County Records Centers and Archives and the need for a Digital Preservation System

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Many County Records Centers and Archives face the challenges of modest budgets and limited staff. Oftentimes, we have to prioritize projects and rely on volunteers for additional help. Planning is a must but frequently in a small office, plans change and staff need to be able to communicate with one another and adapt to changes in plans.

For a number of years, we at the Greene County Records Center and Archives were aware that we would need to acquire a digital preservation system for the growing number of permanent/long-term County digital records. Priorities and a limited budget prolonged tackling this issue. In 2021, we began speaking with and surveying many of the County Offices/Departments regarding the direction they were going with their records. We found that Offices/Departments were either completely going digital for their records or were doing a hybrid approach – paper and electronic. We also learned that the County’s Offices/Departments’ in-house data management systems, were no longer going to be supported by the County’s IT Department. We knew that we needed to act soon for providing an alternative for these Offices/Departments.

We researched the best digital preservation systems and found that Preservica met all of our needs. Below are the following points that sold us on Preservica.

  1. Digital preservation system that preserves long-term/permanent records
  2. Addresses hardware and software obsolescence through migrations
  3. Protects digital records from degradation/corruption of formats by monitoring the fixity of records
  4. Converts records to open formats based on archival standards
  5. Secure/Controlled digital environment – backed up on five different Cloud servers around the world multiple times
    1. 24/7 monitoring
    1. Encryption of all files
  6. Can add metadata to make records searchable
  7. User Security Settings
    1. Public User – public records
    1. Internal User – Public and Confidential records
    1. Internal Administrative User – Public and Confidential records
  8. Cannot accidentally or intentionally delete records without the action being reviewed by County Records Manager. County Records Manager can deny a deletion request if the Office /Department has not signed off on an RC-3 or if the records do not meet the retention schedule.

Purchasing Preservica was just the tip of the iceberg. There were many challenges and lessons learned along our year journey of implementing Preservica. These challenges and lessons learned will be documented in a tip sheet and will be available later this year.

Elise Kelly
Greene County Records Center and Archives

“Hey Siri, manage my records:” the records management implications of emerging cognitive technologies

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Human decision-making is being supported or replaced by several emerging cognitive technologies, including Internet of Things, Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Recently, the National Archives and Records Administration issued a white paper that provides a review and analysis of these cognitive technologies and their potential impact on records management.

The white paper focuses on the following emerging cognitive technologies:

Internet of Things: The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, collecting and sharing data. Devices like Alexa and Siri can be used to operate lights, lock doors, add calendar items, answer questions, and more. In 2016, the City of San Diego approved a plant to retrofit streetlights with processors and data storage to gather data and analytics to improve parking, traffic and safety.

Robotic Process Automation: Robotic Process Automation is a technology platform that enables a software robot (“bot”) to interact with applications. The white paper offers an example of a bot that assists members of the public asking for information about a topic. The bot opens a chat, scans the content, opens the agency’s reference request system, populates the requester’s contact information, makes a best guess at the purpose of the request, and provides resources to help the requester find the information they seek.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Machine learning refers to a software programming technique that uses algorithms to autonomously improve decisions through analysis. Artificial intelligence is described as teaching machines to learn and solve problems so they can make yes or no decisions. The white paper discusses the use of these tools by governmental entities to classify emails to allow the public to search and more easily access certain government officials’ emails.

In addition to exploring the cultural and societal considerations associated with the use of cognitive technologies, the white paper explores the records management implications associated with their use and reminds readers of the following:

  • While the volume of data created by these technologies can be staggering, the data must be managed by agencies within a records management framework.
  • The length of retention continues to be driven by business needs and legal requirements.
  • These technologies may impact existing policies and standards, such as ensuring records management controls requirements for electronic information systems, and ensuring they adequately maintain the authenticity and integrity of records.

Although the white paper focuses primarily on federal records, it highlights the need for forethought from any public entity interested in incorporating these technologies into their business practices.

New webinar recordings added

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Announcing that for those who were unable to participate in our recent webinars, we have just posted free video recordings of our Electronic Records Day event, “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”, as well as our 2022 fall symposium, “Shifting to a Remote Workplace: Records Management Best Practices and Lessons Learned While Working from Home. Please see below for descriptions and links to the presentations. They also may be found on the Trainings/Events page of the OhioERC site.

2022 Fall Webinar: Shifting to a Remote Workplace: Records Management Best Practices and Lessons Learned While Working from Home

Records management and educating your offices about record retention requirements is more important than ever when considering the management of organizational records in a remote work setting. Learn about records management program implications and lessons learned while working from home for some ideas to carry forward to better support a remote work environment for public agencies. Topics include perspectives from several public work environments and includes discussion on the management of records on online conferencing platforms that need to be managed. https://youtu.be/sUhAnmDw01w

OhioERC Sponsored Presentation for Electronic Records Day

On October 10, 2022, the Ohio Electronic Records Committee partnered with Miami University, the Greene County Records Center and Archives, and Preservica to host a free webinar to commemorate Electronic Records Day.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Government information ecosystems are complex and dynamic while recordkeeping obligations are long-standing and robust. Public sector institutions at all levels increasingly rely on electronically stored information created in dozens of applications and managed in hundreds of file formats to deliver services and provide access to government records. But digital information is more fragile than its analog counterparts and subject to ever changing technology environments. This reality can put the authenticity and usability of long-term (10+ year retention) and permanent electronic records at risk.

This presentation will compare and contrast document management systems and digital preservation systems. The major workflows used to future-proof permanent and long-term electronic records and their essential metadata will be described. A Records and Archives Management case study from Greene County will be shared to bring to light essential differences between document management and preservation systems.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqLY6B67ocQ