Vermont State Archives & Records Administration

In the News

E-mails and Record-Keeping

The struggle to manage records in an electronic environment is an ongoing battle for records managers, and questions about what should or shouldn't be done with e-mail are a particularly hot topic.

Our neighboring state, Massachusetts, is currently wrestling with a controversy concerning the destruction of Mitt Romney's gubernatorial e-mail upon his leaving office. The following article and opinion piece discuss the questions arising from this destruction:

• Romney Staff Wiped Out Records in '06
• Why Did Mitt Romney Erase Official Emails?

Vermont agencies are currently struggling with managing e-mail. If you have questions about how e-mail is handled in your office, raise those with your records officer -- a policy may be in place or in development. And visit our website for Vermont's Electronic Messages Best Practice for All Public Agencies.

On a national level, records management is gaining attention with President Obama's recent memorandum requiring improvements and changes in record-keeping in federal agencies. The memorandum particularly requires that management be applied to digital records and that more federal records be maintained and made accessible electronically. Following is the memorandum in its entirety, as well as an article on this subject:

• Presidential Memorandum – Managing Government Records
• Obama Orders Agencies to Keep Better Digital Records