OVERVIEW: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retired its Lotus Notes database in 2013, but the Service's Records and Information Management staff has had to continue to use it to search for legacy emails that can only be opened with Lotus Notes, to satisfy litigation and Freedom of Information Act holds. A few years ago, staff members embarked on an ambitious project to successfully give the database, and the no-longer-supported servers where the email accounts were stored, a well-deserved retirement. This session will summarize the creative approaches they took, and numerous hurdles they had to navigate, to bid bon voyage to Lotus Notes and the servers without losing the important files. Steps include:
- Tracking down past and present high-level officials to retroactively apply a Capstone-style approach to their emails;
- Researching existing FOIA and legal holds to determine affected employees;
- Finding the email accounts and sometimes having to convert them to make them readable;
- Communicating, and working closely, with the Information Resources and Technology Management Branch and an outside contractor to ensure the essential emails were successfully transferred to the current email management system;
- Setting up databases and spreadsheets to track progress;
- Notifying all staff that Lotus notes emails would become unavailable once disposition was completed, and explaining why;
- Disposing of extraneous records using a NARA-approved records schedule.
The many records specialists who are trying to figure out how to retrieve records from obsolete, unsupported databases such as Lotus Notes will be able to learn about the process we developed and customize it for their own needs. It aligns with one of the “hot topics” that NAGARA’s members are interested in, Electronic Records Preservation and Access. The presenters have all worked closely on the project over the past several years and will speak candidly about the issues they confronted and the lessons they learned. Plenty of time will be left or Q&A.
GARA CERTIFICATE CORE COMPETENCY AREAS: "Retention and Disposition" OR "Digital Repository Management"
GEORGIA RECORDS ASSOCIATION GRMP CREDIT: 1 Credit in AK5
TARGET AUDIENCE: Federal, State/Tribal, Local, Public Institutions of Higher Learning
FOCUS AREAS: Archives, Records Management, Technology/Tools
PRESENTER: Daria Labinsky, Records and Information Management Specialist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service