(snipped for brevity)
>It is inescapable. We face immense changes in the way the government
>conducts business and documents day-to-day activities. 
>With the advent and proliferation of electronic communication, the time
>has come for us to improve the methods for preserving records. Gone are
>the days when correspondence was sent solely using paper. E-mail has
>become the primary method of communication, and it is imperative that we
>develop procedures to stay current with the evolving technologies.
>Email archiving along with other forms of electronic recordkeeping has
>been talked about in the records management community for years. Well,
>the frying pan is getting hotter with Judicial and Congressional
>interest in mandating technical, legal and policy solutions to better
>document electronic communication.

First and foremost, the subject line of this post raises concerns that NARA
is proposing "e-mail archiving" as the/an answer to the issue, when the
practice that others refer to isn't 'archiving', but rather the use of a
gross-level repository that fails to adequately cull non-records or properly
assign retention periods to those e-mail messages that meet the definition
of a record as part of "...the way the government conducts business and
documents day-to-day activities..."

NARA provided guidance to government agencies in 36CFR Part 1234 detailing
how to manage e-mail years ago that has not been adhered to, and now is it
the intent of this e-forum to weaken those requirements by "....develop(ing)
procedures to stay current with the evolving technologies..." ??

I fully comprehend the value of utilizing technologies as a tool to assist
in the management of records and I understand the need to gain control of
the ever growing volume of e-mail, especially in the Federal environment,
but there are formally adopted policies and procedures that require certain
things be done, and that they be done in certain ways.  

If there is an intent to CHANGE THOSE POLICIES, then there should be public
discussion about modifying the rules as they exist in 36CFR and the whole
Federal Register process should be involved to ensure there is open
discussion regarding these proposed changes... but for Agency and NARA staff
to introduce this concept outside of this official forum seems inappropriate.  

I'm familiar with the content of the proposed HR 5811, and also know that it
didn't make it through the mill on the first attempt, but there is nothing
in that legislation that would weaken the existing requirements, in fact,
it's just the opposite.  So why is it that NARA is seeking to discuss
"...other forms of electronic recordkeeping..."  rather than developing
methods to assist agencies gain control of e-mail utilizing existing
technologies and complying with existing regulations?

It's not impossible or insurmountable; it just takes some work.

Larry
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