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FOIA Officers - Feeling Like a Filing Cabinet?
I had the pleasure of attending a FOIA conference this month and heard some really insightful panel speakers present on Freedom of Information and records management. But a funny thing happened when it came time for audience questions. A woman stood up and said, “I feel like a filing cabinet! I get a ton of requests from the same people over and over. Does anyone else feel that way?”
Her honesty got a lot of laughs from the audience, but underneath the humor there was in fact a serious question – “what can I do about this situation? How can I process these requests quickly and efficiently?”
Given that the audience was predominately those with responsibilities in processing Freedom of Information requests, I'm sure many people have felt that same frustration that this particularly brave FOIA officer was expressing. However, it seems there is generally a sense that FOIA teams should not voice their frustrations with Open Government processes.
Their frustrations over poor document management practices – of having to search
through paper records in manila filing folders with a black marker in hand, while still receiving and responding to these requests for information through snail mail seemed to baffle her. Without electronic records keeping, searching through filing cabinets to do excel spreadsheet tracking and responding to duplicate requests would be challenging to say the least.
Access to government records is heralded as a fundamental aspect of democracy – that we need to keep public officials accountable and transparent. But how can we make this system work better for government official that have the responsibility of responding to Freedom of Information requests with the responsive documents?
For those working in the disclosure of public records, let me ask you this: Do you ever feel like filing cabinet? What do you routinely struggle with?
Stay tuned as we share more FOIA stories.
Her honesty got a lot of laughs from the audience, but underneath the humor there was in fact a serious question – “what can I do about this situation? How can I process these requests quickly and efficiently?”
Given that the audience was predominately those with responsibilities in processing Freedom of Information requests, I'm sure many people have felt that same frustration that this particularly brave FOIA officer was expressing. However, it seems there is generally a sense that FOIA teams should not voice their frustrations with Open Government processes.
Their frustrations over poor document management practices – of having to search
through paper records in manila filing folders with a black marker in hand, while still receiving and responding to these requests for information through snail mail seemed to baffle her. Without electronic records keeping, searching through filing cabinets to do excel spreadsheet tracking and responding to duplicate requests would be challenging to say the least.
Access to government records is heralded as a fundamental aspect of democracy – that we need to keep public officials accountable and transparent. But how can we make this system work better for government official that have the responsibility of responding to Freedom of Information requests with the responsive documents?
For those working in the disclosure of public records, let me ask you this: Do you ever feel like filing cabinet? What do you routinely struggle with?
Stay tuned as we share more FOIA stories.
