Let the cheering begin for the Council of State Archivists and its Electronic Records Day campaign on October 10, 2014 (10-10-14), and congratulations to all those who did their part in supporting this wonderful event. CoSA initiated this effort as part of American Archives Month four years ago, on the appropriately dated 10-10-10. SAA and other professional organizations have joined CoSA in the effort, and this year Electronic Records Day has really shown what archivists can do to raise awareness.
Electronic records are challenging in so many ways—they don’t have the warmth of a document or photograph and they involve many technical complexities, so making an awareness campaign “user friendly” is a real challenge. Still, virtually every state and territorial archives did something, as did many university archives, library special collections, and many other organizations. Check out a few of the “not archives” groups who got involved in promoting Electronic Records Day: the National Association of Secretaries of State; the National Association of State Chief Information Officers; the UN Archives and Records Management Section, the National Genealogical Society, the Marshall County Public Library, the Princeton Seminary Library, Iron Mountain and Laser Fiche.
That’s an impressive range demonstrating the energy that can be created around archives and archival issues. Huge applause to everyone who was involved—The wonderful distribution of information and the number and ways people and organizations got involved is clear evidence that “Yes we can” generate interest and energy around archival records. It takes time, it takes tenacity, it takes creativity, but it can be done!
There’s plenty of time left in American Archives Month to join in and raise awareness of the importance and value of archives. Visit the SAA website for ideas, and let us know what you’ve done: http://www2.archivists.org/living-dangerously/value-of-archives We look forward to hearing from you!
Interested in more about what went on? On twitter, do a search on #ERecsDay and you’ll see quite a range of links to blogs, Instagram, websites and more. Here are some links to a very random sample of the range of information and activities that took place 10-10-14:
For the core information on eRecords Day check out the CoSA website:
http://www.statearchivists.org/seri/ElectronicRecordsDay.htm
For a sample of blogposts (including some video and humor along the way):
http://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/1010-electronic-records-day/
https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2014/10/the-university-archives-and-its-focus-on-fixity/
https://www.tsl.texas.gov/slrm/blog/?p=6839
Off the Record 