Welcome back to our occasional series “Off the Record,” a curated collection of articles we found interesting on a broad range of topics, some of which are directly related to records management and other which might share common themes. No, we didn’t write these articles—hence the name of this series, “Off the Record”—but, fortunately, we…
Goddess of Liberty at the State Capitol, February 1888 (Austin History Center) In this edition of Remarkable Records, we are going to look at photographs that document local governments and state agencies. Photographs capture a moment in time as a visual representation that represent infrastructure, events, and people that help to shape the state we…
Since 1972, the State and Local Records Management Division (SLRM) has operated the State Records Center (SRC) on Shoal Creek Boulevard in Austin. The original building included space to store more than 152,000 cubic feet of records, with an extension added in 1986 providing another 232,000 cubic square feet of storage for state agencies and…
In a criminal justice system, records and information are necessary to support operations and functions. In a television show like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, our old friend RIM-Brain often pops in to say, “Hey, that’s not proper records and information management (RIM).” These are their stories. DUN-DUN. As always, spoilers ahead! “Game” (Season…
Folksonomy and Taxonomy: two classifications, one new and one old, that are the often-overlooked building blocks of records management. They not only help organize and classify information, but are also essential to successful records management. What is Folksonomy? Folksonomy is a fairly new term created in 2004 by Thomas Vander Wal and is a portmanteau…
by Brianna Cochran and Erica Rice Sometimes as records and information management (RIM) professionals, we become so used to looking for RIM issues at work that we continue to see those issues in our free time. We’ve dubbed this condition “RIM-Brain.” A leisure activity like watching television takes on larger implications as the RIM-Brain takes…
Sometimes, the Sunset Commission “sunsets” state agencies. But what does that mean? “In government, ‘Sunset’ reviews regularly assess the need for a state agency or program to exist. In Texas, the Sunset process works by setting an expiration (Sunset) date in law for state agencies. An agency will automatically be abolished on its Sunset date…
The records management assistance unit at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) receives many questions from state agencies when it comes to recertifying retention schedules. A question we commonly receive concerns the “R” code; what does “R – Archival Review” mean, and what does the State Archives have to do with it? TSLAC…