I am another old-timer around here too and I am often confused with
Patrick who is far smarter and a much better dancer. Like Jesse I am one
of those acronym junkies seeking out the next certification and thanks
to Bruce White's urging I begin the PMP process on Friday. 

I came into the profession from several years of archival and library
research in the 1970s (when typewriters were normal and Larry was
interfiling memos) and was hired by the retired founder of the NSA's RIM
program at my university. At that time a job, any job, was a prize and
the $7500 sounded really great. After a year of accessioning record
series I could see that there was a future in records management. 

With my overeducation I was unemployable. At that time you always left a
degree or two off an application for employment. I have three degrees
and while I should be selling insurance with my MA in history, I had an
expertise in filing systems. I had to memorize the WWI Army filing
system to access their files at NARA for research. Records came
naturally after that. I had relevant experiences in school despite those
"useless" degrees. Jesse, we often have to be very political when
managing varying departments with an implementation. That Political
Science degree comes in real handy. Four of the people I went to grad
school with are RIM professionals today.

My interests went beyond records on paper and I became fascinated with
microforms - film, COM, fiche and 9-track magnetic tape. I had done
plenty of keypunching in my undergrad years and the coming of the PC
meant far more than the use as an automated typewriter. I became
fascinated with trying to map out a database format with tables to track
boxes. 

Along came Alan Andolsen who in 1985 introduced me to a great database
software. With Wes Jolley we designed a table scheme based in part on a
1983 scheme we had designed without a computer. With a 10 Mb hard drive
we began tracking boxes in a home grown system. We began to receive all
of our file requests via email which was a real change. No more phone
calls!!

In 1987 when I received a 40 Mb hard drive I began to wonder what the
effect would be of tracking items below the box level - by file title.
We spent the summer entering each file title and having contests to see
who could enter the most. By 1988 we broke the 32 Mb DOS limit and were
working on an IBM machine with 125 Mb and went really crazy entering all
the descriptive information we could. 

I have always stood for process improvement so that was a big plus in
the RIM field. If there was a better or easier way, then I am there. 

Welcome to all of those lurkers on the listserv.

Raymond K. Cunningham, Jr. CRM, CA, CIPP
Manager of Records Services
University of Illinois Foundation
Harker Hall, MC-386
1305 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
217 244-0658
[log in to unmask]

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]