Updated May 2020 If you work in a county government, you might have heard us use the phrase countywide RMO. Today’s topic is about who the countywide records management officer (RMO) is and what they do. The commissioners court designates an individual to serve as the countywide RMO. That person then serves as the RMO for…
Given the fast-paced nature of technology and how quickly systems and formats can reach obsolescence, inevitably state agencies need to migrate agency information, data, and records to newer systems and devices. Whenever TSLAC receives inquiries on this topic, it’s a Catch-22; the analysts exist to help and guide state agencies on records management, however the…
Get ready county clerks, because this post is just for you… A common question posed to the analysts here at TSLAC concerns the difference between records series on Local Schedule CC that look nearly identical but have different retention periods. A good example is series CC1400-11 and CC1400-10. Both are for deputation records, but only…
Despite the acceleration of new technologies over the last couple of decades, if you ask archivists or records managers about best practices of long term preservation of records, they’ll still say microfilm is a solid choice. Much like paper (which has a life expectancy of thousands of years), microfilm can be stored for hundreds of…
Hopefully I’m not revealing a huge secret when I say a large part of the analysts’ responsibilities involves receiving, reviewing and processing local government compliance paperwork. Considering there are over 10,000 local governments across Texas, it keeps us pretty busy, especially since we end up receiving local government compliance paperwork from entities and departments that…
At their best, networked shared drives cut down on filing cabinets, multiple copies and versions of documents, and frantic conversations about where a record copy is. Shared drives can provide a communal space that increases efficiency and collaboration. They also help with version control, access control, and keeping records backed up to a server. However,…
Creating policies for social media records is vital to successfully managing those records and notifying the public of the areas that impact their use of agency social media tools.We’ve previously discussed the benefits and challenges of using social media, identification and retention of social media, and we outlined some methods of capturing these records. So…
This is the last in a series profiling the Who’s Who in Records Management. Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at the Records Management Officer (RMO), records custodians, and records liaisons, who are all very much in the thick of things when it comes to records management. Today we’re taking a step back from hands-on records management to…