Archives News

Social Media and Email Management Presenters’ Handouts Thank you to everyone who attended the training event on Friday, April 4th. We hope that you found the presentations helpful in fulfilling your roles as records officers. Below you will find copies of the presentation slides for future reference: Social Media: Strategies for Successfully Managing Legal Risks by Dr. Randy L. Dryer,

A meeting was held in May with several school districts, an attorney, the Government Records Ombudsman, and record analysts. The first draft was reviewed and edited. The updated draft has been sent to the Appointed Record Officers of every school district in Utah for their input. The following general retention schedules will be presented to the State Records Committee at

     Nearly every year the Legislature makes changes to the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) or other state records laws. In the past, most changes have been quietly implemented. However, last year when lawmakers passed House Bill 477 the resulting public outcry prompted its speedy repeal. The public message was that Utahans want easier access to government records and not

Typically, the justification for a records management (RM) program is tied to cost cutting, efficiency, and managing risk. While certainly important pieces of records management, for government records managers there is an additional and significant reason for a RM program.  Government archivists and records managers typically are guided by mission statements that focus on preserving and documenting government institutions. One

Simplifying Access to Government Records One duty of a records officer is to provide public access to government records. To help simplify the records request process, records officers and the public should be clear about the records or information requested. Records retention schedules can be used as a tool to accomplish this. Some questions to ask are: Where are the records kept?

When it comes time to schedule records with the Utah State Archives and Records Service there may be some confusion about general retention schedules. What are general schedules? What purpose do they serve? How do I use a general schedule? ARMA International defines a retention schedule as: “A comprehensive list of records series, indicating for each the length of time it is

       Some of Utah’s cultural heritage custodians met with first responders and disaster planners at the Utah Alliance for Response forum on November 2, to discuss actions that can be taken to protect  records and other cultural heritage artifacts in the event of a disaster. Planners hope that the outcome of this forum will be the creation of partnerships and strengthened communication between