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Vol. 30:3 ISSN 0160-8460 September 2002
Electronic Records Training and Awareness in South Carolina
by Roy H. Tryon
The challenges to archivists and records managers posed by the proliferation of information technology and electronic records are many and varied at Federal, state, and local levels of government as well as in the private sector. The South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board (SC SHRAB) identified electronic records as a major challenge in its state plan, Into the 21st Century: A Plan for South Carolina's Historical Records, 2000-2005, and set a goal to "encourage and promote the effective management of electronic records" in the state. This goal is to be accomplished through encouraging educational opportunities and information sharing on standards and best practices, and promoting public awareness of the problems in managing electronic records over time. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH), according to the SC SHRAB plan, should play a leadership role in electronic records management in the state.
The SCDAH took this leadership responsibility seriously in its June 2000 application for support to the NHPRC for an Electronic Records Training and Awareness Project. Thanks to a $37,435 NHPRC grant, the SCDAH is making significant progress on the SC SHRAB plan as it relates to electronic records. The 2-year grant, which runs from July 2001 through June 2003, has the following goals:
- To promote awareness among government agencies and institutions, colleges and universities, and repositories of non-government records concerning the issues related to the long-term preservation of and access to archival electronic records;
- To increase the basic knowledge of archivists, records managers, information technology specialists, and other information professionals in the key concepts, strategies, and applications related to the management of, preservation of, and long-term access to archival electronic records; and
- To enhance and improve the electronic records training efforts of the SCDAH.
The project consists of presentations at each of the annual conferences of the state's archivists, state and local government records managers, and state government information technology professionals and at six workshops at the SCDAH. These workshops are grouped around three subject areas: information technology for archivists, records managers, and other information professionals; managing electronic records; and preserving and providing long-term access to archival electronic records. Each of these three subject areas is treated by full-day workshops at both the basic and the advanced levels.
Presentations at Professional Conferences
The SCDAH is already well along on this project. Two independent consultants led the way. In the fall of 2001, Rick Barry spoke at the South Carolina Information Technology Directors Association (SCITDA) conference and John Phillips addressed the South Carolina Public Records Association (SCPRA) meeting, both of which were held in Myrtle Beach, SC. SCITDA membership and conference attendance is made up of state government agency information technology directors and their staff members. SCPRA is composed of state and local government records management personnel.
Barry delivered the opening keynote address at the SCITDA conference on September 10th on "Recordmaking Systems that Aren't Recordkeeping Systems: Making Sure IT Doesn't Get Blind-Sided," and followed with an afternoon session on "Making the Distinctions Among the Management Modifiers: Enterprise, Process, Relationships, Content, Knowledge, Document, Records ... So What?" Phillips' presentation to the SCPRA meeting on October 25th was "Challenges for Preserving Accurate, Authentic, and Trustworthy Electronic Records." Each presenter reached more than 100 attendees, most of whom had little prior knowledge or concern about archival issues in managing electronic records.
The third and final professional conference presentation is scheduled for October 8, 2002. Tom Ruller of the New York State Archives will address a plenary session at the South Carolina Archival Association (SCAA) conference in Columbia, SC. The SCAA is composed primarily of college and university, historical society, and museum personnel, but also has significant state and local government participation. Ruller will deal with archival issues in managing and preserving archival electronic records.
Workshops
The workshops began in early 2002. Dr. Charles Dollar, an independent consultant formerly associated with the National Archives and Records Administration, the University of British Columbia, and Cohassett Associates, led the way on January 22nd with a basic workshop entitled "Information Technology Concepts and Tools." He returned on April 18th to conduct an advanced workshop on that same topic. These first two workshops proved remarkably successful. Whereas the speakers at the professional conferences address somewhat "captive" audiences, the workshops require attendees to register well in advance and to commit an entire day to the workshop. The January 22nd workshop had 154 attendees, and the April 18th workshop had 120.
Not only were these numbers as good or better than those of the professional association conferences, they also contained a good mix of individuals: archives, records management, and information technology personnel, from both the government and private sector. Each of the workshop sessions is being videotaped, and copies are available upon request. The individual registration fee for the workshops is kept low, at $20, enough to cover lunch and other refreshments.
The following workshops are scheduled through mid-2003:
Managing Electronic Records
Basic, David Stephens, August 22, 2002
Advanced, Rick Barry, October 29, 2002
Preserving and Providing Long-Term Access to Archival Electronic Records
Basic, Tom Ruller, April, 2003
Advanced, Anne Gilliland, May 2003
Promotion and Publicity
SCDAH staff had worked extensively with SCITDA, SCPRA, and SCAA to ensure good program placement and appropriate pre-conference publicity and information about the presenters and their topics. Considerable time and effort was also spent on publicizing the six upcoming workshops. This included placing notices in newsletters, sending e-mails to listservs and individuals, mailing brochures to over 1,000 individuals in advance of each workshop, and developing a project web site (http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/armertrain.htm). The web site includes not only information about future workshops and presenters, but also summaries of already completed conference and workshop presentations.
Results
Though it might be premature to assess the project's impact and results, it is clear that by the numbers alone the project is proving successful. The sessions have been very well attended and have drawn in many more than the "usual suspects." The NHPRC grant brought top-notch speakers to South Carolina to deal with the most important and timely aspects of electronic records, from basic understanding of concepts and processes through daily management to long-term preservation. Most of the state's archivists, records managers, and information technology professionals attending the NHPRC-supported sessions would not have been able to travel to the more distant and expensive conferences at which such speakers are most often found.
A likely result of this exposure is a broader base of understanding, or at least appreciation, in South Carolina of the importance and complexity of electronic records issues. This awareness is preparing the ground for action on electronic records sooner than would otherwise occur. More immediately, the presentations are informing the changes in the SCDAH's ongoing electronic records training offerings and our approaches to dealing with electronic records in state and local government agencies.
Later this fall we will be launching a major records scheduling project for the South Carolina Department of Social Services. The current NHPRC-supported training project has contributed greatly to our understanding of what needs to be addressed in such a project and how to go about it. This builds upon the training project, taking us to a new level of activity. We have hopes for additional NHPRC support for this more direct and extensive foray into electronic records in South Carolina state government.
Roy H. Tryon is the State Archivist and Records Administrator of South Carolina.
