The spooky season is here once more. Let’s turn on our screens, grab the caramel corn, and don on our best striped outfits to enjoy another season of Halloween films. We in the records management field often see records and information management (RIM) applications in our entertainment. Let’s cross over and have an eerie time.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

Beetlejuice (1988)

The horror comedy film follows a ghost couple trying to scare away the new (living) residents of their home and the “bio-exorcist” they summoned to frighten them away.

After several failed attempts to scare away the new owners (the Deetzes), our ghostly couple (the Maitlands) decide they need help to drive the Deetzes out. The Maitlands end up in the waiting room of the Netherworld’s bureaucracy, which gives a feeling of endless waiting. After being called, they realize they forgot their handbook, but still enter in for their appointment. Apparently, all the instructions, including how to make appointments in the Netherworld for the deceased, are in the handbook. Upon entering the main office, you see paper everywhere—either tossed or fallen on the floor, creating piles, sticking out of filing cabinets, and overflowing in the office mailboxes. Such a state of few explanations and chaos in the workplace invokes a need to organize the place to prevent any tripping hazards, start an inventory project to see where all of those paper records go, and check to see what records have met retention.

Though it seems the employees of the Netherworld are not concerned with potential workplace incidents involving slips of paper, they would be advised to review the requirements and recommendations for the storage of paper records found within Bulletin F: Records Storage Standards. The bulletin provides guidance on the protection of records from hazards such as water (by picking the papers of the floor), and the ideal humidity settings for paper (since the office appears to be set in a cavern). Bulletin F’s guidance on protection from theft would be helpful too, for they wouldn’t want “The Ghost With the Most” getting his hands on any information to plan his escape.

An inventory of the paperwork of the deceased would appear to be quite the undertaking. Who knows how far back those records go? Bulletin C: Inventory and Scheduling of Records provides best practices on creating an inventory of what records were on the floor and document where the records will be stored. In the process of sorting out the records, it’d be a good idea to review to see which records have met the retention requirements. Depending on if the Netherworld is a state agency or local government, they should check to their retention schedules to make sure they are not disposing of records before the expiration date or accidentally departing with anything with permanent value.

Before we go we strongly advise to never say the bio-exorcist’s name.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle…

What are some your favorite spooky season RIM-Brain moments? Let us know in the comments.

Checkout our other RIM Brain articles at RIM-Brain| The Texas Record.