Posts pertaining to Texas state agencies.
There is a term in records management circles you might have heard of called “big buckets.” Have you ever stopped and thought, “What is this? Should I be doing this? Am I missing out on something?” (Coincidentally, there’s the pop culture acronym F.O.M.O. which stands for “fear of missing out” that comes to mind. Google…
It’s been almost 6 years since we addressed this question originally. In that time, the popularity of text messaging (“texting”) has skyrocketed while awareness that text messages (“texts”) are potentially government records has increased very little. Here we go again! The definition of a government record in Texas is media neutral. A record is defined…
We sometimes get questions from local governments and state agencies who are looking for vendors to provide records management services like destruction or electronic systems. While TSLAC generally cannot make any recommendations for specific vendors, we can help connect you with further resources which will hopefully help you make better informed decisions when it comes…
Whether you are new to records management or an experienced records management officer, you all face or have faced the following question: “How do I make records management relevant in my office?” Depending on your office environment, knowing when and how to talk to your office leadership about records management can be challenging. Your peers…
Edited to update hyperlinks on October 5, 2021 Recently, many questions have been raised about how to establish a electronic records (e-records) management policy. One of the main questions we’ve received is what is covered within an e-records management policy. An e-records management policy enhances the organization’s policy on information management and storage. A well-crafted…
Picture this: After a seventh consecutive day of raining, there are flood warnings for the surrounding area—a common problem for central Texas— and your government building is in the flood zone. Does work need to carry on regardless of the conditions? How do you ensure business continues? Imagine your office building has a suspected gas leak…
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…
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…