Yay, finally!
Alex
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maarja Krusten 2
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:13 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Impact of records culture (spectrum)
Sharing a link on notetaking with my added contextual comments in the RM, archival, and long term (ultimate end) user context. Speaking for myself, of course. Rebecca Ruiz quotes from a former FBI official in an article, "Comey's Memos Were a Product of a Culture of Note-Taking."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/james-comey-memos-fbi-culture.html?ref=politics
That official, Lauren C. Anderson, refers to a culture of contemporaneous notetaking at the FBI which stems from the agency's particular mission.
The rest of the article is beyond the scope of my message. But the issue of notetaking is not because cultural competence is a key part of understanding Federal records issues. Agencies and departments are not monolithic.
This is why prescriptive templates, especially ones stemming from "fault finding" rather than empathetic solution-finding, rarely work. In fact, they can actually become stressers, for which inability to air them out publicly with any degree of candor adds to the challenges of formulating external communications strategies within agencies and departments.
Some agencies and departments still value notetaking in permanently valuable or long term retention records series although in most agencies taking notes increasingly is rare. (Where it is on that spectrum depends on the mission and assessment of functional risks within any particular agency or department. And even within offices or among ranks within an
organization.)
As I observed in a blog post last month, "No two agencies or departments are exactly alike. Whether they have historians on staff or not, all governmental components have histories. They affect their missions, values, how they create and handle and, most importantly, assess risk in records."
https://archivalexplorations.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/archivists-librarians-information-professionals/
On the other end of the Federal spectrum from ones where notetaking still is valued are agencies where, as John Earl Haynes said in 2003, "Pre-emptive sanitization of the record is not episodic but nearly universal among policy making officials and their staffs.”
Historians such as the late Eduard Mark of the Air Force pointed to an increase in knowledge gaps as early as 15 years ago. Some gaps have technological causes, others cultural, some a complex mix of the two.
Mitigation at first recognition of cause and effect (had recognizing its existence been more widespread) might have had a small impact at the start of the 21st century but largely did not occur then. The mitigation would have to have been exquisitely culturally sensitive, of course.
Relatedly, Jason Grumet observed in a 2014 op ed that "Most government staff now operate under the principle of 'don’t write that down' and avoid raising concerns and challenging questions altogether for fear that they will be publicly revealed to embarrassing effect."
If you're willing to look beyond the performative aspects sometimes seen in "records management theater" to consider risk assessment at its hardest (hence often avoided) but deepest, bravest levels, you can see and understand the cultural impact on record keeping of one of my favorite phrases--"it depends."
Maarja
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@ArchivesMaarja
Blog: Archival Explorations <https://archivalexplorations.wordpress.com/>
Washington, DC
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