Celebrate Electronic Records Day!
October 10, 2012, is Electronic Records Day! The Council of State Archivists has declared this day to raise awareness about the important digital assets generated by state governments. More information on Electronic Records Day can be found on the Council of State Archivists Website.
To promote this event and spread the word locally, the Kansas State Historical Society is offering up some of its resources for state agencies to help manage their electronic records, as well as to highlight some of the initiatives that KSHS has been working on recently in its efforts to preserve electronic records for future generations.
Digital preservation initiatives include:
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KEEP: The Kansas Enterprise Electronic Preservation system is a digital repository being constructed by the Kansas State Historical Society and its development partner, Propylon. Funding for KEEP is provided by a 2008 state appropriation and a 2009 Information Network of Kansas (INK) grant award, with additional grant funding from the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (Library of Congress) through the Minnesota Historical Society's Model Technological and Social Architecture for the Preservation of State Government Digital Information. KEEP will provide an enterprise-wide, standards-based, trusted repository for Kansas Government electronic records with long-term value. You can get updates on the KEEP project website.
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DCAPE: The Kansas State Archives was one of 32 participant institutions in the Distributed Custodial Archival Preservation Environments (DCAPE) project, which explored the creation of geographically-distributed digital repositories on a shared storage infrastructure. The National Historic Publications and Records Commission-funded project ran from 2008-2012. More information can be found at the DCAPE project website.
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KSPACe: The Kansas State Publications Archival Collection is a digital repository for Kansas State Government publications. In response to the growth of government information published in electronic formats, the KSPACe repository was developed by the Kansas State Historical Society in collaboration with the Kansas State Library in 2004-2005, with funding provided by a grant from the Information Network of Kansas (INK). Take a look at the publications available by going to the KSPACe homepage.
In addition to these initiatives to preserve state government digital information into the future, KSHS is also actively working to help state agencies manage the electronic records they produce every day. The following are just a few of the helpful resources we offer to state agencies on managing digital information:
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Kansas Electronic Records Management Guidelines: An extensive set of guidelines for state agencies on the creation, management, retention, and disposition of electronic records.
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Digital Imaging Guidelines for State Agencies: Provides recommendations for the selection and implementation of a digital imaging system in accordance with state regulations and national and international standards for image format and quality.
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Managing Electronic Mail – Guidelines for Kansas Government Agencies: Guidelines drafted by the Kansas Electronic Records Committee E-Mail Task Force, this document provides and explains requirements, guidelines, and best practices for managing electronic mail in accordance with state public records law.
- Guidelines for Managing Records on Kansas Government Agency Web Sites: contains recommendations and guidelines for state and local government agencies to develop policies and procedures for creating, capturing, managing, and retaining web-based records.
Electronic Records Day is an opportunity to promote these and other activities that state archives are undertaking in their efforts to preserve state digital resources, as well as the efforts of the nation-wide State Electronic Records Initiative (SERI). More information on Electronic Records Day and the State Electronic Records Initiative (SERI) can be found on the Council of State Archivists Website.
Have any questions? Comments? Looking for more information? Let us know! Contact Martin Gengenbach, Electronic Records Archivist, at mgengenbach@kshs.org.
