The Texas Record: COVID-19 Records and How Long to Keep Them. “The analysts here at TSLAC have been getting tons of questions about how governments should be handling their COVID-19 records. The influx of these questions is understandable – we are working during extraordinary times. In fact, these may be historic times; COVID-19 records may potentially be used as documentary evidence by future researchers, historians, and citizens. However, we’re here to tell you: don’t panic! Well, at least don’t panic about the records. If you know anything about basic records management, then you already have all the tools you need to manage COVID-19 records.”
government records
Law .com: Public Records Requests During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Law .com: Public Records Requests During the COVID-19 Pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nations and organizations across the world to take emergency action to safeguard public health. Courts, public schools and colleges, municipalities, and other agencies throughout Florida, and across the nation, have temporarily closed office buildings, suspended or reduced operations, and instituted work from home policies. Federal, state, and local governments have requested that residents practice social distancing, and some states have even implemented ‘stay-at-home’ orders. Notwithstanding these unprecedented times, agencies continue to have an obligation to acknowledge and respond to public records requests. ”
New Haven Register: Veterans group continues legal battle over discharge records
New Haven Register: Veterans group continues legal battle over discharge records. “A veterans group is continuing to sue the Pentagon over access to military discharge records despite a federal judge’s recent dismissal of the case. The National Veterans Legal Services Program said Tuesday that it filed its intent to bring the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The group represents former service members who want to upgrade a less-than-honorable discharge. Such a status can sometimes result in a loss of veterans benefits.”
The Washington Post: Should the public pay a dime for access to court records?
The Washington Post: Should the public pay a dime for access to court records?. “The federal judiciary charges 10 cents per page to pull up court files from its online record repository. The fees can add up quickly, and users must consider whether each click to view a public record is worth the cost. But a lawsuit in court Monday in Washington challenges the government’s paywall to search online for case documents through the service known as PACER, an acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records.”
Update: USCIS comment period extended to February 10 (California Genealogical Society)
California Genealogical Society: Update: USCIS comment period extended to February 10. “You may have heard that U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) is proposing to exponentially increase fees for retrieval of their genealogy records. In some cases this would mean raising costs as much as 500 percent. We wrote about this previously in our blog. USCIS is the repository for most immigration and naturalization records from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. The proposal has drawn protests from historians and genealogists and even from some Congressional members, most notably Senator Mitt Romney.”
The Trace: What I Learned From Making Dozens of Public Records Requests for Police Data
The Trace: What I Learned From Making Dozens of Public Records Requests for Police Data. “To tailor an effective request, first consult the database’s user manual. Here are 21 examples that might help.”
Government Publishing Office: GPO Digitizes Historical Editions of U.S. Government Manual
Government Publishing Office: GPO Digitizes Historical Editions of U.S. Government Manual. “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has digitized historical editions of the U.S. Government Manual (the Manual), the Government’s official handbook of agency organization for all three branches of Government. Years 1935–1994 of the Manual are now freely accessible and available on govinfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published Government information.”
From “Unplayable” to Searchable Online: the House Recordings Recovery Project (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: From “Unplayable” to Searchable Online: the House Recordings Recovery Project. “In 2007, Texas House of Representatives’ Media Services transferred to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) about 350 reels of audiotape. Most of the recordings dated between 1975 and 1984 and covered the House floor debates from the entire 63rd through 68th Legislative sessions. Many House committee recordings were included as well. At the time the tapes were transferred to TSLAC, the majority of the reels were described by House media staff as ‘unplayable.’ Having been marked as damaged and unplayable, the audiotapes were stored in TSLAC’s climate-controlled stacks awaiting deaccessioning.” A new resource and a discussion about restoring endangered media!
Washington Post: The genealogy boom has hit a roadblock. The Trump administration plans huge fee hikes for immigration records.
Washington Post: The genealogy boom has hit a roadblock. The Trump administration plans huge fee hikes for immigration records.. “The fees would nearly triple, and in many cases, they would rise nearly 500 percent, from $130 to $625 to obtain a single paper file. The little-known Genealogy Program administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allows genealogists, family historians and other researchers to obtain citizenship and alien registration files, visa applications and other records documenting the lives of deceased immigrants who arrived in the United States between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.” I know I have mentioned this before but this is the first time I’ve seen mention of this in a mainstream publication.
Irish Examiner: State archives system creaking under pressure of staff and skills shortages – report
Irish Examiner: State archives system creaking under pressure of staff and skills shortages – report. “Just four of the 61 State departments and agencies are up to date with their legal obligation to transfer their records to the National Archives (NAI) under the ’30-year-rule’. That’s according to a report of Ireland’s national archives system found that the annual transfer of records under the 30-year rule has been scaled back this year because of a lack of storage space.”
GPO: GPO Completes Digitization of 1,300 Congressional Hearings
GPO: GPO Completes Digitization of 1,300 Congressional Hearings. “The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has digitized more than 1,300 historical Congressional Hearings dating back to 1958 and made them available on govinfo, GPO’s one-stop site to authentic, published Government information. Through these digitization efforts, the public can access records of Congressional Hearings for free. These include the transcripts from meetings or sessions of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress, in which elected officials obtained information and opinions on proposed legislation, conducted an investigation, or evaluated the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law.”
Statehouse News Bureau: Ohio Auditor Creates Public Records Rating System For Local Governments
Statehouse News Bureau: Ohio Auditor Creates Public Records Rating System For Local Governments. “The official elected as the state’s accountability watchdog is creating a new program to encourage better open records policies among local governments, measuring best practices for following what are known as Sunshine Laws.”
MeriTalk: House Bill Would Digitize FARA Records
MeriTalk: House Bill Would Digitize FARA Records. “Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a bill on Nov. 15 that would require all Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) files to be submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a digital, searchable electronic format.”
ProPublica Illinois: The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up.
ProPublica Illinois: The Federal Government Collects Data on How Often Schools Seclude Children. The Numbers Don’t Add Up.. “In fall 2015, Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Crystal Lake first used its Blue Room, a padded space that allows school workers to place students in ‘isolated timeout’ for safety reasons. Students were secluded in that room more than 120 times during the 2015-16 school year, according to records obtained by ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune. Yet the district, in its required reporting to the federal government, said it hadn’t used seclusion at all that school year.”
Maine: National Archives awards $96K to Maine State Archives to digitize legislative journals
Maine: National Archives awards $96K to Maine State Archives to digitize legislative journals. “The Maine State Archives recently received a grant from the National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which will fund the digitization of previously unpublished journals of the Maine Legislature.”
