The people, places, and qualities of Georgia are
fundamentally unique--including the government. Documentation of the most fundamental
aspects of personal and community life is contained in the records of government. Facts on
the first and last days of individuals, the start and finish of government activities, and
poignant details about the most heart-warming and heart-rending aspects of human nature
are found among the records. They offer great insight on the state's past, present, and
future.
One author and historian said, "Through the past we
[speak of] here may seem young by old world standards, the acceleration of change in our
rocket century has no precedent. ...To know what to save, and what to discard from the
onrush of so much history, is all the more difficult, and all the more important."
In Georgia, " We save the things we care about. Others
might not care about them at all. They are as distinctive a mark of identity as a
fingerprint. To the extent that they are trivial, we are trivial. To the extent that they
are innovative, brave, and of lasting value, maybe we are as well."
Our public records, in a physical sense, are artifacts that
represent Georgians' belief in the worth of maintaining a community memory, of recording
human aspirations. As functional media, they are created to transmit information of the
most private and public nature. They are used to communicate the record of knowledge
compiled, or sought after.
Both the hand-copied, hand-bound ledger books used by your
government predecessors two centuries ago, and the machine-made, machine-encoded mega-byte-size
computer disk used by you or a co-worker two days ago, are merely objects. For some of us,
both of these objects are quite familiar--part of our documentary legacy. But, to others
they may seem strange--"even exotic."
The people of Georgia have decided that some of these objects
contain important "ideas and principles to hold onto, and to build on." They
have come to realize that, indeed, "objects are just objects." Their real value
is in what their contents can tell us about the ideas that inspired their creation and
use. Georgians have determined to establish a process to preserve, maintain, and access
the information recorded in these objects--so that, we hope, it may "inspire us as
well."
It is critical that you, the citizen employed in government,
understand and always remember that such records (whatever their form) contain what is
fast becoming one of Georgia's most precious public resources-- its information.
This information offers Georgia a "usable past" that can help the state make its
way to a better future.
For this reason, all persons choosing to serve in public
institutions of Georgia, have also chosen to properly protect, preserve, and defend
the records in their control. You assigned role in this process is to assist in the
administration of the orderly transfer, from one generation to the next, of the public's
inheritance of government information. Is it possible to imagine a challenge and
responsibility of greater fundamental importance, or a richer legacy of a democracy?
Today, we live in an information age in which the
management of government information, and the records that contain it, is recognized as a
fundamental government process--not a government program. This has not always
been the case.
During the fifty years following the Second World War, the
organization and size of public administration in the United States changed greatly. This
was certainly true here in Georgia. Along with tremendous growth in the number and
activity of government departments, came rapid growth in the production of government
paperwork. Administrators at all levels soon became overwhelmed by the unique pace of
records proliferation.
Unfortunately, a tendency to view the management of public
records as a functional activity apart from routine daily responsibilities also began to
proliferate. This commonly led to one of two results. The first caused less active agency
records to be put out of sight and ignored--often until storage space was used up and more
space was acquired.
The second resulted in what might be depicted as a type of
institutional bulimia. A program or position was created to come in (when
necessary and only when invited) to take care of an agency's older records. Most
often, the desired outcome was to have the records deposited directly in the nearest dump
or incinerator. This was a binge-purge response to information consumption and
disposition.
The neglect of public records and the quantity of storage
space and equipment used for housing them increased at nearly identical rates. This trend
continued unabated for years, irrespective of the value of the information in the records
and of the physical conditions of the storage areas.
In recent years however, government managers recognized that
such business practices were counter-productive and inherently wasteful. The standard way
of doing things created major obstacles to efficiency and dis-incentives to participation
in records management activity for government administrators at all levels. The time came
to put a stop to it. In order to help do this, the State Legislature passed the
Georgia Records Act. It clarified roles and
responsibilities for this fundamental function of government--managing the public's
records.
The citizens of this state have made their beliefs known in
other legislation as well. The Open Records Act, the Open
and Public Meetings Act, and the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act all
demonstrate the importance placed on the maintenance and security of public information.
This is why compliance of these laws applies to each and every individual and agency at
every level of government. This fundamental role is placed with the fundamental
people--you who handle and manage records daily.
Just as it is fundamentally true for all laws regulating
public agencies and public employees, laws concerning records systems and information
practices can neither be successfully implemented nor upheld without the efforts of the
individual government administrator.
Ongoing refinement and strengthening of these laws, and
supporting regulations and policies, continue to reflect the values that inspired their
implementation. Georgians believe that proper management of Georgia's records -- including
those of the multitude of temporary and permanent programs, boards, committees, and other
entities funded with public monies -- is vital to the protection of their personal and
collective rights.
Since the earliest days of Georgia's colonial period, this
belief has been a basic fact of government life for public servants. The early recognition
that personal commitment was essential for the proper management of public information has
caused the citizens of Georgia to remain national leaders in the fulfillment of this
responsibility.
And so, it comes down to you and your fundamental role as the
individual officers and resource allocators in Georgia government. Adherence to the
ethical requirements of government information management is critical to the successful
maintenance of the "public trust." You who are given that trust must faithfully
uphold it in each day's work. <<>>
