Yes, Tod,

I picked up on that, too. 

My concern is the fact that many Federal record series have limited retentions for 1 yr, 3 yrs, and 6yrs 3 mos.  In the paper system, many agencies had procedures that incorporated routine disposition of these records series.  As these records go digital, the procedures should be applied to them as well. This is a lot of data that does not need to and should not be maintained past their retention periods.  I would hope that Ferriero, if confirmed, would see this or have it pointed out to him by the NARA staff responsible for such things, and refine his quick judgment.  

I also believe in the "front loading" of resources and having the agency processes continue to handle this disposition of the digital records just as they have been doing for years on the paper records.

I also noticed in Ferriero's questionnaire that he said that "printing to paper is not a long term solution."  Paper is about the most permanent media, although I will admit that paper is not the most-searchable media.

These views are mine alone.

Trish Broud
SRA International
3434 Washington Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
703 284-6221


-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [RM] RAINdrop - Testimony of David Ferriero - Nominee for Archivist of the US
From Jessie:
So given those two things, I'm not sure I'm surprised at the archivist's response. I think it will be interesting to see what other feedback y'all have and that come from other sources. 

Thoughts?
-----Original Message-----
From Tod
Just read through the nominees' responses to the questionnaire.  I found his response to this one interesting and associated with a thread from earlier today

Question 46 - What is your position on a "retain everything" approach to electronic documents, as opposed to the present system, wherein agency personnel are left to determine what individual items are and are not records as defined under 44 U.S.c. § 3301?

Response - The combination of cheap storage and improving search/harvest algorithms balanced against the vagaries of decision making locally make the "retain everything" approach very attractive.

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