On Monday, 28 November 2011, President Obama signed off on the most significant step since the Truman Administration (wow!) to improve the management of Federal records. In his memorandum, President Obama stated, "When records are well managed, agencies can use them to assess the impact of programs, to reduce redundant efforts, to save money, and to share knowledge within and across their organizations. In these ways, proper records management is the backbone of open government."

Stay tuned over the coming months as the required actions in response to this memo bring further clarity, and perhaps complexity, to the vast issues of records management and open government. 

If you have ideas you would like to contribute to the discussion, you can do so by:

• Attending the NARA Public Meeting, Tuesday, 27 March 2012, at the McGowan Theater (1000-1200)
• Offering suggestions for Records Management reform at http://govrecordmanagement.ideascale.com/
• Following updates on the reform process on NARA's Records Express blog at http://blogs.archives.gov/records-express/

This is an exciting time for archivists and records managers! I'll be sure to keep you posted as developments arise.