This month Ergo Information Management Consulting celebrates its 20^th year in business.

We are proud to have assisted many clients over the years, providing unparalleled excellence in the delivery of product-independent records and information management (RIM) advisory services in Canada and internationally.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our clients, partners, employees and associates for their part in our success and to sincerely express our gratitude for their contributions in making Ergo a respected, leading name in Canada’s RIM community.  Thank you all!

Sheila Taylor
Partner and CEO

Gregg Astoorian and Sheila Taylor have authored a new chapter for the November, 2018 supplement to Carswell’s Records and Information Management subscription-based service, entitled “Blockchain and Recordkeeping”.

The chapter provides a technical overview of blockchain and how it works in applications such as BitCoin, an overview of how blockchain has evolved and where it is heading, its advantages and disadvantages, and an analysis of the recordkeeping implications of blockchain as it continues to evolve and find new applications.

Our thanks to Carswell for providing permission for us to make this chapter available free of charge.

You can view the chapter in our Published Articles section of this site, or view/download it directly here.

Join me on May 29th @ the ARMA Canada conference for an education session on ‘BYOD and RIM’.

This session will explore the benefits, risks, and RIM challenges of using employee-owned devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.) to connect to corporate networks or access corporate data and information.

Strategies and solutions for managing the RIM, security, and privacy challenges posed by those devices will also be presented.

To register for the conference, please visit http://www.armacanadaconference.org/index.php/registration-2

Paula Sutton, the ICRM’s Regent of Legislation and Appeals, and I will present this pre-con on May 28th at the ARMA Canada conference in Toronto.

Here’s the session description:

Have you considered, or are you actively planning to pursue, a formal certification in the field of Records and Information Management (RIM)? Do you want to enhance your professional credentials and experience as you consider or continue your career in this important discipline? With an unprecedented amount of change affecting the entire world of Records and Information Management, there is no better time to consider a formal professional certification in this space.

To register, visit http://www.armacanadaconference.org/index.php/registration-2

The ICRM will also have a booth @ the conference from Sunday night until Tuesday afternoon when the Exhibit Hall shuts down.  Drop by and see us to discuss all things ICRM.  Hope to see you there!

The April 2016 issue of Municipal World contains an article (pp 21-24) by Sheila Taylor entitled “Information Governance: An organizational approach to managing information”.  The article contains an overview of the cross-departmental aspects of information governance, with emphasis on its benefits, implementation and challenges in a municipal government environment.

Although the full article is not available online, it can be read in the print issue of the magazine.  Back issues can also be ordered for $7.95 CDN + shipping and taxes at www.municipalworld.com/magazine/article-index/

Sheila Taylor has authored a new chapter for the March, 2016 supplement to Carswell’s Records and Information Management subscription-based service, entitled “RIM Strategies for BYOD”.

The chapter provides an assessment of the current state of Bring Your Own Device, including the advantages and disadvantages of the trend to both employers and employees.  The second half of the chapter examines RIM implications in detail, both in terms of challenges that BYOD presents to the records manager, as well as advice on how to manage a BYOD implementation from a RIM perspective.

Our thanks to Carswell for providing permission for us to make this chapter available free of charge.

You can view the chapter in our Published Articles section of this site, or view/download it directly here.

Sheila Taylor has authored the most recent (Fall 2015) supplement to Carswell’s Records and Information Management subscription-based service, entitled “Social Media and Records and Information Management”.

The chapter provides an overview of the key social media channels relevant to most organizations and provides guidelines for the lifecycle management of social media records, including information governance and evidentiary/e-discovery implications.

Our thanks to Carswell for providing permission for us to make this chapter available free of charge.

You can view the chapter in our Published Articles section of this site, or view/download it directly here.

In Kill the Messengers: Stephen Harper’s Assault on Your Right to Know, author Mark Bourrie argues that Prime Minister Harper “has tried to muzzle and delegitimize criticism” (p. 21) by aggressively controlling its messaging and “defanging” (p. 18) watchdogs such as the media and scientists on the federal payroll.  Mr. Bourrie further contends that this behaviour undermines the public’s right to know and has allowed an anti-intellectual government to do business largely in secret.

I found the sections of the book that discuss recent cutbacks at federal department libraries (and specifically Health Canada) plus cutbacks and other changes at Library and Archives Canada of particular interest.  All of these changes have significantly affected the ability of federal government employees and the public to access information.

Chapter 7 (with the fitting title of “The War on Brains”) describes the effects of significant changes to library services at Health Canada:

• The complement of 40 science librarians was reduced to 6, thus significantly reducing the availability of trained professionals to conduct literature searches and help scientists track down publications.
• The head office library was closed and its collection was moved to the National Science Library on the Ottawa campus of the National Research Council, thus preventing research scientists from being able to quickly access the information.
• Since the interlibrary loan program was outsourced, a scientist’s department is now charged for every borrowed item. This change has reportedly prompted some scientists to devise clever methods of accessing materials for free (e.g. borrowing a university library card from a co-op student).
• One scientist reportedly started a library in his basement, amassing 250’ of books and journals and bringing requested items to his colleagues at work.

That chapter also discusses cutbacks and significant changes at Library and Archives Canada (LAC).  For example:

• More than 200 employees were fired in May 2012 resulting in the loss of many experienced experts with unique skills.
• Daniel Caron, former head of Library and Archives Canada, banned librarians and archivists from making presentations in classrooms, attending conferences, or speaking at public meetings to audiences such as genealogists on the basis that such activities could result in conflicts of interest or ‘other risks’ to LAC.
• The elimination of the interlibrary loan system prevents people across the country from borrowing books from the archives.
• Library and Archives Canada spent nothing on historic documents in 2011-2012 (down from $385,461 in 2008-2009) while the US Library of Congress’ annual acquisitions budget ranged from $18 to $19 million from 2009-2012.

One anecdote of particular interest to the records and information management (RIM) community illustrates how the Harper government’s tight messaging control even prevented government experts from briefing the media on the requirements for managing government records.

Mr. Bourrie reports that a December 2013 request by The Canadian Press for “a background briefing with an official from Library and Archives Canada to learn about the laws and regulations concerning the saving and deleting of government emails” (p. 266) wasn’t granted.  Although LAC identified an employee to provide the briefing, consultations involving 32 bureaucrats, the Privy Council Office, and the Department of Canadian Heritage reportedly resulted in the decision to not allow the expert to share his knowledge.  Further, Mr. Bourrie contents that “Library and Archives Canada was leaned on to tell The Canadian Press that the expert was out of town”. (p. 267)