Archives News

Last year was an exceptionally busy year for the State Records Committee! In 2024, the committee received approximately 260 appeals and issued 85 Decisions and Orders. Additionally, 65 appeals were withdrawn before a hearing because they were resolved through mediation, thanks to the hard work of the Government Records Ombudsman, Monica Minaya! 2024 Charts Most of the requesters who appealed were members of

Meet Ann Richins, a dedicated professional with over nine years of service at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). After spending seven and a half years as the assistant director of the library, she transitioned to the Risk Management Department, where she took on the role of Approved Records Officer (ARO) in November 2022. For this spotlight, Ann shared shared her

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,

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

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

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

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

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