The annual Records Management Self-Assessment from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was recently released. The assessment evaluates whether or not the United States federal agencies are performing their records management duties and responsibilities adequately. Fierce Content Management brought this interesting information to us in their article, “NARA releases surprisingly candid federal agency self-assessment.”

98 percent of the agencies required to fill out the assessment did so. Since the government is trending toward the nationwide adoption of electronic records management systems, NARA said it will also look at “ways to analyze emerging capabilities of electronic systems to capture and maintain records.”

The results showed a 5 percent increase in the number of agencies in the low-risk category and an 8 percent decrease in the high-risk category. Compared with 2010 data, the results are fairly significant.

As with many federal records management reports, email compliance continues to be an issue. Most agencies had policies in place, but failed to monitor for compliance.

Melody K. Smith

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