Guest post by Michael Shea, Manager, Records Center Services

Author: Michael Shea

I know, another blah blah blog post from the odd* Records Center Manager.  Well, let’s try to do this a little differently, and remove MOST of my flowery/over the top/nearly grammatically correct lingo in favor of a quick…Oh, never mind I can’t even end this sentence quickly.

I want to know what we can do to make your life easier.  No, I can’t buy your groceries, do your laundry, grow your paycheck, walk your dog or intervene in your life in any other meaningful way other than to make records storage easier for you.  That is the corner of your life I want to and can impact.

I still remember looking for a form called “101” before I worked for the records center.  I scoured the internet, and looked high and low for this oh-so-elusive “form.”  I emailed our trusty accessions assistant, Bobby French (Current TSLAC Employee of the Quarter!), who told me the 101 was actually an email, formatted in a specific way using “pipes” or these things:

| <–Has anyone ever had a reason to use a pipe before other than making “indifferent smiley face”?

:|

Thankfully, the Records Center management (PRE-ME!) decided to implement an electronic system that would be easier for our users to complete.  We call that the E-101 form and it has been mostly well received, aside from the avid “copy and paste” crowd.

So, to cut this short, if you store records with us: What can we do to make your experience with sending records here easier for you and your agency? Once they are here, is there a way we can improve our services?

Let me know with comments here or emails to mshea@tsl.texas.gov. I will consider just about anything if we can implement it. If you don’t feel comfortable sending an email directly to me, please think about it and include it on the biannual customer survey that will be sent out in the middle of August. (More on the survey from the Analysts in the near future.)

Ok, now that I think about it… I will happily walk your dog if you bring it to the Records Center.

Michael

*Editor’s Note: “Odd”:  term used by the Austin American-Statesman when they profiled our intrepid Records Center Manager last February. Can’t argue with a professional journalist, can you? –AO