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MISSISSIPPI ELECTRONIC RECORDS INITIATIVE A case study in state government electronic records Final Report Funded in part by National Historical Publications and Records Commission Patricia Galloway Project Supervisor Mississippi Department of Archives and History May 2000 Mississippi Electronic Records Initiative A case study in state government electronic records An NHPRC-supported research project,1996-1999 Patricia Galloway Project Supervisor “The long struggle to establish the authority of archives to determine the disposition of all public records has not been about custody but rather about preserving an authentic and adequate account of public actions in support of vital democratic virtue.” --Terry Eastwood 1996:260 A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" The man below says: "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field." “You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist. "I do," replies the man. "How did you know?" "Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone." The man below says: "You must be in upper management in some business." "I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault." --Internet bon mot, 8/5/98 Mississippi Department of Archives and History project participants: Linda Culberson, Patricia Galloway, Hank Holmes, David Miller, David Pilcher, Anna Schwind, Patti Stodghill, Jenice Tate, David Tenpas 05/31/2000 page i 05/31/2000 page ii Table of Contents Executive summary ..................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Recordkeeping and bureaucratic form ........................................................................................ 7 Silberman’s Cages of Reason and bureaucratization ................................................................ 15 State government rationalization: The Mississippi example ...................................................... 18 Reorganization efforts: Taft Commission, Brookings Institution ..................................... 18 Postwar reorganization: Hoover Commission ................................................................ 20 “Umbrella” movement in the 1960s and 1970s .............................................................. 23 More recent studies and reorganization efforts .............................................................. 24 Mississippi government rationalization and recordkeeping ............................................ 26 Archives’ role in the historical record of state government: The MDAH example ....................... 29 Dunbar Rowland: Laying the foundations, 1902-36 ....................................................... 29 William D. McCain: Modernization and order, 1937-43 .................................................. 35 Charlotte Capers: The home front, 1943-44 .................................................................. 35 William D. McCain: Maintaining traditionalism, 1945-55 ................................................ 36 Charlotte Capers: Buildings and programs, 1955-69 ..................................................... 37 Richard Aubrey McLemore: Construction and publication, 1969-74 .............................. 38 Elbert R. Hilliard: Expansion and professionalization, 1974-present .............................. 38 The Electronic environment changes everything--or does it? .................................................... 43 Electronic records preservation in the real world: The Mississippi environment ........................ 47 History of computerization in Mississippi state government ........................................... 47 Choice of a project partner ............................................................................................ 49 Project proposal ............................................................................................................ 49 Step one: Defining the scope of the task .................................................................................. 50 Survey of state agencies’ electronic records creation and maintenance policies ........... 50 Survey of computing project inventories ........................................................................ 52 Survey of existing state websites ................................................................................... 53 Records custody, security, and departmental income.................................................... 54 Step two: Discussing electronic records issues with other state agencies ................................. 55 Electronic Records Study Committee ............................................................................ 55 Electronic Records Advisory Panel ................................................................................ 56 Issues remaining to be discussed .................................................................................. 57 Step three: Testing specific strategies for the long-term preservation of electronic records ...... 59 Archives Administration project: COTS, automation, and metadata .............................. 59 Department of Health project: Immunization and territoriality ........................................ 65 Department of Health project: Information Systems Consultant and escrow archiving .. 66 Department of Health project: PIMS and conditional scheduling ................................... 67 Department of Health project: Other results .................................................................. 67 Other serendipitous efforts ............................................................................................ 67 Step four: Developing standards and guidelines for electronic records ..................................... 69 Findings and recommendations for continuation of the program ............................................... 71 Additional work to be done to complete ongoing projects .............................................. 71 Changes to be made within Archives and History .......................................................... 71 Cooperation with other infrastructure and regulatory agencies ...................................... 72 Suggested legislation .................................................................................................... 73 References ............................................................................................................................... 74 05/31/2000 page iii Mississippi Electronic Records Initiative A case study in state government electronic records Executive Summary The Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s NHPRC grant-funded electronic records project had four goals, aimed at laying the groundwork for the creation of an electronic records program for Mississippi state government based upon existing open computing standards and existing real-world systems. To define the scope of the task by surveying state agencies’ electronic records creation and maintenance policies. Project staff devised a questionnaire covering computing history and present computing environments in a sample of state agencies. Staff efforts succeeded in achieving a greater than 80% response to the questionnaire. The resulting analysis showed that information technology staffs are almost completely unaware of the necessity for archival concerns in the management of electronic records, but are nearly unanimous in their sense that records created on the desktop are already difficult or impossible to manage (see questionnaire and report at www.mdah.state.ms.us/arlib/ersurvey.html). To elicit discussion of the conceptual, economic, and technological restraints on electronic records preservation with other state agencies. Discussions were continued at the beginning of the project with an existing Electronic Records Study Committee (ERSC) formed by another agency, but when that committee was disbanded staff created a new committee entitled Electronic Records Advisory Panel, consisting of a core membership taken from the most active members of the old ERSC and representing the most powerful infrastructure agencies, including Finance and Administration, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Personnel Board, State Auditor, Mississippi Library Commission, and Information Technology Services. This committee has so far assisted us with preliminary reactions to our draft guidelines (see below), and will continue to advise us as we undertake to write additional guidelines. We hope that the committee will also assist us in promoting needed legislation. To cooperate with the Mississippi Department of Health (MDOH) to devise and test specific strategies for the long-term preservation of electronic records. During the grant period, we worked with the Mississippi Department of Health’s records officer and the staff of the Patient Information Management System (PIMS), the Immunization Division, and the Information Systems Consultant’s office to inventory records, understand the agency’s electronic records
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