Federal Records Handling Report Dated 2/22/2011 by NARA

Federal Records are national assets and are necessary in order to maintain Government transparency and accountability. In a recent survey conducted by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) dated February 22, 2011, only 14% or 34 of 251 responders noted their agency provided formal records management training to their staff.

Responders indicated their electronic records management programs in many cases:

- Do not ensure that e-mail records are preserved in a record keeping system;

- Do not monitor staff compliance with e-mail preservation policies on a regular basis;

- Have policies that instruct employees to print and file e-mail messages;

- Consider system backups a preservation strategy for electronic records, not distinguishing between saving and preserving electronic records;

- Consider compliance monitoring to be the responsibility of IT staff; and

- Are rarely or not all involved with, or are excluded from altogether, the design, development, and implementation of new electronic systems.

A significant minority (41%) of Federal agency records management programs do not oversee records disposition by senior-level officials.   Read more…

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U.S. Government Manual –  The United States Government Manual provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislature, judicial, and executive branches.  It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees.  A free download publication on-line!  Read more...

Toolkit For Managing Electronic Records

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