Title: Records Management Introduction for Organizations Considering Donating Their Records to Stanford Uni
1Records Management Introduction for Organizations
Considering Donating Their Records to Stanford
University Libraries
- Presentation by Steven Mandeville-Gamble
2Introduction
- Records Management is the process of identifying
records of enduring value - By the end of this presentation, you will have a
better understanding of what to keep, what to
discard, and when to do so. - How to handle existing records and records to be
created in the future
3Agenda
- Records Management Essentials
- Enduring value
- Types of value
- Knowing what to toss
- Records Retention Schedule
- Proper arrangement of materials
- Ideal storage conditions and practical
alternatives - What to send to Stanford
4Records Management Essentials Enduring Value
- Records of enduring value
- Only 3-5 of all records created have enduring
value - Vast majority of records created have limited
value, usually time-restricted
5Records Management Essentials Types of Value
- Evidentiary documents activities of individual
or group - Informational contains information about
individual, group, or subject - Intrinsic document has intrinsic value for
cultural, historical, or monetary reasons
6Records Management Essentials When Value Ends
- Intrinsic Value typically has no end date
(Declaration of Independence, Organizational
Charter) - Informational Value end date dependent on
subject being described (I.e. time of next coffee
break vs. details of scientific discovery) - Evidentiary Value end date dependent on the
activity being documented (I.e. travel expenses
vs. policy decisions)
7Records Retention Schedules Part 1
- First step analyze the records of the
organization to determine what categories of
materials exist (correspondence, administrative
files, project files, personnel records, etc.) - Second step determine whether various
categories of materials have intrinsic,
evidentiary, or informational value - Third step if documents are evidentiary or
informational in nature, determine if their value
has a logical end date.
8Records Retention Schedule Part 2
- Fourth if value is time restricted, determine
what the end dates of the value are and schedule
destruction of records on or after that date. - Fifth If value is enduring, determine whether
records are needed for operation of organization
if so, keep on site. If not, identify and
prepare to be sent to Stanford University
Libraries Dept. of Special Collections
9Proper arrangement of materials
- During analysis of records, determine if
organic, functional record series exist (e.g.
correspondence, research notes, project files,
organizational records, publications, etc.) - Identify arrangement schemes used in the past
alphabetical, chronological, numeric, etc. - If more than one arrangement scheme, choose most
logical, most recent, etc. - Can also have record subseries of discrete
materials
10Proper arrangement of materials Sample (Part 1)
- Organizational Records, 1931-1980
- Correspondence files, 1931-1980
- Alphabetic correspondence, 1931-1955
- Chronological correspondence, 1956-1980
- Personnel records, 1973-2003
- Alphabetic Personnel records, 1973-2003
- The Incident files, 1977
- Benefits file, 1984
- Benefits by Social Security Number
- Benefits by Name
11Proper arrangement of materials Sample (Part 2)
- Project files, 1902-1999
- Reinventing the Widget Project files, 1902-1932
- Project leader notes, 1902-1914
- Project coordinator files, 1912-1932
- Reports, 1931-1932
- Meta-Meta Language investigation files, 1993
- Human Subject files, 1993
- Human Subject review application files, 1993
12Proper arrangement of materials Moral to the
Story
- Specific arrangement not as important as
consistency and documentation - Decide whether existing arrangement suffices or
not if so document, document, document - If existing arrangement does not suffice,
establish guidelines for a new arrangement and
document, document, document
13Ideal storage conditions and practical
alternatives
- Ideal storage climate and humidity controlled
environment in acid-free boxes and file folders - Practical alternatives
- acid-free folders in filing cabinets
- acid-free folders in acid-free record storage
cartons - acid-free folders in acid-free manuscript boxes
14What to Send to Stanford
- Records of enduring value created by your
organizations activities - Send at most two copies of any document to
Stanford, three if they are generated by your
organization - Only the office which produces a document,
letter, publication, etc. should send that
document to Stanford - Send summary information, if it exists, instead
of detailed information
15What NOT to send to Stanford
- Records that do not have enduring value
- Personnel files
- Detailed files kept in support of tax returns
(copies of organizational tax returns themselves
suffice) - Personal files, unless directly documenting the
organizations activities (I.e. personal
correspondence files kept at the office)
16Summary
- Not all records created equal
- Records often have existing - if unidentified -
arrangements which can be discovered and/or built
upon - Analysis of existing arrangement and groupings of
materials can save time and effort in the long
run - Identifying what to keep, what to discard, and
what to send on to a repository can save time and
money in the long run
17Where to Get More Information
- Print Resources
- Penn, Ira A. et al. Records management handbook.
Hants, England Gower Publishing Co., 1989 - Bellardo, Lewis G. and Lynn Carlin. Glossary for
Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Records
Managers. Chicago Society of American
Archivists, 1992 - Miller, Fredric. Arranging and describing
Archives and Manuscripts. Chicago Society of
American Archivists, 1990
18Where to Buy Archival Supplies Metal Edge Inc
- Metal Edge, Inc.
- http//www.metaledgeinc.com
- Reinforced tab file folders
- Document storage boxes
- Record storage cartons
19Where to buy Archival Supplies Metal Edge
(Example 1)
20Where to Buy Archival Supplies Metal Edge
(Example 2)
21Where to Buy Archival Supplies Metal Edge
(Example 3)
22Where to Buy Archival Supplies Hollinger
- Hollinger Corporation
- http//www.hollingercorp.com/
- Record Storage Boxes