Text Box: Vermont State Archives and Records Administration

Text Box: OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Text Box: Records and Information Management Update

Text Box: Annual Records Officer Designations Are Due!

Text Box: June 2010

Text Box: The U.S. uses about four million tons of copy paper every year– that’s 27 pounds or 10,000 sheets annually for each office worker! -from the website “Cutting Paper” http://eetd.lbl.gov/paper/

Text Box: Questions or comments?  Email us at

Text Box: The Department of Innovation and Information and the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration have come together through iSTART to issue a new Best Practice on Electronic Signatures.  The goal of the new best practice is to ensure the authenticity and reliability of electronic records and signatures relating to transactions by providing guidance on the requirements for utilizing electronic signatures.  Electronic signatures, defined as “a sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record, and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record,” are increasingly used by state agencies to expedite transactions in an electronic environment.  View this and all of the information management best practices and guidelines developed by iSTART on our website at: http://vermont-archives.org/records/iSTART/standards/.

Text Box: New Best Practice on Electronic Signatures

Text Box: Open houses are held at the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration twice a month.  At these events we provide informal, basic training in records management and using the State Records Center, as well as giving our users the opportunity to tour our facilities and meet staff here at VSARA.  We encourage new records officers and liaisons, or anyone who has never been to VSARA, to attend!  We tailor our open houses to meet the needs of attendees, so call or email today to schedule a visit!   Tuesday Morning Sessions  (9:30 - 11:00 am) July 6 August 3 September 7 October 5 November 2 December 7   Thursday Afternoon Sessions (1:30 - 3:00 pm) June 24 July 22 August 26 September 23 October 28 December 23 Email us at or call Rachel Muse at 828-2397 if you’d like to attend an open house.

Text Box: 2010 Open House Dates Text Box: Photocopiers have evolved tremendously since the days of simply duplicating documents.  Your average office copier today not only staples and collates– it also scans, emails and faxes!  While agencies have developed procedures for dealing with the removal and destruction of the hard drives in our old computers, we may not always take the same precautions with our other office supplies, even though most digital photocopies built since 2002 include a hard drive.  CBS recently reported on the problem of used digital copiers being resold– with all that sensitive information still on the hard drive: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/19/eveningnews/main6412439.shtml The good news is that the State of Vermont is taking steps to ensure that information stored on our copiers is not at risk. Changes will be coming to State contracts for office machines, such as copiers, and the Department of Information and Innovation is updating its policy on Digital Media and Hardware Disposal to include copiers.

Text Box: The Problem with Digital Photocopiers

Text Box: Box Pick-up Now Available with Contracted Movers Text Box: Vermont State Archives and Records Administration 1078 US RTE 2, Middlesex ● Montpelier, VT 05633-7701 ● Tel: (802) 828-3700 ● Fax: (802) 828-3710 http://vermont-archives.org/     http://vermont-archives.org/     

Text Box: Starting July 1, 2010, box pick-up services for agencies not on the Montpelier-Waterbury postal service route are available through contracted movers. This service is coordinated by BGS and uses the same district run schedule. Procedures and forms for transferring boxes to the State Records Center  have been revised slightly; however, the overall process remains the same. For more information, please see: http://vermont-archives.org/records/services/storage/boxpickup.htm

Text Box: The time has come for each agency to reappoint its current records officer, or make a new designation if the current RO can no longer serve in that role.  Agency heads and records officers should have received designation forms through email.  Current or new records officers are required to sign the form as well as the agency head.  If you are a records officer and you have not yet been re-designated, please follow up with your agency head. The Records Officer designation form includes room for the agency head’s official seal or stamp, if she or he has one.  When a member of the public needs to send a public record to a foreign country, she or he must obtain a certified copy from the record’s custodian. VSARA authenticates the custodian’s certification before forwarding to the U.S. Department of State. Having the official seal or stamp on file enables us to meet this mandate. Once we receive designation forms for records officers, we will contact each RO to verify that his or her agency’s records liaisons are accurate, or if changes need to be made in that part of the program.  Unlike with records officers, we do not need to reappoint all records liaisons, but will use this opportunity to ensure that all liaison information is up to date. We have been receiving some unsigned appointment forms. Please ensure forms are complete before sending to VSARA. Be Aware: June 30th will mark the date when current authorizations to access records will no longer be valid. Individuals who were authorized to have ongoing access to records housed at the State Records Center will need to be reauthorized for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011). Please do not hesitate to contact Rachel Muse at or 828-2397 if you have any questions.

Text Box: RIM Fast Fact! Text Box: Reminder!  As summer approaches and our reference room grows busier and busier with traveling researchers, we remind our readers that our reference room is open Tuesday-Friday, 9:00a.m.-4:00p.m.  At this time, we are not open on Mondays.