Building Alliances – Part 2, Connecting with Your Information Technology Department. Join us March 19, 2021, 2-3pm E.T.

Register in advance for this meeting here: https://ksu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctcu-gqDwoH9VpGJ2fNgeLni6R9upJMpp4

Ryan Leimkuehler, University Records Manager at Kansas State University and David Brown, Archivist and Head of Records Management Services as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will continue their discussions on how to establish Archives and Records Management Programs through the formation of strategic cross organizational alliances. Our March discussion will focus upon fostering a productive mutually beneficial relationship with your organization’s information technology staff.

Our discussion will begin like this:

Dave: Establishing an effective records management program can be achieved in a myriad of ways which are often specific to the organization where you work. However, if your goal is to institute a dynamically proactive 21^st century records and information management program that is not continually reacting to new technologies and systems after they have been added to your organization’s enterprise architecture, then you must foster a collaborative partnership with your organization’s information technology staff.

Ryan: The perspective I will bring to the discussion will focus on how you move your program from a fledgling records management program to one that builds relationships and has mutually beneficial collaborations. Dave is right, and I wholeheartedly support him, that a modern records program needs to be aligned with the interests and needs of the IT department. This is also a two way street. I have been a part of reactionary records management when our University went on Covid-19 lockdown and all employees were pushed to working from home and started the use of Microsoft Teams and OneDrive. Through these reactions, I was able to start the process of embedding myself in IT committees, working groups, and policy/procedure discussions. While the pipelines and procedures are not perfect now we are in a much better position to adapt to the new technology that will inevitably arrive.

From here, the discussion could go in many directions depending on the interactions of our colleagues. Some questions we will consider are:

·         What is the context of your relationship with IT in your institutions?

·         Who are your key partners in IT?

·         How do you develop a relationship with IT?

·         What can you expect (the twists and turns of maintaining an RM/IT collaboration)?