Sharon Morris wrote: "I would say 8, since the current climate
introduces more regulations that business have to adhere to."

Sharon, its interesting that you would point that out. The worst
downturn I remember in Records Management occurred during the eighties,
driven by 2 issues: 1) The idea that Records Management was becoming
irrelevant since we were all becoming "paperless". One common
misperception at this time was that records laws do not apply to
electronic information. (2) The idea that Records Management is a
product of unnecessary or intrusive regulation. During a period of
de-regulation, programs that did not have a focus on cost effectiveness
or customer service suffered.

In Oregon, a significant portion of records management programs, both
public and private, were significantly downsized or eliminated during
this time, only to be quietly re-established during the 90's.
Unfortunately, many who lost their jobs during this period never
re-entered the profession. 

Many of the re-constituted programs have survived and thrived with 1/2
to 1/3 the staff's they had prior to the 80's downturn. There are also
more programs now in place than at that time. Technological
improvements, outsourcing of non-core functions (and quality vendors to
outsource to), simplified retention scheduling, more targeted archival
processing, and a greater focus on policy development and dissemination
have all allowed these programs to do more with less, making them
"smaller targets". I would say overall that the level of professionalism
in records management has also improved - it wasn't uncommon for records
to be the place where unwanted or problem employees were "dumped". This
matches an equal improvement in human resources functions, which no
longer support such tactics.

Overall, I would say we are in better shape than we have ever been in
facing a recession, although I hesitate to put a score on this one as it
already appears to be a doozy! 

Dwight Wallis, CRM
Records Administrator
Multnomah County Fleet, Records, Electronics, Distribution and Stores
(FREDS)
1620 S.E. 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
Phone: (503)988-3741
Fax: (503)988-3754
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