Records Management at The Baltimore Museum of Art

1. Records Management at The Baltimore Museum of Art

2. Speakers • Linda Tompkins-Baldwin, Library Director • Emily Rafferty, Associate Librarian & Archivist • Anna Clarkson, Project Archivist • Graham Andrews, Graduate Student

3. Presentation Key Points • Timeline • Benefits of Records Management • Developing a Records Schedule • Records Management System • Records Center • Archives • Training & Outreach

4. 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

5. 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

6. Benefits of Records Management • Control the creation and growth of records • Reduce operating costs • Improve efficiency and productivity • Ensure regulatory compliance • Minimize litigation risks • Safeguard vital information • Support better management decision making • Preserve corporate memory • Foster professionalism • Assimilate new records management technologies

7. A good retention schedule tells… • Who is responsible for the record • Disposition – keep in office, destroy, transfer to Records Center or Archives • How long to keep • How to properly dispose of records

8. Records Retention Schedule

9. Our retention schedule is based on…. • Legal guidelines • Established museum practices • Society 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

10. 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 staff • Enter information into a database or spreadsheet

11. Records Interviews • Interviews held with over 100 staff members to inventory & discuss their records • Nearly 600 unique records series identified • Preliminary records retention schedule compiled • Records retention schedule reviewed with key stakeholders & adjusted as needed

12. Records Retention Schedule • Decide on functional vs. departmental schedule • Identify 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

13. 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 $$

14. 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/

15. 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

16. 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 emails • Consult with professionals in your field directly

17. Negotiate with Staff • Provide legal statutes as back up • Provide examples from other institutions as back up • Offer to lend assistance • Set up inter-departmental meetings for issues that effect many • Let staff know that you are on “their” side and have same goals • Explain Librarians’ and Archivists’ code of ethics • Cater to different types of personalities • Play “hardball” as a last resort

18. Some things to consider • Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) • Requirements of Insurance Companies • Requirements of Granting Agencies • Statute of Limitations in your state for contract litigation • Always check both Federal & State Laws • In some instances state laws are more stringent than federal

19. Wordpress in two'ish slides! by Graham

20. 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?

21. Wordpress CMS • Primarily known as a blogging software, but it's:free • open-source • robustly maintained • most importantly: has a large library of plugins and extensions that can transform it into essentially whatever website one envisions.

22. Screenshot from Admin Panel

23. 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

24. BMA Records Transferred to the Archives

25. Archives: A work in progress

26. 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

27. 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

28. Archives vs. Records Center Workflow 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

29. Archives Accession Record

30. Records Center Accession Record

33. Sorting by Destruction Date

34. 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.

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. Acknowledgments • Graham Andrews • Gabriel Barr • Anita Carrico • Joy Davis • Theresa DeMario • Ginny Forni • Kenna Forsyth • Suzy Hill • Max Matsuda Hirata • DaeganHosler • Judy Katz • Becca Pad • CaitlanSalin • Lindsay Wilson

39. Contact Information • bmalibrary.org (password protected) • bmalibrary@artbma.org • (443) 573-1778 • Linda Tompkins-Baldwin, Library Director • Emily Rafferty, Associate Librarian & Archivist • Anna Clarkson, Project Archivist