Today, the Office of Open Records website was completely revamped.

This post highlights five new features on the website, but first a note: You can continue to find all of the same information that’s always been available on the OOR website. The site has been reorganized, but nothing has been removed.

ONLINE APPEALS FORM

There’s a new online form to fill out when you file an appeal with the OOR.

The goal of this new form is to save everyone time and to help ensure that you submit all of the required information. When you click “submit,” your appeal is instantly transmitted to the Office of Open Records. If you enter a valid email address, you’ll also receive a copy by email for your own records.

If you prefer using a PDF or Word version of the appeal form, those are still available. Just scroll to the bottom of the page. Appeals can also be submitted without using the OOR’s form, though that is not recommended.

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS

You can now sign up for email notifications from the OOR.

Currently, there are two options for email subscriptions: A daily digest of every Final Determination issued by the Office of Open Records, and a more general newsletter, which will be sent about once a month, with updates from the OOR.

We plan to add more options in the future.

AUTOMATED TWEETS

The OOR’s official Twitter account — @OpenRecordsPA — will now automatically tweet when any of three things happen:

• When a new Final Determination is posted;
• When the OOR is notified that a Right-to-Know case has been filed in court; and
• When the OOR is notified of a court decision in a Right-to-Know case.

TRAINING REQUEST FORM

The Office of Open Records travels all across Pennsylvania to provide training, and we want to do even more. We can provide general training on the Right-to-Know Law and the Sunshine Act, or we can develop much more specific training sessions – for example, training that’s focused on law enforcement agencies.

To request training, simply fill out our new training request form and we’ll get in touch with you.

SEARCHING FINAL DETERMINATIONS

Searching prior Final Determinations can be extremely helpful for many reasons. However, the search tool has had — to be kind — some issues.

The new search tool isn’t perfect, but it is significantly better. And we’ll continue to improve it.

WE WANT YOUR SUGGESTIONS

I hope you find the new OOR website to be helpful. If you have ideas to make it better, please reach let me know. You can post a comment below or to @ErikOpenRecords on Twitter, or you can email me at earneson@pa.gov.