Those of you who work for state agencies may be familiar with the recertification process, where the Records Management Officer (RMO) submits a records retention schedule of all the records of the agency with instructions on how to manage them. Each state agency must recertify their schedule every five years for review and approval. Recently,…
In my first few years at TSLAC, I wasn’t sure about my path as a librarian veering off in the direction of Records and Information Management. I had experience in the field in both the private and government sectors, but I didn’t know if the work felt really satisfying. Reviewing and approving retention schedules was not among…
In January of 2020, before the year that would become remarkable, we published an article intending to kick off a new series of blog posts about different types of records found on state and local retention schedules that we find particularly interesting or curious. In his discussion about the succinctness of the retention period for…
Each April, we like to celebrate Records and Information Management (RIM) Month. To kick it off this year, we are featuring an interview with John H. Slate, City Archivist for Dallas, Texas. As he is an Austin native and an active participant in the conference circles that we also attend, we felt a kind of…
Announcing our powered-up compliance webinar to help your office in the fight against non-compliance! If you work for a local government and have interacted with us, there’s a good chance you’ve heard us talk about whether or not you’re “in compliance.” We can make it sound more fun and call it the paperwork polka, the…
In late September, we lost an iconic figure in the library and archives field. TSLAC Director Mark Smith shared his thoughts on the Director’s Report blog, but we wanted to add a little more context on how Dr. David Gracy impacted our work in the records management unit. Andrew’s Thoughts: The legacy that Dr. Gracy…
Of all the FAQs we get, this might be the most FAQiest of them all! Both local governments and state agencies want to know if they ‘go paperless’—if they digitize their essential records—can they get rid of the original paper or film copies? Yes! Records management laws and rules applicable to state agencies and local…
Since March 17, 2020, the Records Management Assistance team has been primarily working from home to maximize social distancing measures. We all feel very fortunate for the opportunity and resources to do teleworking. We make appearances at the library once a week or so, but otherwise we spend our time answering consulting questions and developing…