Another high-level administration officials takes to the blog

In the very dry world of the people who deal with public records it’s not usual for them to speak extemporaneously, so I think that the fact that the Archivist of the United States has his own blog is a big deal.

Actually, judging by his first entry, someone needs to take David Ferriero and tell him a few things about the blogging medium. Such as – loosen up Dave! You don’t have to write a blog post as if it’s a press release. Personality, man, that’s what people want to see.

As far as blogs go, though, he’s already a step ahead of the game. The name of his blog is “AOTUS: Collector in Chief.” Now, that is a cool title. He should be able to do great things writing under that.

To his credit, Ferriero gives out some newsworthy notes in his first post about how the Archives will be taking a more proactive lead in bringing agencies together to deal with records management issues, particularly electronic records. He also talks intriguingly about providing “incentives for rewarding agencies” that best use technology for their records management.

And he offers up some tasty historical tidbits, such as:

At the conclusion of the Continental Congress, the Massachusetts delegate, Rufus King, advised that the records of the proceedings either be destroyed or given to the President. He feared that if the records were scattered or corrupted by those with an interest to do so, they could be used to distort history and deceive future generations. He understood the vital importance of records management.

Love that stuff! Keep it coming, Dave.

The Archives does have another blog, called NARAtions, which is written as a collective by NARA employees. It has general news about what NARA is about, but it also contains great examples of how NARA hunts for information in all kinds of records, and provides valuable hints on where to find things, such as this about genealogical research.

If, like me, you are a bit of a nerd about these kinds of things then you can’t get enough of this. Go, AOTUS, go!

(Tip O’ the Pen to FreeGovInfo)