Some records managers who belong to the Society of American Archivists were
discussing effective partnering in RIM messaging in another online RM
forum.  To the extent it applies in Fedland or in state and local entities,
sharing this tip I posted here on the Listserv, as well.

In the Federal setting, my experience (by observation and by talking to RMs
throughout Federal executive agencies/departments) is that people in
business units sometimes don't have the time or knowledge of all internal
and external stakeholders to consider the big picture regarding records.
For example, officials and line staff in a unit may interact occasionally
with their employer's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) official, who
searches for and reviews for disclosure records held by their unit.  This
may condition some business unit employees to think of records access as
being contingent on internal review for release to outsiders, with
redaction according to statutory exemptions.

However, when it comes to transferring records of permanent value to the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), they are supposed to
be sent "as is."  Which is to say, no screening and removal of scheduled
material (purging) prior to transmittal.  For example, a case file that
consists solely of material scheduled as permanently valuable should not be
screened by the creating agency to change the history of what happened.
The appropriate case records placed in the file originally should be
transferred to NARA according to the records control schedule.  Even if the
case file contains national security classified or PII or other sensitive
material, it should be sent as created.  This is different than agency FOIA
releases where you protect national security and PII.  We know this, but
line staff and even program unit managers and executives may not.

So it's important for the RM to emphasize how the receiving archives
handles sensitive material and disclosure review.  That is to say, material
should come in "as is" but that NARA does not do document dumps to the
public of unscreened material.  The access and transparency panel I
mentioned (with video) in my last blog post did a good job in explaining
how processing accessioned archival materials works.

Officials who are used to dealing with a FOIA officer in working with newer
recordd rather than the RM team on older ones need reminders that transfers
of paper and electronic records aspirationally occur "as is."  (At the
senior levels, depending on the setting, an official may have more FOIA
related briefings than RM related briefings.) Accessioning involves
transfer of legal title to the records to the National Archives on behalf
of the United States.  Of course, the tracking and forensics of
post-creation handling of records within an agency or department prior to
transfer are different for a folder of paper records than for material in
an electronic documents/records management system.

This seems obvious, of course.  But it's important to respect and recognize
how busy people are in program offices.  And that many have never done
archival research.  They may not have considered how access occurs after
transfer of legal title to NARA for Federal records or to a state archives
for state records.  Including FOIA or public records review staff in your
RIM month presentations, and explaining that records aren't purged before
transfer to archives, worth considering in RIM Month presentations.

Since records work includes a lot of outreach and teamwork, many RMs
include General Counsel employees in RIM Month activities.  But in some
cases, the FOIA staff may be the "face of disclosure" to line staff and
management level officials.  As the RM, you can bridge the different ways
that access occurs with current records in-custody and with archival
records post-custody transfer.  A good way to talk about the entire records
lifecycle and to ensure that fellow employees, colleagues, aren't
blindsided, and that this important work comes out right for everybody,
regardless of rank or function, of course.

Maarja
[log in to unmask]
Washington, DC
Blog:  Archival Explorations
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archivalexplorations.wordpress.com_&d=DwIFaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=b5NZPQUb9_r2rQ3Zd74ATT3aSs9yKyRnJLOhqJvd7fE&m=98aWQ0Qj6f86MZ-1kuoLk50OaCGMvxT5fEpy-zHJjdk&s=1OCpLuMIGf4ehIk4twLdcuamyVilsYrtf41Ad2VhDtA&e=


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