Hi Barbara, and everyone,
   
  I agree with you--sure, that's what we hope--quite frankly the records-department-of-the-future is something that keeps me up at night!  
   
  I'm glad that this line of discussion re: permanent has taken us to conjecture on this.  I think that maybe, too often, our RIM departments may simply be struggling to live, and can't spare too much thought on twenty years from now when a facility will surpass its value and can be destroyed.  I worry about who's going to be there to ensure the retention period to records from the facility that is scheduled to be destroyed is properly applied (as PeterK mentioned in his post re: the ERMS and its event triggers).  Will it be RIM professionals?  Or will we be obsolete and it's the responsibility of IT?  Internal Audit?  Legal?
   
  The ARMA Competencies project is addressing some of these concerns of mine--as I understand it, the authors are mapping out certain competencies that can be applied to each level on the corporate RIM department food chain...but that addresses today--it may not necessarily address tomorrow.  
   
  We've got to take care of tomorrow.  I am currently a part of the Energy industry and I heard a figure recently that stated within the next four years 60% of its personnel will retire.  Like the rest of the Energy field, I'm already looking at our next generation and recruiting, nurturing, advising, etc.  Which leads me back to my original question: what will we--RIM departments--look like?  Who will be there to take care of the records series regarding a facility when the facility has lost its value?
   
  I think an ARMA task force on The Records Manager and Society (or the Entity) or similar that looks closely at the position of authority and influence of the records manager is timely.  It could even be paired closely with the Competencies Project.  The end result might be to offer an objective review of ourselves at this critical juncture in corporate and government agency history so we may ensure the RIM department will exist in the form *we* want it to take.  Thus, trained personnel (trained in our best practices, the way we want) will be available to apply those triggers to records series when a facility is torn down.
   
  I'd be interested to know what you all think.
   
  Mimi Dionne

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