Archives News

Being a records officer for a government agency is a tough job, especially for a large entity like the Utah State Board of Education (USBE). This month, we’re highlighting Ben Rasmussen, USBE’s appointed records officer and Director of Law and Professional Practices, for all the hard work he does. USBE is in the middle of a big project to clean

Emily Bejarano has worked with Utah charter schools for the past twenty years through her job at Academica West. Her role is to train new school secretaries on records management,  student data privacy laws, and best practices. In other words, she’s the one who answers the question “What do I do with all these old boxes of records?” Thanks for

Over the several years that I’ve been a RIM specialist at the State Archives, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many different State departments. The Department of Environmental Quality has consistently reached out to State Archives over the years, and is always just delightful to work with, so I wanted to recognize them for that. Instead of highlighting a

The Archives receives records all the time, but what do we do with them after we get them? The first step in receiving records is to document the transfer of legal custody to the State Archives. We do this either by utilizing a transfer form, by which a government entity signs the records over to us, or by a deed

The Utah State Archives is thrilled to welcome our new Government Records Ombudsman, Monica Minaya! Monica comes to us with a wealth of GRAMA (Government Records Access and Management Act) experience having served as the GRAMA response coordinator for both Unified Police and the Herriman Police Department. Let’s get to know her! Welcome, Monica! What are you expecting in your

As a Reformatting Specialist, Leif Johnson has come across his fair share of challenging projects. Recently, he was presented with a seriously tricky audio reformatting issue that required his expertise and problem-solving abilities. Below, Leif explains how his technical skills saved the day! “We had court audio records that were recorded at a slower speed to capture more data. This

Katie Ricks is the Administrative Assistant and Records Officer for the Utah Department of Natural Resources in the Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands. We recently had the chance to work closely with Katie for a large records transfer and we were impressed with her skills and organization. Let’s learn more about Katie and her division… Tell us about

Sydney Dahle started as a deputy clerk in the Cache County Clerk’s office in 2021, and is assigned to work as the county’s official record-keeper. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri Sydney moved to Utah to attend Utah State University. Sydney has an interest in preserving history and helping people access government records, and recently graduated with degrees in history and

Records retention is simply a practice by which an organization maintains their records for set lengths of time, and systems in which they use to either redirect, store, or dispose of those records. The records retention schedule is the policy which guides this practice, by clearly defining how long a record must be kept and the guidelines for how records

Howdy! Looks like you are getting ready to depart on a records management journey. The road to a good records management program will require endurance, patience and perseverance. Here are 5 things to prepare for before you hit the trail:  1. Determine your destination: You will want to determine your destination by setting records management goals. Do you want to