SAA Austin - Thursday

Right now we are live from Session 203 - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Electronic Records Preservation. The speakers are being introduced by the chair of the session, Nancy Kunde, and I will comment on their talks as we go along. Roger Christman of the Library of Virginia is up first. The title of his paper is "It takes a leap of faith: The Library of Virginia, the Governor's Office and Electronic Records." As many of you know, I now work with electronic records in my daily work.

Roger is talking about the relationship between the Library and the Governor's Office, discussing the problems that existed in the relationship between the state's chief executive and the Library. The Library even went so far as to sue Governor James Gilmore, to make sure all of his records were transferred, including electronic records.

Note: As I am sitting in the back so I can plug in my laptop to get power, I am also doing my best to try and kill or injure archivists as the wire for my laptop runs from the back row to the wall. Be cautious coming into Salon F and turning right.

Christman continued, discussing the "archival emergency" the Library of VA faced, when the governor was not sure what to do about the records and there was no legislation in place to protect the records. The Library was proactive and got legislation passed to get the records on schedule and ensure they would not be lost.

UPDATE #1
Second up is Patricia Michaels from the Kansas State Historical Society to discuss, "The Long and Winding Road toward Electronic Records Preservation in Kansas." Unlike Roger, she is using PowerPoint. She is talking from her PowerPoint notes (I assume) and has also provided copies of her PowerPoint presentation. I don't quite understand the point of providing copies of your talk, unless you don't want people paying attention to what you are saying.

KSHS, started their electronic records program in the mid-90s through an NHPRC grant, and conducted extensive surveys of Kansas state agencies to evaluate existing electronic records policies and practices to develop their own guidelines. Out of those initiatives, they hired an electronic records archivist, a position that continues to this day.

UPDATE #2
Final speaker, Joanne Kaczmarek from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is discussing the efforts of UIUC's efforts to preserve their electronic records. They went right to the top, enlisting many of the heavy hitters of the electronic records world (including many from my employer, which has had an electronic records program for nearly 40 years).

She may have coined the new term - "joining the archival slipstream." Speakers have all wrapped up and I am going to slip out and see what presents itself next. I'm thinking lunch.