RIM Month was first observed in 1995 as National Records and Information Management Day, through the efforts of members of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) U.S. Government Relations Committee. The purpose was to bring attention to the cause of passing the renewal of the U.S. Paperwork Reduction Act.

Over time, the observance grew to cover a week in 1997, and a month in 2003, and now extends beyond U.S. borders to other countries as part of an International recognition of the value and importance of RIM.

National Records and Information Management Month is celebrated each year in April. It was developed to promote good record keeping and information management and to emphasize the importance of having organized records. It’s spring cleaning for your records.

Most employees do not get excited about records management. In the beginning of CU*Answers’ RIM initiative, I often heard “I don’t have time!” Records management was a real culture change; I had to come up with creative ways to educate and train our employees. What I found was, if I made it fun they would come.

Here at CU*Answers, over the past 5 years we have dedicated a whole week of activities to educate and train our employees on records management principles and best practices. The Records and Information page on our portal provides information to help our staff manage their records in a timely and efficient manner. We have a lunch and learn for our department liaisons, hold REACH (Resources for Employee Advancement) classes and end the week with something fun.

Last year we had a carnival with games such as RIM Bingo, Litigation Hold Go fish, a putting hole, basketball and a photo shoot area. We served popcorn and candy and had some great prized: a personal shredder, external hard drive and fireproof/waterproof storage box for important papers. Our Board and Executive officers are very supportive of Records Management and I am blessed to have a budget to work with. This April, we celebrated our 5th Annual RIM week. The week of activities and education concluded with the main event: an Escape Room! While we all had fun, we also learned about how important it is to the organization that we maintain that records management culture.