On Dec. 2, I hosted a training session on Zoom designed for requesters, including members of the media and anyone interested in accessing government records in Pennsylvania.
That session, The Right-to-Know Law for Requesters, is now available on YouTube.
Here’s the PowerPoint presentation that I used:
The Right-to-Know Law for Requesters (Dec. 2, 2020) – PPTX
The Right-to-Know Law for Requesters (Dec. 2, 2020) – PDF
You can watch the entire video here or on the OOR’s YouTube Channel:
The Office of Open Records webinars scheduled to take place this week will be rescheduled.
Continuing a tradition that began last year, the Office of Open Records is once again planning a series of webinars for Sunshine Week 2020 with topics related to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and Sunshine Act.
The OOR’s Sunshine Week 2020 webinar series currently looks like this:
March 16 (Monday)
RTKL Basics for Agency Open Records Officers
with OOR Director of Training & Outreach George Spiess
March 17 (Tuesday)
Records Retention
with Archivist Tyler Stump of the Pennsylvania State Archives
March 18 (Wednesday)
Writing an Effective RTKL Request
with OOR Executive Director Erik Arneson
March 19 (Thursday)
Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act
with OOR Director of Training & Outreach George Spiess
March 20 (Friday)
Changes to the OOR Docketing System
with OOR General Counsel Delene Lantz-Johnson
All of the webinars will begin at 10 a.m. and will include plenty of time for questions. Mark your calendar to join us!
For more details, check the OOR’s training calendar a little closer to Sunshine Week.
The Office of Open Records is hosting a webinar titled The Right-to-Know Law for Law Enforcement on Thursday, June 13, at 10 a.m.
This session, hosted by George Spiess, our Chief of Training and Outreach, will focus on those aspects of the Right-to-Know Law that are specific to police departments, such as investigatory records, the impact of Act 22 of 2017 (which covers police recordings), and CHRIA.
More information about the webinar is available on the OOR’s Training Calendar.
The OOR also has published a RTKL Guide for Law Enforcement Agencies.
The Office of Open Records is planning more webinars about the Right-to-Know Law, the Sunshine Act, and related topics.
It would be a huge help to hear from you: What you would like to see in future webinars, what days of the week are best, what times of day are best, etc.
Please help us out by completing this quick survey.
And to be sure you hear about the webinars, subscribe to the OOR’s email newsletter.
Thank you.
Prior to last week, the Office of Open Records had hosted precisely one webinar. Last week, which was Sunshine Week 2019, we dove in the deep end with nine webinars.
Part of our goal was to see how much interest there might be in this kind of training about the Right-to-Know Law and the Sunshine Act. The OOR has been doing on-site trainings since the law went into effect in 2009, and we don’t intend to stop. But webinars can reach a wider audience more efficiently.
I’m thrilled to report that we had more than 600 people sign up to participate in those nine webinars. (Some of those 600 are repeat customers – people who signed up for more than one.) As a result, we will definitely be scheduling more web-based training sessions.
Of the nine sessions we offered last week, here’s how they ranked in terms of public interest:
If you’d like to suggest other topics, please let us know. And the best way to be notified of upcoming OOR webinars is to sign up for our email newsletter!
This afternoon, the Office of Open Records is hosting a webinar about resources available on our website.
Here’s the PowerPoint presentation our Chief of Training & Outreach, George Spiess, prepared for this session:
OOR Website Resources – March 15, 2019 – PDF
OOR Website Resources – March 15, 2019 – PPTX
The OOR regularly provides training on Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and Sunshine Act. Our training calendar is available here, and we always welcome requests to provide training.
This is our final webinar for Sunshine Week 2019. Thank you to everyone who joined us! The best way to be notified of upcoming webinars is to sign up for our email newsletter.
Earlier this afternoon, the Office of Open Records hosted a webinar designed for requesters.
Topics covered include how to write a good Right-to-Know Law request, accessing information in databases, significant deadlines in the RTKL, how to appeal a RTKL denial, and more.
Here’s the PowerPoint presentation I used for this session:
Requester Webinar – March 11, 2019 – PDF
Requester Webinar- March 11, 2019 – PPTX
The OOR regularly provides training on Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and Sunshine Act. Our training calendar is available here, and we always welcome requests to provide training.
This is Sunshine Week 2019, and we’re hosting a series of webinars. I hope you can join us for some or all of them!
As part of Sunshine Week 2019, the Office of Open Records is hosting a series of nine webinars addressing various topics related to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and Sunshine Act. Some will be of more interest to agencies, some of more interest to requesters, and some will be of interest to both groups.
Here’s the complete schedule, along with links to sign up:
Right-to-Know Law Training for Requesters
Monday, March 11, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Basics for New Agency Open Records Officers
Tuesday, March 12, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
2019 Agency Open Records Officer Survey Results
Tuesday, March 12, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Sunshine Act Training
Wednesday, March 13, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
About Office of Open Records Mediation
Wednesday, March 13, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Recent Court and Office of Open Records Decisions of Note
Thursday, March 14, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Preparing Affidavits for Appeals
Thursday, March 14, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Releasing the 2018 Office of Open Records Annual Report
Friday, March 15, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Office of Open Records Website Resources
Friday, March 15, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
After you sign up for a webinar, you’ll receive a confirmation email. About 30 minutes prior to the start of each session you sign up for, you’ll receive another email which includes a link to join the webinar. The OOR’s webinars run via Skype, so you may need to download a small app to participate, but in our testing the process has been pretty seamless.
We hope you can join us for one or more of the sessions!
Earlier today, George Spiess (the OOR’s Director of Training and Outreach) and I hosted a webinar focused on the Standard Right-to-Know Law Request Form. The participants had great questions.
Here’s the PowerPoint presentation we used:
Standard Request Form Webinar – March 6, 2019 (PDF)
Standard Request Form Webinar – March 6, 2019 (PPTX)
The OOR has nine more webinars scheduled to take place next week covering a variety of topics. Check the full schedule here.
Open Records in Pennsylvania 