Another panelist who will be presenting during our annual meeting is Krista Oldham, University Archivist at Clemson University.  She will speak on “The Struggle is Real: Getting a Seat at the Table.”

The unending pursuit of getting the proverbial “seat at the table” and having a voice when it comes to records management decisions and concerns is a constant struggle for records managers. This struggle is compounded when records management authority is perceived to be buried in an institution’s organizational structure. In my experience working at higher education institutions as an archivist with records management responsibilities, I have found that we are often ignored or forgotten when it comes to decision making, especially in regard to electronic records. Additionally many of those making decisions do not fully understand the authority, value, and expertise archivists/records managers possess. At Clemson, the Records Management Team is currently changing that perception and has successfully secured a “seat at the table” by demonstrating our proficiency in understanding Clemson’s information environment. “How?” you ask. Through collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships. For the past six month the Records Management Team has worked closely with the Chief Data Officer, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Office of the VP for Finance and Operations, Enterprise Risk Management,  and Clemson Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) to address issues related to IT vendor management and customer IT needs as part of the larger University IT governance framework. Our goal is for stakeholders to understand all/most/some of the risks, costs, and benefits of the data associated with the proposed solution before approval (the point of no return). Clemson has been practicing this activity in a piecemeal fashion via various mechanisms, but we are now attempting to do this more intentionally. Playing a central role in this initiative, the Records Management Team has been able to deliver real solutions to address the ever changing information environment of the University.  My presentation will focus on sharing my experience getting to “the table” and the strategies I adopted to build relationships and deliver results that demonstrated why I needed to be “at the table.”