Managing Electronic Public Records

Recognizing Perils and Avoiding Pitfalls

Conclusion

Rules to Live By

 

Value: 2

Match the items. a b c d e 1. migration     a. example: iTunes can play songs that were downloaded five years ago using an older version of iTunes a b c d e 2. refreshing     b. example: converting PDF files to PDF/A a b c d e 3. backwards compatible     c. example: a record that, per the retention schedule, will be kept in electronic format for more than ten years. a b c d e 4. open source     d. example: Mozilla provides the source code for its browser, Firefox, so that other computer programmers can make changes. a b c d e 5. long-term retention     e. example: saving your back-up files on new DVDs to replace the old DVDs

These rules to live by are a summary of the ideas we've talked about in this tutorial.

• Recognize and adopt a new definition of "long term."
• Manage and preserve authentic electronic records. (Don't just store files)
• Digital preservation will always involve risks – identify & manage them.
• Avoid single points of failure.
• Avoid unnecessary software dependencies.
• Clearly define rules, roles and responsibilities.
• Collaborate with others.
• Allocate resources (people and money) for sustainability.

Recognize that managing electronic records requires active, sustainable management and that the challenges of preserving records with long-term retention can apply to electronic records with retention periods of as little as 10 years. Digital preservation will always involve risks – that is why it is important to plan for them and mitigate them as much as possible by avoiding single points of failure and unnecessary software dependencies, defining policies and responsibilities, and planning ahead to allocate resources for sustainability.

The two most important take-aways from this tuturial are:

1. Plan ahead.  If your records need to be retained permanently, then you need to think about what is the best way to do that.  It might be best not to save those records electronically. We've talked about the amount of work that goes into preserving long-term electronic records – do you really want to deal with electronic records that must be kept for 100 years? Talk to your records analyst about your options – sometimes microfilm makes more sense.
2. Regardless of the effort required, it is our legal obligation as stewards of public records to protect and preserve them. It is DCR's job to work with agencies to make that as painless as possible.

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