Records Management at The Baltimore Museum of Art

Speakers

Linda Tompkins-Baldwin, Library Director

Emily Rafferty, Associate Librarian &

Archivist

Anna Clarkson, Project Archivist

Graham Andrews, Graduate Student

Presentation Key Points

• Timeline• Benefits of Records Management• Developing a Records Schedule• Records Management System• Records Center• Archives• Training & Outreach

Timeline

• 1914 – Baltimore Museum of Art established– individual departments responsible for maintaining

records

• 1999 – new library staff added focus to archives– space allocated for archives & manuscripts– rehoused collections

• 2000 – basement emptied – committee identified records with archival potential– records moved to climate controlled, restricted area in

warehouse

Timeline

• 2000 – Library staff member designated as BMA Archivist – established policies & procedures– worked to educate staff about the importance of

archives

• 2010 – Applied for NHPRC start-up grant which included the development of a Records Retention Schedule

• 2011 – Awarded NHPRC Grant• 2012 – Records Retention Schedule

completed

Benefits of Records Management

Control the creation and growth of recordsReduce operating costsImprove efficiency and productivityEnsure regulatory complianceMinimize litigation risksSafeguard vital information Support better management decision makingPreserve corporate memoryFoster professionalismAssimilate new records management technologies

A good retention schedule tells…

Who is responsible for the recordDisposition – keep in office, destroy, transfer

to Records Center or ArchivesHow long to keepHow to properly dispose of records

Records Retention Schedule

Our retention schedule is based on….

Legal guidelinesEstablished museum practicesSociety of American Archivists Code of Ethics Society of American Archivists Standards for

Access to Research Materials in Archival and Manuscripts Repositories

Needs of BMA staff & researchers

Records Interviews

• Develop a questionnaire form Sample Forms for Archival & Records Management

Programs co-published by ARMA & SAA

Schedule 2 hour blocks of time with staffEnter information into a database or

spreadsheet

Records Interviews

Interviews held with over 100 staff members to inventory & discuss their records

Nearly 600 unique records series identified Preliminary records retention schedule

compiledRecords retention schedule reviewed with

key stakeholders & adjusted as needed

Records Retention Schedule

Decide on functional vs. departmental scheduleIdentify common types of records found

throughout multiple offices for General Records Schedule

Identify duplicate records and assign an “office of record”

Set retention periods based on legal, fiscal, administrative, and historical criteria

Review with staff and legal counsel if possible

Federal Government

Statutes are enacted by United States Congress. Federal regulations are issued by the various federal administrative agencies charged with interpreting and implementing these statutes.

Both federal statutes and regulations are enforceable Federal

United States Code aka “USC” (Statutes)http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml

Code of Federal Regulations aka “CFR” (Regulations)

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR

GRMpedia, Legal Knowledge Base Subscription $$

State of Maryland

The General Assembly writes laws (Annotated Code of Maryland) and the State Executive Departments and Administrative Agencies write regulations (COMAR) to implement the authority of the laws.

Both statutes and regulations are enforceable.

State Regulations (Maryland) Annotated Code of Maryland (Statutes)

http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/mdcode/ Code of Maryland Regulations aka “COMAR”

(Regulations) http://www.dsd.state.md.us/comar/

Helpful Tips

• Ask your staff:– What laws are they aware of that effect their records?– What licenses are they charged with renewing?– What kind of government inspections have been performed in the

past?

• Keyword Searches for Gov. Law Sites– “record keeping” – “retain for” – “years”

• Call government agencies directly• Search all agencies’ statutes and regulations to determine

if they effect your institution • Attend workshops and classes held by Government• Amnesty programs

Benchmark against others

Collect examples of similar institutions’ records retention schedules Look at structure and organization Compare their records against yours Take their retention periods “with a grain of salt”

Collect examples of good fact-based schedules

University of Florida Records Management Listserv, RECMGMT-L: http://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?INDEX

ARMA’s Policy Brief emailsConsult with professionals in your field

directly

Negotiate with Staff

Provide legal statutes as back upProvide examples from other institutions as back

upOffer to lend assistance Set up inter-departmental meetings for issues

that effect manyLet staff know that you are on “their” side and

have same goalsExplain Librarians’ and Archivists’ code of ethicsCater to different types of personalitiesPlay “hardball” as a last resort

Some things to consider

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)Requirements of Insurance CompaniesRequirements of Granting AgenciesStatute of Limitations in your state for

contract litigationAlways check both Federal & State Laws

In some instances state laws are more stringent than federal

BY GRAHAM

Wordpress in two'ish slides!

Basic technical question

How do we take the schedule, which is essentially a series of alphanumeric entries separated by commas, and make it not only presentable to end-users but decently interactive with library staff?

...and how do we do this for free?

...and make it not a huge technical headache for people?

Wordpress CMS

Primarily known as a blogging software, but it's:free

open-sourcerobustly maintainedmost importantly: has a large library of

plugins and extensions that can transform it into essentially whatever website one envisions.

Screenshot from Admin Panel

Records Center

Records Center: A facility maintained and operated for storage of inactive temporal records which need to be preserved for varying periods of time before their eventual destruction

BMA Records Center: Located within Warehouse Locked rooms with limited

access Unique shelving locations

for each box

BMA Records Transferred to the Archives

Archives: A work in progress

Cooperation with Records Creators

Records creators know … What to keep and for how long What to weed before sending materials to the

Archives Records are being cared for Records can be easily located & retrieved Archives provides public access when appropriate Confidential records will be kept closed

Impact on Archives

Confidence that important records are being preserved

Better understanding of BMA’s records & how they relate to each other

Determine if we have relevant materials & locate them promptly

Facilitates processing: Identify and weed materials quickly Cut down on transfer of duplicates Disposition determined by Retention Schedule

Archives Records Center

Create accession record in Archives section of Archivists’ Toolkit

Put the material in line for processing

Create accession record in Records Center of Archivists’ Toolkit

Assign the appropriate destruction date and a location in the RC

Physically move the box to the RC

Archives vs. Records Center Workflow

Archives Accession Record

Records Center Accession Record

Sorting by Destruction Date

Policies

Records Management Policy Records created by staff as a part of their job belong

to the BMA. Staff must review and follow their Departmental

Retention Schedule and the General Schedule. In case of litigation or investigation, all relevant

records will be retained and any scheduled records destruction will be suspended.

Access Policy Addresses what kind of records are open and to

whom. In general, records are closed 10 years from date of

creation.

Procedures and Forms

Created procedures documents and forms to help staff know how to transfer to Archives and Records Center Separate transfer procedures for permanent paper

records, electronic records, and the Records Center Simple instructions with screen shots Used Adobe Acrobat to make professional interactive

forms

How are we doing compared to other museums?

Excellently Approximately 50% of museums do not have a records retention

program Of those, approximately 75% of them are outdated BMA fares extremely well when benchmarked against similar

institutions BMA currently advising

Johns Hopkins University Hammer Art Museum

Records Management system receiving extremely favorable feedback and may serve as a model for other institutions

Private Internet group created to foster Ongoing dialog with other museum records managers

Training & Outreach

Training & outreach to be held in accordance with NHPRC requirements

2013 Professional Presentations

WALRC MARAC

Staff Training Brown bag lunches Video Tutorials

Publicity – Prepare Materials for PR & Marketing Articles Blogs Press releases

Acknowledgments

Graham AndrewsGabriel BarrAnita CarricoJoy DavisTheresa DeMarioGinny Forni Kenna Forsyth

Suzy HillMax Matsuda HirataDaegan HoslerJudy KatzBecca PadCaitlan SalinLindsay Wilson

Contact Information

bmalibrary.org (password protected)bmalibrary@artbma.org(443) 573-1778

Linda Tompkins-Baldwin, Library DirectorEmily Rafferty, Associate Librarian &

ArchivistAnna Clarkson, Project Archivist