The Dean's meeting of August 30th has been cancelled and rescheduled for September 17th. Ruth and Chris will attend to present Archives Proposal.
The discussion focused on the future direction for the Committee's activities. Terry Eastwood expressed some concern that the Committee was deviating from its original mandate as defined in its terms of reference. As we have proceeded, he suggested, we were increasingly softening and modifying what should be strongly-worded recommendations given the current levels of resources allocated to the University Archives and the importance of the tasks at hand. In the subsequent discussion Committee members generally agreed that we must recognize the financial and political implications of a decentralized institution. At this time the President's Office has made clear that there will be no centralized funding for the program. Although not everyone was inclined to "let the Administration off the hook" for what should be its responsibility, the Committee members began to look for ways in which funding might be secured for the program.
The scope and nature of the discussion which ensued was based on three premises:
The discussion then explored some other possible sources for funding.
With the President's Office unwilling to provide funding and the University Library unable to provide more resources it was decided that we must look to the record creating units directly. The crux of the problem is that we are facing an increasingly decentralized organizational structure which inhibits the implementation of a solution imposed from the "centre". Consequently we must begin to look for a "made in the 90's" solution. This includes working closely with the record creating units in first convincing them of the importance of preserving the institution's permanently valuable records and instilling in them a sense of accountability. In this sense we are seeking to develop a coordinated records management service that will overlay the decentralized bureaucratic structure of the institution.
As a first step in this process we will invite representatives of the Deans' offices and some of the larger administrative units to two information meetings in October. These offices will be asked to contribute $1,500 to $2,000 per year for three years to establish a pool of expertise in the area of records management and to provide consulting services to the faculties, departments and other offices for records management. This is, perhaps, the most cost-effective and efficient manner of providing such services.
The question becomes one of order of activities. Do we approach the President first to adopt a policy statement governing the disposition of University records or do we as an initial step get the support of the University community through the information meetings?
Diane Kent raised the possibility of "piggy-backing" the services of her department in the provision of standardized management of electronic records.
September 3rd - Librarian's Office, 12:30 - 1:00
Back to "University Archives and Records Management Advisory Committee"