Hurricane Sandy: Lessons Learned

Disasters Happen--are you ready?

As the East begins the slow crawl back to "normal" after Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy, stories are emerging from citizens of how they are dealing in the aftermath.  One that our office heard about made us realize it was time for us to change our disaster plans at our homes and the office.

Records Management held a large class last week on email management.  There were many great questions raised and we thought it might be a good idea to share the discussion with you.

It’s just an email…so who cares, right?
Answer: we all need to care.

While most email can be deleted once your needs have been met, other email must be retained to meet retention requirements.  If you can't decide, ask yourself the following questions: do you use it?  do you need it? 

Mythbusters, Records Management style

Myth:  Scanning automatically means you can destroy paper records once they have been scanned.

Confirmed or Busted?

There is a common misconception that once a paper record has been scanned, it can be destroyed.  We're here to set the record straight (no pun intended!).

The Circle of (Email) Life

Email, Email, Email--It is everywhere!

What do you do with all your email?  Some people save everything (you don't need to--only save the items on the UW retention schedule), some people don't save enough (please don't do this--keep records for their full retention period) and some people just try to stay afloat.

What have we been busy doing?

Spring quickly became a blur at Records Management Services - between identifying new records for the UW General Records Retention Schedule, improving our customer service, and shooting another video.  Here are a few highlights of what we have been working on.

A new Blog and a new Process

Welcome to Records Management's Reflections blog on everything that is records at the University of Washington.  Our goal of the blog is to bring you current, relevant and useful news you can use while managing your email, electronic files, databases, I drive, social media accounts, desk, inbox and filing cabinets (i.e. all of your records!).