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HOW TO DISPOSE OF RECORDS: A MANUAL FOR FEDERAL OFFICIALS

Records produced, received, and maintained in the course of operations of agencies of the Federal Government are the property of the Government and can ordinarily be disposed of only after authorization has been obtained from Congress.1 Such authorization is obtained by the submission of disposal lists or schedules to the Archivist of the United States, who is charged with the responsibility of appraising the records and reporting thereon to Congress, or through general schedules initiated by the Archivist and approved by Congress. This manual, however, deals principally with disposal lists and schedules prepared and submitted by other agencies of the Government.

Disposal lists are submitted when authorization is sought to dispose of noncurrent records of a kind that are no longer accumulating. They are particularly valuable in clearing out records of types that have been discontinued and in disposing of records of organizational units that have been abolished or are in the process of liquidation.

Schedules are submitted when continuing authorization to dispose of records that are already in existence and will continue to accumulate is sought. There are two kinds of schedules: disposal schedules, which are used to cover only records that will have no further value to the Federal Government after the lapse of specified periods of time; and comprehensive schedules, which are used to cover not only records that after specified periods of time will have no further value to the Government but also all other records with notations as to periods of retention before transfer to the National Archives or to an intermediate agency depository.

The use of schedules whenever possible instead of lists obviates the necessity of making requests to Congress year after year for authorization to dispose of successive installments of the same kinds of records. Not only is scheduling more economical but the comprehensive schedule provides an over-all control of the records of an agency or branch thereof that is fundamental for an effective records retirement program.

BEGINNING A DISPOSAL PROGRAM

When lists or schedules are to be prepared for an agency one official should be given authority and held responsible for their preparation. The person chosen for this job should have knowledge of the organization and

1See appendix I for the provisions of the act concerning the disposal of records approved July 7, 1943 (57 Stat. 380), as amended by the act approved July 6, 1945 (59 Stat. 434), and the regulations of the National Archives Council, promulgated on August 15, 1945, on the disposal of records.

functions of the agency and an understanding of the relationship of records of various divisions. In addition he should know, or early obtain a knowledge of, the best techniques and the basic procedures for the organization, maintenance, and disposal of records.

Getting Started

Before the preparation of lists or schedules is undertaken five matters should be attended to if the success of the program is to be assured. The records officer charged with the responsibility for directing disposal work in the agency should:

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Obtain National Archives forms and instructions.

Train personnel in techniques and procedures of disposal work.
Obtain agency-wide cooperation.

Adopting a Plan of Action

A plan of action with major outlines of work to be accomplished should be made before listing or scheduling is begun. The records officer will need to have information on the volume and location of every current and noncurrent records series in the agency or the part of it being covered, on the character and use of housekeeping and operational files, and on the use of the different records series at various levels in the organization and in the several divisions. If he has such information he is in a position to start the listing or scheduling of records immediately. If this information is not available, he should plan at once to undertake a survey to locate and identify all the records series in his organization as a basis for determining what lists or schedules should be prepared. In a large agency it is generally desirable to undertake the survey by bureaus or other units rather than to attempt to cover the whole agency at once. In addition, personnel, equipment, supply, and instructional needs should be checked, and any problems that arise in regard to the work should be discussed with officials of the National Archives.

Making the Program Official

The program should be made official through an authoritative directive from the top management of the agency. The success of the program may depend upon the backing it receives from high officials. The authority and responsibility of the records officer should be clearly defined and every effort should be made to enforce the program. Examples of such directives are given in appendix II.

What To Get From the National Archives

The records officer should obtain from the National Archives:
Federal Disposal Act, approved July 7, 1943, as amended July 6, 1945.
Regulations of the National Archives Council promulgated in accord-
ance with that act on August 15, 1945.

National Archives forms:

8

9

10

40

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Disposal List (papers, etc.).

Disposal List (photographic records and sound recordings).
Disposal List (cartographic records).

Disposal List (photographed or microphotographed records). 108 - Comprehensive or Disposal Schedule (papers, etc.).

109 - Comprehensive or Disposal Schedule (photographic records and sound recordings).

8a, 9a, 10a, 40a, 108a, 109a - Instruction sheets for forms with

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Forms created in the agency may be substituted for National Archives forms, but they must be approved by the National Archives prior to submittal and when submitted must have the appropriate National Archives form as a cover sheet. The records officer may obtain forms and advice by communicating with the Records Appraisal Officer, the National Archives, DIstrict 0525, extension 347, or with the records division or office of the National Archives with which the agency has liaison.

Training Personnel

The records officer should inform the personnel working on the project of the objectives to be attained. He should give them detailed and applied instructions in the techniques and procedures of surveying, listing, and scheduling records. Brief manuals and illustrative guides should be prepared when such training tools are necessary. Records description is a simple task, but uniformity, clear and concise description, and accuracy are absolute necessities for the proper prosecution of this work.

Getting Cooperation

Records management must be a cooperative job. It is therefore essential that the records officer should be able to use the knowledge that various employees have of the records and their uses. Close contacts with responsible officials and file supervisors in every bureau or division and their appreciation of the objective of the program are essential.

MAKING A RECORDS SURVEY

Before a records officer can prepare lists and schedules he must know what records there are to be listed or scheduled. This information can best be obtained by a series-by-series survey. The survey should ultimately cover all records of the agency; but, unless the agency is very small, it is usually best to survey the records of one bureau or division at a time and to prepare the lists and schedules for that bureau or division before passing on to the next. Certain exceptions to this general statement are presented below in the sections on surveying "housekeeping" records and field records.

The surveys can probably be made most thoroughly by the records officer himself and his immediate staff, but when speed is essential and the

volume of records to be covered is large, it is necessary to use a questionnaire form that can be filled out by the people who actually have charge of the records. This approach requires careful planning, detailed instruction, and close editing but it makes participants of file supervisors and clerks throughout the agency and permits completion of the work far more rapidly than would be possible if one person undertook to do the job alone.

Examples of records survey sheets used in different agencies are given in appendix III.

Information Needed From the Survey

1.

The survey should show for each series of records the following facts:
The office that filed or originally kept the series of records.
Location and present custody of the records.

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The existence in the agency of other copies of the same papers. The existence in the agency of other files that contain the same information.

The size and kind of containers.

The quantity of records in the series and the annual rate of accumulation.

Kind and frequency of use.

The opinion of the person or persons in charge of the records as to their value and the periods they will need to be retained.

The office that filed or originally kept the records should be shown in full, for example:

Statistics Branch, Operations Division.

Historical Section, General Administrative Services, Office of the
Quartermaster General.

Budget Section, Fiscal Branch, Office of Price Administration.
Cartographic Section, Army Map Service.

Small Arms Section, Office of the Chief of Ordnance.

This office may be very different from the office that now has charge of the records. For example, the records of Camp X of the Army may now be in the hands of The Adjutant General's Records Administration Center in St. Louis, but they would still be reported as records of Camp X because that camp filed them. Sometimes an office will be abolished and another office or division will take over its activities and records and continue to file papers in them. In such cases the records should be reported as records

of the last office that actually added to them.

2. The location and present custody of the series should be shown, as, for example:

Room 211, Walker-Johnson Building, Division of Mail and Files.

3. The records series described on the form should be identified

clearly, and its nature, content, and purpose should be shown. This infor

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