Category Archives: Local Government

OhioERC/OHRAB/NHPRC Workshop: Your Seat at the Purchasing Table: A Records Management Point of View

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Are you considering purchasing a records management system? Do you have questions about the procurement process from a records management perspective? If so, the Ohio Electronic Records Committee (OhioERC.org) in collaboration with OHRAB and funding by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC) encourages you to consider attending a FREE half-day seminar this fall. Seminar Flyer

October 28, 2015 @ State Library of Ohio 274 E. First Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201

AM Session: 8:30-11:45 a.m.

PM Session: 12:00-3:15 p.m.

Cost: FREE!

Registration is required for this event @: http://bit.ly/RegisterOhioERC2015Seminar

AM PM
8:30 Registration 12:00
9:00 Records considerations during procurement
This session will provide an overview of the procurement process, including how to ensure recordkeeping concerns are dealt with during the process.Daniel Noonan, e-Records/Digital Resources Archivist, The Ohio State University 		12:30
10:00 Break 1:30
10:15 Case study: Ohio Attorney General’s (OAG) Office
Over the past four years, OAG has been implementing a document and records management system to bring order, collaboration and compliance to the office’s records. This session will focus on lessons learned from drafting the RFP, scoring proposals, interviewing vendors, the multi-year design and implementation process, and the interaction between information technology, vendors, records management, legal, and the business units.Pari Swift, Senior Records Manager and Nathan Owens, Records Analyst, Ohio Attorney General’s Office		 1:45
11:45 Adjourn 3:15

Greene County Records Center & Archives 2014 recipient of OHRAB Archives Achievement Award!

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The Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) is pleased to announce that the Greene County Records Center and Archives is the recipient of the 2014 OHRAB Archives Achievement Award!

We commend the staff and volunteers for all that they have done to preserve, provide access to, and promote Greene County local government records. We are especially impressed with the way the county came together in 2011 to respond to the building disaster in a way that provided care for the records and ultimately re-housed the archives and record center in a clean, environmentally controlled space that provides more convenient access to the records. Their willingness to share their experience has hopefully encouraged others to be proactive in what to watch for, reactive in a way that protects the records, and serves as an example of government involvement in supporting its archives. Further details…

Preserving Ohio’s Local Government Records: Why it Matters to You The Challenge

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When local governments records are not properly safeguarded or made accessible to the public…

  • legal rights are jeopardized
  • citizens are separated from their past
  • government work is shrouded in mystery and doubt
  • vital records languish abandoned and neglected

Fewer than one-quarter of Ohio’s 88 counties have archives, records centers, or records management programs. Those few that do often lack adequate and sustainable funding to provide acceptable levels of staffing, environmentally sound structures to preserve records, state-of-the-art equipment to make records available, and space for research and reference services.

Records management responsibility too often becomes “other duties” assigned to untrained staff. Few local governments have the luxury of a position specifically to manage records and care for archives. Opportunities for training and professional development are few and expensive. Staff members burn out. Their turnover robs governments of institutional memory.

The Opportunity

Ohio’s Public Records Act (Ohio Revised Code Sect. 149.43) makes government more accessible to the people. It requires that all public records be available to view and copy. The records must be organized and kept in a way that permits access by everyone. Proper records training is key to fulfilling the law’s goal.

A Clermont County citizen was brought to tears after locating her grandfather’s divorce record. It settled a long disputed rumor that could never have been put to rest without the written record. She later expressed thanks to the county commissioners for the good work of the records center. Many local government workers across Ohio are grateful for records center holdings when they seek decades-old payroll records to guarantee they receive correct retirement income. Such stories are repeated daily throughout Ohio as local archives and records centers offer research and reference services to eager constituents.

Ohio’s Local Records

Local records created by Ohio’s county, municipality, and township governments document

  • vital statistics (birth, marriage, and death)
  • land ownership
  • verification of taxes owed and paid
  • infrastructure performance and safety
  • unique stories about our ancestors’—and our own—history
  • and much, much more

Local records make it possible for governments—and the citizens they serve—to remember the past, conduct business in the present and inform the future. Preservation of records and access to them make government transparent and more efficient.

How You Can Help!!!

  • Contact the Governor and your Ohio General Assembly representative to share concerns about the preservation and accessibility of local government records.
  • Contact your representatives in Congress to express support for the Preserving the American Historical Record (PAHR) legislation.
  • Volunteer at your state or local records centers or archival repositories.
  • Form coalitions with other Ohioans (historians, genealogists, and preservationists) to strengthen your numbers and allow your voices to be heard.

These are your records. This is your history. Help safeguard the past by getting involved in the present. Our future depends on it.

Download an electronic version of this brochure.

For more information

Ohio Historical Society
1982 Velma Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43211
614.297.2300
800.686.6124
[email protected]

http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/archlib