Electronic records workshop held

    A total of thirty-six people attended a daylong regional workshop on preserving electronic records on May 20 at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.     Hosted by Northern Maine Development Commission, the workshop is part of a larger NMDC project to help municipal and county governments access information on how to properly maintain vital community records, according to NMDC officers.
    Vital records, such as property assessments, ordinances, tax maps, G15/parcel data and voter lists, are a small sample of the significant collections of electronic records that are being housed on desktop computers at best, or as paper copies at worst. Other records that municipalities are required to include annual reports, audits, deeds, grants, job descriptions, meeting minutes, birth and death certificates and others.
    Speakers included Richard Sulton of James W. Sewall Co., Nina Osler of Maine State Archives, Jeffrey Brown of Maine State Archives, Richard Hollinger of University of Maine’s Fogler Library and Larry Cushing of IT Partners in Portland.
    Funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the overall goal of the NMDC project is to help ensure that operational and historical records produced by municipalities in northern Maine are preserved accurately and reliably in electronic form for future generations, according to NMDC officials.
    Leading the project is Leslie Jackson, NMDC information design specialist. Jackson attended a training session provided by the Society of American Archivists, and she completed online training provided by ARMA International and AIIM Electronic Records Management Certificate Program to earn the title Electronic Records Practitioner.
    Maintaining a close working partnership with the Maine State Archives to continue to highlight programs and regulations of interest to local municipal, officials. Jackson has developed and produced training materials and a curriculum specifically geared to rural municipal government electronic records. The Maine State Archives provides a wealth of information on Maine’s policy regarding the management of municipal records. They have developed the “Rules for Disposing of Local Government Records” which has been provided to every Maine community and establishes legally binding standards for digital records.
    For more information on this project, call Jackson at 498-8736 or visit the NMDC electronic records website at www.ermaine.org.