- In this section
- LGG Meeting - 14 November 2008
- LGG Meeting - 18 July 2008
- LGG Meeting - 8 February 2008
- LGG Meeting - 21 November 2007
- LGG Meeting - 20 July 2007
- LGG Meeting - 2 February 2007
- LGG Meeting - 12 October 2006
- LGG Meeting 27 July 2006
- LGG Meeting 9 February 2006 - Feedback
- LGG Meeting 9 February 2006
- LGG Meeting 5 October 2005
- LGG Meeting 15 June 2005 - Email and how to manage it
- LGG Meeting 21 January 2005
LGG Meeting - 18 July 2008
Records Management Society – Local Government Group – 18th July 2008
The Local Government Group met on Friday July 18th at the Westminster Archives Centre. A group of over 40 records managers from local authorities and other organisations all over the country met to discuss the issues surrounding the management of paper records. The day took a slightly different format to the usual format of the day but was extremely productive.
The day opened with a short presentation from Elizabeth Barber about the purpose of the day. The presentation focussed on the dynamic, functional approach that the group takes to the work it produces. The day was designed to exploit the ''community of practice'' that the Local Government Group forms. The aim of the day was to produce ''best practice'' guidelines for the management of the different aspects of paper records. Before the delegates split up into four groups to discuss the different issues, Paul Dodgson (vice chair of the RMS) updated the group about the progress with the retention guidelines for local authorities and other ongoing projects.
The delegates then split into four groups facilitated by different volunteers. Each group was tasked to look at different aspects of the management of paper records and to come up with some feedback which could be incorporated into a toolkit for managing paper records. The groups found that there was time to discuss some of the burning issues which delegates had brought with them and for which they were looking for solutions. This is something which members of the local government group have always identified as being an important part of each meeting.
Group one, chaired by Chris Johnson of Lincolnshire County Council, looked at the items which anyone setting up an in-house records management service would need to consider. Working from a base document created by Chris in the course of his work at Lincolnshire County Council the group put together a whole series of issues which will be included in the overall toolkit.
The second group, chaired by Alison Drew of Portsmouth City Council, considered the benefits or otherwise of using external storage companies as a records management solution. The group consisted of a mixture of members who use external storage suppliers and those that don't, so there was a good discussion borne out of the different experiences of the members of the group. The group were using various documents produced by Elizabeth Barber in the course of her work at Kent County Council. The group came up with a whole series of recommendations to be included in the overall toolkit.
Group three was chaired by Shona Dunning from Bristol City Council. This group was considering how to manage a clear out of paper records using a retention schedule. There was a lot of lively discussion in this group which produced a group of suggestions for inclusion in the toolkit.
The final group, chaired by Colin Tyc of the Learning Skills Council, looked at the conversion of paper documents to microfilm or digital format which is one of the solutions to managing paper records. The group discussed the issues surrounded digitising records and the role that BIP0008 has in the management of the process.
The group was also pleased to welcome Martin Woodhead from Morse, who were sponsoring the day.
All the feedback from the different groups has been edited by Elizabeth Barber into a toolkit which has been loaded on to the Information Guides section of the website entitled ''Toolkit for Managing Paper Records''.