MINUTES

RECORDS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING ~ 1/5/2001

Introductions

Those attending their first meeting were introduced and welcomed: Nancy Capell (Coordination and Review), Brad Westbrook (UCSD Archivist), Peter Cataldo (University Audit), and Maria Shanle (Office of General Counsel). Maria will be the ex-officio member representing the Office of the General Counsel.

Legislative Alerts

Chaptered "special interest" legislation concerning records and information practices will be reported to Records Management Committee members via the RECMAN listserv.

Coordination with UC Archivists Council (UCAC)

The Records Management Committee (RMC) accepted UCAC's invitation to send a liaison to its meetings. Connie Williams will attend the next meeting in Berkeley on April 25 (tentative). This liaison relationship will be noted in RMP-1 and RMP-2. Bill Roberts, University Archivist at the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, was nominated in absentia to join the Disposition Schedule sub-committee. UCAC members will be added to the RECMAN listserv.

UCLA Bruin Card

Issues concerning the use of transaction records captured via UCLA's Bruin card were discussed. There are opportunities for collecting tracking data and there is concern regarding privacy and notification implications of such use. Counsel suggested that, at a minimum, UC users should be given a privacy notice about the information that would be collected. In addition, campuses should consider how much information is "relevant and necessary" to be collected and stored. It was noted that these issues are addressed in the Electronic Communication Policy in section IV entitled "Privacy and Confidentiality".

This led into a more general discussion on the University policy development process and the difficulty of ensuring records and information practices involvement therein. There was a sense that with the many changes in the way the University does business, more than ever, Records Coordinators' input is needed in policy development. Toward this end, the RMC (via meetings and on the Listserv) could be used as a clearinghouse for notices of potentially relevant policies that are under development. A current effort of which members may want to be aware is the New Business Architecture (NBA) initiative. The NBA report is available at:

http://uc2010.ucsd.edu/pdf/uc2010final.pdf

Electronic Records Workshop

The key issues from the Electronic Records Workshop held at UCLA on July 6-7, 2000, included the importance of (1) communication between functional groups and (2) language and the definition of terminology. The Workshop also stressed the necessity of having IT people consider records management when developing new systems. Records managers must provide IT people with records standards to be used when developing new systems.

UCSD Proposal for an Electronic Records Task Force

UCSD proposed a task force comprised of people from IT, Archivists and RMC members to deal with electronic records issues. The task force could research what other universities have done, as well as the InterPares effort, with the goal of creating a university-wide recommendation for the management and preservation of electronic records. It was determined that such an effort is outside the scope of the RMC charge. However, the RMC could possibly lay the groundwork for this type of endeavor by developing a a problem statement for upper management's consideration. A sub-committee of Robert Zornado (lead), Martha Winnacker, and Patricia Johnson will draft the problem statement for full Committee review.

The possibility of a new BFB on electronic records was also mentioned.

RMP Series Revisions

Meta Clow offered to make a first draft revision of RMP-4.

Maria Shanle will share her comments on the latest drafts of RMP-1 and RMP-2 with the policy sub-committee.

Discussion of "records" vs. "non-records" definitions will be carried on electronically among a small group of interested parties: Linda Maczko, Meta Clow, Martha Winnacker and Connie Williams. Revisions to the Records Life Cycle drawing were discussed. Going forward, RMP revisions will be posted on the RMC Web site as they are available, rather than waiting for pre-meeting distribution. A message will be sent via the Listserv when new versions are available for review and comment.

It was agreed that retention schedules should not be driven by demands for data outside of the retention periods but by operational, policy, and legal considerations.

Public Key Infrastructure

David Wasley introduced the emerging use of digital credentials (certificates) and suggested some ways in which records management will be impacted. The ability to establish a reliable identity over the Internet is now a reality. The areas of application from a records management standpoint involve the ability to verify the authenticity of a record over time as well as a digital notary that can confirm date and author of document. Verisign is UC's digital credential vendor.

Retention Schedule Conversion Project

Phase I has been completed. In addition, the Purchasing section is nearly ready to show to the functional area specialists (Phase II activity). Cooperation of Materiel Management at UCOP has been secured. The sub-committee is working toward the stated goal of completing five sections (Phase II, Group 1) by September 2001. The experience with Purchasing will help determine if this is still realistic.

Meeting Schedule

UCLA's suggestion of holding meetings every two months was discussed. Some members expressed this would be problematic from a travel and time standpoint. There was also the sentiment that frequent meetings, for the time being, would be advisable given the number of complex projects, all at critical stages. As a compromise between six meetings per year and the current slower pace, for calendar 2001 the Chair committed to try to schedule three more meetings - in late March, June/July, and October/November - in order to make some headway on the projects.

Issues Deferred until Next Meeting

Report on Electronic Communications Policy

RMP series revisions/reorganization