Records Management PRIA Archival Backup & Disaster Recovery Source Document Microfilming Presented at the NACRC Annual Conference Portland, Oregon July 16, 2011 Facilitator: Larry Burtness

Targets of this presentation?  Source document microfilming and digital microfilming  Property Records Industry Association’s (PRIA) work in the area of Disaster Recovery  Permanent records  Media migration for your digital images

Disaster?  Is this a disaster?  In Truckee, CA?  In Orlando, FL?

Disaster, under control?

Background Information  PRIA Archival Backup & Disaster Recovery Workgroup The paper - Disaster Preparedness: An Imperative for Good Governance  Chapter 1 – Asset Management (July, 2009)  Chapter 2 – Source Document Microfilming (April, 2011)  Chapter 3 – Business Continuity Plan (in progress)

… more background information  PRIA standards and best practices What are they?  Government and business working together to develop standards and best practices for the property records industry. How does that help you?  Provides guidelines for the storage and protection of permanent records.

Level the playing field … “… and the survey says”  How many use microfilm as the permanent record?  How many still create source document microfilm?  Microfilm being outsourced or created in-house?  How many have scanned or microfilmed all of your official records?

Chapter 1 highlights  Asset Management Do you know where your stuff is? Do you know what condition your stuff is in? It’s almost as simple as the word “inventory”.  Plenty of examples of asset management inventory worksheets are available The foundation of your disaster recovery plan  Recorders/Registrars and Clerks, as the custodian of your permanent records, you have the responsibility for their safe keeping. Knowing what you have, where it is, and its condition is the first step in meeting this responsibility Includes electronic records also!!

Chapter 2 highlights  Source document microfilming is becoming a lost “art”. Difference between source document microfilming and digital microfilm The institutional knowledge is starting to ride off into the sunset Those that still have it are forgetting, or ignoring, important characteristics This chapter attempts to provide important information at the most basic level

Source document microfilming

Source document microfilming … some basics …  Microfilm cameras Planetary and rotary  Technical characteristics Resolution Lighting Processing Inspection Duplicates  Standards

Permanent Records 101  What are permanent records?  How do you keep them permanent?

Who said it?  "... because of the conditions of modern war against which none of us can guess the future, it is my hope that it is possible to build up an American public opinion in favor of what might be called the only form of insurance that will stand the test of time. I am referring to duplication of records by modern processes like microfilm so that if in any part of the country original archives are destroyed a record of them will exist in some other place.“  --Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 13, 1942

If you do not use microfilm …  Who is accountable for your permanent records? Today? 10 years from now? 50 years from now?  Is it the Recorder/Registrar/Clerk?  Is it the Records Manager?  Is it Information Technology?

Food for thought …  Is microfilm old technology?  Is microfilm cost prohibitive?  Most state archives continue to recommend or even require microfilm as the media of choice for archival or permanent storage.

Legislation example – the good, the bad, and the ugly  Nevada changed statutes in the 2011 legislative session to not require microfilm as the permanent record … permissive “… any custodian of public records in this State may destroy documents, instruments, papers, books and any other records or writings in the custodian’s custody only if an image of those records or writings has been placed on microfilm or has been saved in an electronic recordkeeping system which permits the retrieval of the information contained in the records or writings and the reproduction of the records or writings. A reproduction of an image of a record or writing that has been placed on microfilm or saved pursuant to this section shall be deemed to be the original record or writing, regardless of whether the original exists.” “A microfilmed image made pursuant to this section must be made on film which complies with minimum standards of quality approved by the American National Standards Institute and the Association for Information and Image Management.”

Managed migration  If you’re not using microfilm as your permanent record, but are relying upon your electronic images being backed up … A plan should be in place for the ongoing (in perpetuity) migration of your images as technology presses forward  Optical disk  Cd’s  RAID’s & SAN’s  Next generation?

In Review …  Microfilm images – tested and trusted  Electronic images – managed migration, or you may have unplanned obsolescence

One more – who said it?  "Time and accident are committing daily havoc on the originals (of valuable historic and state papers) deposited in our public offices. The late war has undone the work of centuries in this business. The lost cannot be recovered; but let us save what remains; not by vaults and locks which fence them in from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such multiplication of copies as shall place them beyond the reach of accident.“  --Thomas Jefferson, February 18, 1791

Thank you … any questions?? Larry Burtness Chief Deputy Recorder Washoe County, NV