The future of RIM education

We had a great conversation with folks last week about what has worked for them and what they need in the field of records and information management education. As is the case with most things in the RIM field, it depends — more specifically, what people need in a training/education sense depends on where they are professionally and what resources they have to devote to their own professional development.

Here are some interesting comments, suggestions, and evaluations that were shared:

• The content of most grad school RIM classes is too theoretical, so there’s a disconnect to RIM in practice.
• It would be great to see RIM systems demoed by practitioners instead of having to sit through vendor-supplied sessions that are more sales pitch than practical evaluation.
• Many existing training programs can be prohibitively expensive, especially for those new to the profession or without support for professional development.
• Some existing training programs are too superficial to be of much use while others are too rigid and go into topics in depth that may not be relevant to all participants. There needs to be a good in-between option.
• What’s the most effective way to allow emerging professionals to benefit from the expertise of more seasoned RIM professionals? Is it a formal mentoring program, or would something else work better?

Topics on which folks would like to see training opportunities:

• Creating/refining retention and disposition schedules
• Crossing over from traditional archives work into RIM
• Starting a new RIM program
• Conducting RIM outreach to colleagues and building alliances and mentoring relationships within the workplace
• Surveying records
• Developing RIM training for constituents and assessing its effectiveness
• Researching legal requirements for records (retention and confidentiality)
• Incorporating graduate assistants effectively into RIM work
• Advocating for the resources needed for RIM work
• Making RIM part of HR onboarding/offboarding
• Storage and carrying out paper/digital migrations
• Planning and carrying out a digitization initiative

Possible avenues to pursue:

• Our new case study series might help to bridge the gap between theory and practice. You can find the overview here. Be thinking about what experiences you can share that could benefit someone else in the profession.
• One suggestion was to have a Toastmasters sort of group that could get together to workshop training/workshops you plan to present to constituents. Let us know if you would be interested in participating in something like this.
• Now that more of us are conducting workshops virtually, should we try to publicize upcoming training events that could accommodate “guests” who might be interested in learning from another RIM colleague/seeing how they present similar content?

In the long run, taking a wide approach to answering this question about RIM education is probably the best. So expect to see everything from more coffee chats to webinars to new SAA courses — and maybe even a track or certificate program somewhere down the line.

As always, if you have thoughts or feedback, please feel free to reach out to the Steering Committee at saarecordsmanagement@gmail.com.

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RIM education chat this Friday

The RMS steering committee spent a good portion of last year investigating various RIM educational opportunities.  You can view our findings here.

Now we’d like to have a conversation with our community to find out what topics and levels of depth are needed to support you in your work and your professional development.  Join us this Friday (December 11) at 2pm ET for a Zoom chat.  You are not required to have a camera available, though you are certainly welcome to use one.  Most important will be having access to speakers and a microphone so you can participate in the conversation (although if you at least have a keyboard, you could participate via chat rather than orally).  You can register for the session and receive the Zoom login information by registering here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkfu6vqjktGNGI20qf9UUQgpXsdS7Ms_wW

If we were to design a track program through SAA Education, here are some already existing courses that could be included:

• Records Management Introduction
• Basics of Managing Digital Records
• Change Management: How Do You Tackle It?
• Records Management for Archivists
• Train the Trainer: Building a Successful Continuing Education Course
• Designing and Presenting Effective Online Learning
• Email Archiving: Strategies, Tools, Techniques

What else needs to be added?  Is there sufficient interest in a certificate program?  Are there folks who’d be interested in teaching particular topics?

Bring your questions and suggestions to this session.  If you need any further information, please feel free to reach out to the steering committee leadership at saarecordsmanagement@gmail.com.  We look forward to your joining us on Friday.

A Records Center is not an Archives: Transfer Forms!

[Note: This was a forum post to the Records Management Section list on SAA’s site that got a little out of hand. Rather than clog everyone’s mailbox, I decided to post it here. The fact that I can add Futurama GIFs to posts here, and not on SAA Connect, had absolutely nothing to do with this decision (he said, unconvincingly.)

For your reference, the original question:]

I’m interested in ANY AND ALL advice you’ll give me on forms and procedure for transferring records to a Record Center.

Our Records Center is revising the information that we ask for from our departments when they transfer records to us for storage, scanning, and/or destruction. I’m interested in seeing your version of a Records Center transfer form.

Do you ask for information at the box level, file level, or both? Do you require a full inventory of each box transferred? Why or why not?

With complex records policies, I’m concerned about overwhelming our customers with another complex form. What methods have you used to educate your users on how to transfer records to your facility? 

Thanks for your help!

Holly

Making it Stick: Records Management Training Approaches

Several weeks ago the University Archivist and I conducted our bi-annual University Archives and Records Management training session, part of our Office of Human Resources Faculty and Staff Development Program. This got me thinking about the various strategies, methods, and approaches records managers employ when conducting training and outreach. I reached out to my peers via SAA’s records management and ARMA’s EDU listservs to get a sense of just that, and hopefully learn some new tips and tricks!

The following is an overview of responses through which themes of visibility, focus, repetition, and trust were reoccurring. Thanks to Peggy Tran-Le, Cheryl Badel-Stevens, Peg Eusch, Chris Wydman, George Despres, and Hillary Gatlin for sharing their insights.

Visibility is vital. While records professionals may want to nerd out on recordkeeping topics, our users may not be as pro-active. So how to improve participation in records management training (RM)? Make it hard to miss. Incorporate records management training classes with new employee orientations, or pair it with your organization’s annually required training on information security or compliance. Reserve a slot in professional development services programs, or space at annual events or expos. In true lifecycle fashion, don’t forget to consider departing employee check-ins and exit interviews as points at which to engage users concerning record transitions and purging.

Focus your approach. Once you’ve captured some attention it’s time to drop some knowledge. Develop training consultations around specific recordkeeping topics such as developing effective filing systems, understanding retention schedules, shared drive management, or email retention. Create job aids like RM cheat sheets, quick reference guides, PowerPoint modules, or a Libguide (which tracks usage stats). Focus on particular needs that users can implement directly in their daily work.

Virtual potential. Many records managers may work in decentralized organizations, with distributed offices or campuses. Providing a virtual RM training presence boosts program visibility and increases engagement opportunities. Rather than reinventing the wheel, co-opt the service of an internal learning management system, like Blackboard, or a platform like YouTube to create training videos. These can range from voice-over PowerPoint presentations and subject specific Skype sessions, to casual discussions describing what RM is all about and off-the-cuff Google hangouts.

Repetition rules. Effective and consistent engagement comes from strong relationships, and that starts at the employee level. Target specific user groups like financial or human resource administrators, IT facilitators, or committees such as an Administrative Data Users Committee. Get more granular by conducting one-on-one consults where applicable. Develop repetitive outreach through quarterly newsletters or monthly emails. Consistency in RM training opportunities and resources leads to buy-in, which leads to trust, the keystone of any relationship.

Have fun with it! The following are some fun outreach ideas you can employ in your organization to build visibility and develop relationships:

•          Post weekly RM tips on your organization’s media platform of choice.
•          Monthly quizzes with prizes. Chocolate is effective!
•          “RM Nuggets”, or short pointed articles, in other department’s newsletters.
•          RM Literature distributed to departments annually to cover employee turnover, or included in new employee and departing employee packets.
•          Web tutorials and quizzes reporting on completion by department to up gamesmanship.
•          At trainings, encourage attendees to introduce themselves and what they hope  to learn. Attempt to address those concerns directly, or use them to craft a new training!
•          Share RM in the news. Make it real and tangible.
•          RM on Demand; Quick, topic-specific, ready-to-be shared modules.