should Mail be Part of Records Management?



<True... and if you're a company of 50-100 with one person who is the
receptionist, file room manager, mail service, copy room, etc., that
that's the "corporate culture" you live in.  Records and Information
Managers and their "departments" come in all shapes and sizes... some
organizations don't even HAVE Records Management as a function on their
org charts (GASP!!!) >

I work in an agency of 65 people, and although I am not the
Receptionist, I do back up that position, along with opening, stamping,
and delivering the mail daily, doing the check log and deposit daily,
and I back up the supply officer when she goes on vacation. I work in
Admin, and Records Management is not on the org chart. When I took this
job "Records Officer" was part of the description, but only a small part
of the job. I get condescending looks when I suggest that I just do
Records Management.

In my agency folks are responsible for making sure they put their mail
in the file it belongs.

I'm an ARMA member and I can't wait to see what the RIM competencies
turn out to be, because I want to focus on Records Management.

The more I learn about what a records manager/officer is supposed to do,
the more desperate I feel. I'm still quite new, and would like to focus
on Records Management and make it a more important function here in my
agency, with the help of ARMA and all the classes being offered, and the
support of our State Records Management Office of course!

This is really a great subject!

Lura Harrison
Seattle, WA




-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Larry Medina
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 9:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Should Mail be Part of Records Management?

On 4/20/06, Graham Kitchen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Wow!! This simple question has set of a real fire storm.


Well said, and I think I'd like to add a bit of qualifying information
about the question, why it was asked and what the intent was. As many of
you know, ARMA is in the process of developing a set of RIM Competencies
and this issue came up in that Project. Just like not all RIMs are
responsible for microfilming, imaging, library services or archives
management, they're not ALL responsible for mailroom operations.... but
some are.

But I think we are forgetting that Records Management is managing the
> information from creation/collection to final disposition.  This
> includes Mail Management on the collection end, Forms Management on
> the creation end (and along with this Procedures Management, because
> when you do the analysis on the form you know the procedure
> requirement), and if imaging at the collection point has been found to

> be the most logical point, then so be it.  If  this works for your
organization.... great.
> If not... don't do it.


This pretty much sums up the "why" it was asked... there is RIM and
there is RIM, and depending on the size of your organization, your RIM
Program, organizational alignment, functions you provide and
responsibilities associated with RIM for your situation, there is no
perfect answer.

The intent was to determine (from a broad spectrum of RIM
Practitioners/Professionals) WHAT IS REALLY happening in the current
situation in RIM.  And I can tell from the responses received thus far,
as much as many of the newer RIMs may want to distance themselves from
the function as much as possible, those of us who are a bit "longer in
the tooth" in this field know that it was once considered an integral
component, as much as forms management and policy and procedure
distribution were.

If you look at all the classic texts related to RIM, it's there.... and
as indicated in one post yesterday, if you take the ICRM exam, it's
there...
and there in some pretty heavy detail. That said, neither of these are
indicators that IT SHOULD REMAIN THERE.  I'm sure there are plenty of
opinions that it should be removed, and as soon as possible, but maybe
more importantly, it should be brought current to address issues of
capture/scanning of incoming mail, assisting in the development of
e-mail storage and retention policies, developing classification systems
for indexing of e-mail (by content) to determine appropriate retention
periods and other aspects of "managing incoming information sources"
rather than mail management and mailroom operations.

There are very few absolutes in Records
> Management.


ABSOLUTELY!! =)

It depends on budget, personalities and corporate culture. You have to
>  take what works for you and your organization and run with it.
>

True... and if you're a company of 50-100 with one person who is the
receptionist, file room manager, mail service, copy room, etc., that
that's the "corporate culture" you live in.  Records and Information
Managers and their "departments" come in all shapes and sizes... some
organizations don't even HAVE Records Management as a function on their
org charts (GASP!!!)

But for those that do, it would be nice to know if you are responsible
for the handling of incoming and/or outgoing mail and if you are, what
skills/knowledge do you feel is required to appropriately operate that
function?  And, do you feel that this is a "competency" that should
exist in an RIM's toolkit.

Larry
--
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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