Disposition and Love Letters

All the hearts and flowers this month got me thinking about some of the things romance and records have in common. People start out the relationship thinking everything will last forever, and it does, until life (or maybe a system upgrade) comes along. When records (and love) are new, they're special, important, and cared for. After a few years, it takes work to remember why we're hanging on to everything.

If you pay attention to the media, you might think this looks easy. Birds twitter, violins swell, brand-new content management systems promise the world, and data experts tell us we should make life easier by saving everything. The next morning, we realize things aren't so pretty, this relationship is expensive, and maybe all that data wasn't what we needed after all. Love, like good records management, is worth it, but it's work.

This brings me to a song written by one of my favorite people, Dale Marsh. He's not a records manager, but he has invented a novel approach to records destruction, particularly when it comes to all those love letters left over when a relationship has passed its retention period.

I made paper boats out of your love letters
Let 'em float down the Brazos river

If you're in one of my Records Management classes, I should point out that this is not an officially sanctioned records disposal method. Some days, though, a little soggy origami might be just what your heart needs. Check it out:

Comments

[Russell D. James, CA]

Just put your new blog on my blogroll. Keep up the good work!

[Russell D. James, CA]

Maybe we should do the same to some of our other records, especially those that have met their retention period. Could make for a great outreach tool to the record creators in our institutions, to teach them a bit about records disposition - have a university "regata" race, or something similar.

[Robin]

Russell, I like it! It really would turn disposition instructions into an art form: "Five years after cutoff, fold the right side of the document across. . ." It would also spice up court cases. "Yes, Your Honor, per our company retention schedule, those files were folded into paper cranes and released into the Hudson."