Brooklyn Academy of Music

This Year's Records Cleanup Day:
...was July 12, 2017
The date of next year's Records Cleanup Day will be announced in early summer 2018.

About

This annual event is a very important part of BAM's process: the appropriate documents go to Archives, we clean up what we no longer need, and possibly most importantly, we all get free stuff off of the Share Table!

Now that the majority of our work is done electronically, much of our needed cleanup is digital. The mess is harder to see than piles of paper or stacks of boxes, but it's just as important to clean up. Saving electronic files you don't need is a cost to BAM in terms of storage space and unnecessary additional backup processing.

Key details

1. Lunch will be served at 1pm in the Kriegels
2. The Share Table will be in the 3rd floor hallway, outside of GM.
3. In order to determine what you can delete or shred and what is earmarked for the archives when you are weeding out your files, please refer to the BAM Records Retention Schedule.
4. Any physical materials that listed in the Schedule as “Send to Archives” will be moved to the Archives at the end of clean up day. Materials going to the Archives should be boxed, labeled on the front of the box. All contents of the boxes should be noted in an Excel spreadsheet. Digital records that go to the Archives are also listed on the Schedule; your department's records coordinator knows how to transfer them.
5. Archives staff will be on hand at PJS to answer questions.

Tips for Digital Cleaning.

A few reminders

1. All bins have been labeled as followed: Shredding, Garbage and Recycling.
2. Please share the Clorox disinfecting wipes. We have placed a few bottles on each floor.
3. There are extra bags (both garbage and recycling) next to many bins for your use as well.
4. Please do not overfill the garbage bins.
5. Don't forget to use the "share table" outside of GM on the 3rd Floor.

A Brief History of Records Day
(illustrating the changing nature of record production at BAM)

2009

Archives Director, Sharon Lehner, creates the first Records Retention Manual.

2010?

The first Records Day is scheduled to address physical records on-site.

2014

The first Digital Records Day is planned by I.T. in an effort to resolve a problem with dwindling server space. While many users simply saved files without ever deleting duplicates or outdated versions, the Archives recognized that some significant records were no longer on paper and began to request that departments consider moving final versions of documents to an "_Archive" folder on a shared server.

Digital Records Day and Records Day (for physical material) were held on separate afternoons.

2015

For Digital Records Day In the summer of 2015, Archives distributed detailed guidelines for departments to use the "_Archive" folder, but it became clear that a more structured approach was needed if we were to seriously follow our records retention requirements as they applied to digital records.

In the fall, Archives began working on a more comprehensive approach to collecting digital records through participation in the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) program. An NDSR Fellow devoted nine months to both modifying the Records Retention Manual to account for digital materials.

2016

A records coordinator and point person is appointed in each department through a collaboration with the Archives.

After submitting a proposal concerning email archiving at BAM, a Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) fellow joins the Archives to continue reviewing digital workflows.

2017

In recognition of the fact that records are produced in digital form as often as physical, if not more so, this summer will be the first combined Records Day.