Archives News

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July 15, 2024

ARO Spotlight: Anna Crookston – South Jordan City 

Meet Anna Crookston, the City Recorder for South Jordan. Anna is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the city’s records management program, and has earned a reputation for being innovative, adaptable and not afraid to embrace new technologies. Anna was kind enough to chat with us about the lessons that she has learned in her career, how she faces new challenges,
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June 11, 2024

Privacy Bill FAQ

On March 19, House Bill 491 for the Government Data Privacy Act was signed by the Governor of Utah. The bill provides for the creation of a Utah Privacy Governing Board and the creation of the Office of Data Privacy, which is responsible for assisting state agencies in implementing privacy practices, including compliance with legislation, facilitating data subject rights and individuals’ control of their
Featured image for “ARO Spotlight: Debbie Berry from the Division of Water Rights”
May 8, 2024

ARO Spotlight: Debbie Berry from the Division of Water Rights

Records are essential to establishing and managing water rights in Utah, and Debbie Berry has been a critical part of managing records at the Division of Water Rights for the past five years. She is a tenacious researcher when it comes to understanding her Division’s recordkeeping practices and is always on the lookout to resolve questions and establish clear recordkeeping
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March 12, 2024

2024 Legislative Updates to GRAMA

In the 2024 session, the Utah Legislature made several updates to the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Here are the highlights.  Representative Loubet sponsored HB 266 which updates the Government Records Ombudsman statute and the GRAMA appeals process to include the Ombudsman. This bill also removed the State Records Committee from being a necessary party to a petitioner
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January 11, 2024

2023 Year in Review

Here at Utah State Archives, our goal is to ensure the ongoing care and management of the public records that we hold in trust for the citizens of Utah. As we end another year, we take a moment to reflect and share our wins over the past twelve months. In 2023 our staff… This year we also said goodbye to
Featured image for “ARO Spotlight: Emily Bejarano from Academica West”
November 9, 2023

ARO Spotlight: Emily Bejarano from Academica West

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
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October 16, 2023

ARO Spotlight: Department of Environmental Quality Records Team

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
Featured image for “Mastering Accessioning: Unveiling the Art of Organizing Records at the Archives”
August 21, 2023

Mastering Accessioning: Unveiling the Art of Organizing Records at the Archives

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
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May 11, 2023

Untangling Audio: Navigating Reformatting Challenges

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
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March 9, 2023

2023 Legislative Updates

Another legislative session has come to a close. As we all catch our breath, here are a few updates that impact GRAMA, Archives, and Records Management, that you may find interesting. The last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills is the 23rd of March. Any bill that does not have a specified effective date will go into