Don - beautifully and inspiringly said!  Thank you!  I take heart from the passion of members of this list on days when my 
job is akin to pushing a boulder uphill.  In an ice storm.  Barefoot.

By way of a personal introduction (which I believe I have neglected as a usual lurker)...

I'm an archivist-turned-records manager, est. 2013.  For the past year I have held the position of Information and Records Management Administrator for a self-governing First Nation ("Indian tribe" in American I believe) for a year now.  We are a government with about 100 staff, two of us in RM, serving a citizenry of 1000, in the capital of Yukon Territory in northern Canada.

I face the same challenges as everyone, in addition to a learning curve as a new RIM professional.  Being in the remote north of Canada, ARMA's online offerings have been one of the few sources of (convenient and affordable) professional development. (And this year I finally got to attend my first conference! In Washington no less! It was a bit like coming to the Emerald City :-) ).  This follows a Master in Information Studies with a concentration in Archives, with a single course on records management that barely scratched the surface.  I have learned a tonne and continue to learn on the job, from ARMA offerings, free webinars, network contacts, and from the articles, ideas and opinions offered on this listserv.

So as a wide-eyed newbie who has been pleasantly surprised to be as interested in "the dark side" of records management (as we used to call it as archivists!) as I was passionate about archives, I have no critical comment to offer on ARMA the association; just appreciation for the longer and wiser experiences of others who share their expertise and critical analysis here.  

Thank you!

Carolyn Harris
Information and Records Management Administrator
Kwanlin Dun First Nation
Whitehorse, Yukon
CANADA
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