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Ohio Situation -- Who Decides?



Yesterday Dennis East posted a message to this list, stating in part:
"Every aspiring and practicing archivist should read the article in the
Toledo Blade and decide for themselves based on the information
available. It's a great case study for an archives class!"

Well, ok, I had my class on Archival Access and Advocacy - one of nine
courses on archives and preservation offered this academic year at Pitt -
meeting last night and I accepted Dennis' challenge.

Apart from the fact that every newspaper article like this only tells
part of the story, it is the material of a good case study.

Here are general observations made as part of our discussion:

First, the idea that microfilmed records would not ultimately be
destroyed is a poor principle.  The quotations from various people around
the state revealed a sort of antiquarian fascination with preserving the
originals that is part of the responsibility of the archives profession
to change.  The public needs to understand that archivists are destroyers
as well as preservers, especially corporate, government, and
institutional archives administered as part of records management
programs.  We need to help the public understand that careful appraisal
and as part of this destruction is both a normal and necessary
responsibility.  Here there seems nothing to fault about what the OHS
staff were trying to accomplish.

Second, there were some decidely poor judgments made at the Ohio
Historical Society, if the newspaper article is an adequate reporting of
the events, in terms of following procedures in archives and records
management work.  Admissions of not checking retention schedules, of the
lack of obtaining and documenting permissions for destruction, of some of
the records being "saved" by an outside party, and other related
activities reveal records management and archives procedures not being
carefully followed.  If the OHS could have produced all of the forms and
procedures, some of the controversy would have been avoided (although the
criticism of the "self-advowed history buff" probably would not have
dissipated simply because it is difficult for such people to understand
that some older records will be destroyed).

Third, and perhaps the greatest problem, is the notion that a private
organization - the OHS - entrusted with the responsibility to manage the
state government archives is somehow not liable to be investigated
because it is not a state agency suggests a remarkable dilemma.  This is
the responsibility of the state government not a private organization.
Realizing that the majority of the funds for the OHS come from the State
does not resolve anything if the OHS is not able to held accountable by
the State.  It should be added that this is the fault of the State
government not the OHS, and it is quite likely that the OHS problems with
procedures and practices stems from the work environment created by a
lack of accountability.

NAGARA, SAA, and ARMA all should look into the legal and ethical
dimensions of this incident - although none of our professional
associations have strong mechanisms or interests in doing something like
this.  Too bad.  It is especially too bad because such newspaper stories
never tell the full set of events.  Even the tone of the Toledo Blade
article suggests this because you can sense the reporter's joy in dealing
with the supposed irony of the State Archives destroying such records.  A
more active and viligant set of professional associations could provide
more balanced accountings of such events -- like the General Accounting
Office reports issued by the Feds.


Richard J. Cox
Associate Professor
Department of Library and Information Sciences
School of Information Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Voice:  412-624-3245
FAX:    412-648-7001
e-mail: rjc@lis.pitt.edu
homepage: http://www.lis.pitt.edu/~rjc

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