Electronic records present unique challenges for archivists and records managers. As society shifts from traditional methods of recordkeeping to electronic recordkeeping, the issues surrounding the management of electronic records become more significant. Although the nature of electronic records is constantly evolving, these records are being produced at an ever- increasing rate. As these records multiply, the need for leadership and policy becomes more urgent.

Given this need, the State Archives, in conjunction with the Office of Policy and Planning (OPP), formed the Electronic Records Committee. OPP is a part of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, Computer Services Division. As part of its mission, OPP develops statewide policies, policy bulletins, and operating guidelines on the appropriate use of information systems.

The goal of the Electronic Records Committee is to draft policy for the creation, maintenance, long term preservation of and access to electronic records created by Ohio's state government. Considering the importance of this proposed policy, committee members are drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including academic libraries, historical societies, state agencies, and universities. It is believed that this diverse membership offers a wide range of experience, perspective and outlook, which best serves the committee and the resulting policy.

The State Archives drafted a proposed Electronic Records Policy, based largely on the Policy on Electronic Recordkeeping from the Archives Authority of New South Wales. This draft was sent to all committee members the week before our first meeting. The Committee convened three times: 2 June 1998, 16 June 1998, and 30 June 1998 . The Committee has been reviewing and discussing this draft policy, then incorporating comments and concerns into the revisions. This discussion took place, policy point by policy point, via the ERC discussion list.

Two technical focus groups were conducted 16 July and 22 July 1998. These were open meetings, but technical personnel were particularly welcome and invited to provide input on the technical aspects of implementing the proposed policy. On 16 July 1998, we were pleased to host several people from state agencies including:

• Daniel Beck and Jim Westlake, Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
• Greg Mountz and David Crecelius, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Susan Sloan, Ohio Tuition Trust Authority
• Melissa Winesburg, Office of Criminal Justice

There was a lively discussion. No one had any major problems with the draft Electronic Records Policy. Some of the main points of the discussion were:

• They are not overly concerned with storage space, nor do they perceive the need to weed through materials to preserve a smaller amount of records. They do not have problems with saving marginal records to ensure that all records are preserved.
• They would prefer to schedule databases in their entirety. Our previous committee discussions had been heading towards not preserving whole databases. We had been thinking that we should identify transactional records within databases and seek to isolate and preserve only those elements. The focus group participants pointed out what the public really needs is access to the raw data in its entirety. The public wants to check on the validity of those reports and conclusions. The way to do that would be to have access to all the information which went into forming those conclusions.
• They are eager to resolve email issues and work on some viable solutions.
• Most participants seemed very interested in the status of the policy. They asked to be kept informed on the status of the policy and to be subscribed to the ERC discussion list.

The 2nd focus group was conducted 22 July 1998. Participants included:

• Pete Bates, Ohio State Library
• Charlie Corbato, Board of Regents
• Daisy Crockron, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
• Cynthia Hall and Connie Ostrove, Ohio Department of Health
• Camille Maurer, Data Processing, Ohio Historical Society
• Krish Srivastava, Sun Microsystems
• Tony Yankus, (LIS) Legislative Information Services

No one had any real changes or voiced serious objections. Many of the participants were interested in the future of the policy and asked to be added to the listserv.

In November 1998 the proposed policy was submitted to the Office of Policy and Planning for review, endorsement and possible implementation. The draft policy was accepted and became policy OPP-030 effective May 1, 1999.

Subcommittees & Working Groups

The high-level policy is only the first step toward an integrated solution. In the course of the committee's work the need for more guidance on specific issues and technologies became increasingly self-evident. Thus, we proposed to continue the work of the Electronic Records Committee, primarily through subcommittees and/or working groups developed to address specific electronic records issues that are common to all state agencies. The subcommittees consider issues in-depth and develop technical guidelines that will enable agencies to implement the Electronic Records policy.

The subcommittees first met in early 1999 and first reported to the Electronic Records Committee at the May 5th meeting of the ERC. To learn more about the subcommittees, visit the ERC Subcommittees page.