Electronic Records Management in Local Government Agencies: The Case of the Clerk of Courts Office in Lake County Florida

ABSTRACT

Local governments must provide public access to records such as court proceedings, deeds, marriage licenses, birth, and death records, and so on, often on tight budgets. This article focuses on how a local agency, the Clerk of Courts office in Lake County, Florida, used a planning process developed by the National Center for State Courts. This process was loosely coupled with the principles of sensemaking (Weick, 1995) to stay ahead of the curve concerning changes that would significantly affect its records management system. By applying the scanning methods, the organization was able to paint a plausible picture of its future environment that allowed it to attack the issues related to legislative changes in its electronic records management (ERM) practices proactively rather than reactively.

KEYWORDS:

• electronic records management
• government planning
• legal issues