In an essay for the September 2015 edition of Prologue, the Archivist of
the United States, David S. Ferriero, looked at "Managing Those Emails."
He explains why the National Archives has turned to a Capstone approach, at
least on an interim basis.  And the purpose of outreach to the software
industry to look for automated solutions that relieve individual employees
in Federal agencies and departments, including Cabinet level departments,
of trying to determine what emails are "historically important" and what
are temporary.

He notes (and I agree) that "forecasting what is 'historically important'
is a blend of art and science."  And refers to the value of lessons from
and for information professionals not just in government, but in corporate
and academic settings as well.  David also refers to amendments to Federal
statutes and regulations which include provisions about the use of personal
email accounts to discuss agency or department business.

AOTUS Prologue article here
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.archives.gov_publications_prologue_2015_summer_archivist.html&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=2SO40c4tBTV-pC5pqYY0mJuJW4ecOERpR7pKhPmKfWc&e=
or short link
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__bit.ly_2eqSzOY&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=-LTbyonnDVJwovrtLki0umHs0xfL01Ll1BPrez-U38g&e=

Around the same time, the Archivist spoke with the then President of the
Society of American Archivists (SAA) for its annual conference, offering a
candid and honest observation about RM which I quoted in a blog post that I
called "Truth Bomb."
Quoted link from session recording with contemporaneous conference tweet in
post:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivalexplorations.wordpress.com_2017_05_03_truth-2Dbomb_&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=A-8tq7kdvLRStigqGKQsupHb3IW_GaBuoxVIfGBmSZ0&e=
or short link
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__bit.ly_2qCCsWb&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=7-bNW6Xjef6pmRwEhHEjsiXdug-MePjapbT7zkeU64E&e=

I appreciate hearing various perspective here on the Listserv; they help
broaden my understanding of record keeping challenges and center the RM in
various contexts that outsiders may miss.  Yesterday's discussion of email
practices by a Federal official who came to Washington from a position at
the state level a reminder that although some of you have worked as
permanent civil servants at the Federal level, some also have RM experience
at the state level.  Since I very much believe that making the RM message
resonate requires careful balancing of positive and negative incentives,
I'm interested in cases where you laid the groundwork for what we see at
the Federal level from such officials, in your prior work with them on
state level RM.

That is, how executives who come into Fedland from state positions gained
their first exposure to statutory RM requirements for those state
positions.  They would have first heard about record keeping requirements
from those of you who briefed them directly or through upper level
surrogates about how to handle emails and electronic records as public
servants. And then (speaking generally, no specific official in mind)
brought those experiences, whatever they were, into Fedland as they
accepted new positions.  I recognize that state records laws (RM and open
records), regulations, and guidance varies greatly, so you have worked with
a wide array of tools.

Relatedly, at the state level, who have been your internal organizational
allies as you customized your RM messaging to resonate within C-Suite state
level culture?  At the state and local levels, as lesewhere in the public
or private sector, executive culture can be a highly complicated mix of
opacity, compelled or voluntary performative acts, including in dealing
with publicly unacknowledgeable partisan elements (as well as nonpartisna
efforts) in state legislatures, city councils, certain public inquiries,
etc. And some of the same complex "real life" elements I described in my
"Appraisal" post at the Federal level, including the quote from former
National Security Advisor, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and former
Secretary of State Colin Powell's memoirs.  My experience all is Federal,
so while I understand some of Fedland's culture, at specific and general
levels, I'd like to learn more about state and local cultural RM elements.

Those of you who work with or as state archivists may have heard that the
Archivist robustly stood up for state archivists in a public forum at the
National Archives last year.  I found that gratifying and explained the
context for his remarks in a post about the value of archives and RM work,
with thanks to some named RM practitioners.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivalexplorations.wordpress.com_2017_05_03_archivists-2Dlibrarians-2Dinformation-2Dprofessionals_&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=YaxHiJ2GPm2o6hJQ4VXo1zYCDaG68EEI9U9VJllpZDo&e=
or short link
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__bit.ly_2qIpc1i&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=uCas3dc-ZE5GtScHWEABeM42jOxruluMrRPl8kfm0xQ&e=

And as you may have heard, the SAA conference in Washington this year will
be held jointly with the Council of State Archivists and the National
Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators.

I recognize that for some of you, parts of your experiences may be
challenging to share in public, perhaps due in part to some of the same
"chilling effect" that affects preserved records of officials with whom you
work or worked.  But if you feel able, I would welcome hearing about state
level entity cultural aware RM strategies.  I very much appreciate your
efforts in the face of the many challenges that affect electronic record
keeping in states, as well as in Fedland and in coporate and academic
settings.   Third parties often overlook the RM in writing news articles
and commentary about records simply due to unfamiliarity with practice,
processes, and highly diverse cultural elements  Here's your chance to put
the records manager's good efforts into focus and, with my thanks, to
center information professionals as the valuable contributors they are!

Maarja
[log in to unmask]
Washington, DC
@ArchivesMaarja
Blog:  Archival Explorations
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivalexplorations.wordpress.com_&d=DwIBaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=A1IB36I2eLsiyWpJIxKLA8otVh7DYVbVtIKJ4ATmi60&s=qpTd0hfO9CF7S9FK-MSLZ_46_303uyIW-QPHdk8LpTA&e=

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