DISPOSITION OF INTELLIGENCE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS IN OCR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00211R000500200051-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2006
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: January 10, 1961
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 20.06/07/14 CIA-RbP?0-002-11 R000500200051-7
Office Memorandum -UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
TO : Chief, Records Management Staff
FROM .
SUBJECT: Disposition of Intelligence Reference Collections in OCR
1. Problem
a. To reduce the volume of other agency intelligence documents
accumulated by CIA for reference use.
be To control the future volume of such documents.
2. Facts Bearing on the Problem
a. The member agencies of USIB Produce intelligence dcc .ents
copies of which are exchanged within the community for ref-
erence use. CIA. receives an;cually an average of 5 millwon
copies of such documents.
b. At the present time approximately 2,000 cu. ft. of other
agency intelligence documents are held by the CIA Library
in hard copy or microfilm. An additional 2,000 cu. f-c. are
stored in the Records Center and much of this is now sore
than 10 years old.
e. Disposition instructions for this type of material u1ual.1y
read "Destroy when no longer needed for reference pur-poses"
or "Destroy when superseded or obsolete." These instructions
have accomplished little in controlling growth of t.v re_;f-
erence collection because of a nebulous, unofficial opinion
within CIA and some agencies of the USIB community that the
CIA. Library is a central, permanent repository for the USIT
documents it receives. A corolary of this opinion is the
notion that once a reference document is destroyed future
retrieval of a copy would be difficult if not impossible.
There is no official basis for this thinking and it conflicts
with the findings of the Hoover Commission report of 1955
on "Intelligence Activities." This report noted that a cen-
tral library for the intelligence community was impracticable.
However, the influence of the unofficial opinion has contri-
buted to some reluctance on the part of librarians and analysts
to discard inactive reference material.
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d. Traditionally government and non-government liar rl have
geared their disposal practices to the availability Q
shelving space. When new books or other items aryivc and
space is needed, the inactive material is we:ded out am!
destroyed or trap ferred to the Library of ConSrcoz. In
CIA books are transferred to Library of Cora: cos and otter
items are stored in the Records Center.
e. It is cheaper to store records in proper record: ccO r
facilities than to microfilm them. The hoover Cc:;ni; V
reported that on the average it costs 10O.C0 to ni cfllm
1 cuo ft. of records and about 60 cents to kenD the :::..s
records in- a records center for 1 year. In this in_:; t_ .n ;e
the break even point is not reached for more thin 60 yc:;rs.
f. Today non-government libraries are taking other n_Daresc,:es
to controlling the volume of holdings. Microfilm i3 ono of
these. Another is the Library Center plan that prov.dc3 a
central storage facility for libraries of a geo ?aDh_?cc!
area, and a central reference service to the materials de-
posited. This plan permits disposal of dupiicat: holdings
among member libraries of the area. There is also the so
called Farmington Plan that seeks to limit groat anc dup-
lication of holdings. Under this plan mutual afire tense are
secured among certain libraiges to assume renpon:ibility for
acquisitions in specialized fields of knowledge, and to fur-
nish mutual reference service on these collections.
a. No precedents or standards exist for the systematic LicTosLl
of intelligence reference files. This conclusion = rwacLsd
after discussions with staff members of the National Arahivao
and Records Service, GSA, and records officers of Ud:B agencies.
estimates that strategic intelligence information in pcacet.me
depreciates at the rate of 20% per year at a constant rate.
Experience of the Agency Records Center indicates that calls
for retired reference materials decrease to a negligible
point within 5 years.
in Strategic Intelligence Production. Ga. 23)
c. Since librarians are usually involved in the administration
of intelligence reference collections, a central concept of
the Farmington :Plan, specialization in holdings, was consid-
ered to be an effective basis for negotiating the objective
of this project within the intelligence community. It is
essential that USIB Agencies accumulate and have ready.ref-
erence to each others specialized products. However, there
is no necessity for retaining this reference material indef-
initely after it becomes inactive, because other copies or
originals are retained by the Agency of origin. Each USTB
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Agency is thus building a specialized collection cc its own
intelligence products. Access to these collect-o1,-, in cc--c
of need after destruction of inactive reference ccIji.es would
encourage disposal and establish volume control o-' intelli-
gence reference collections.
d. Any working arrangement that would insure inter-a ncy access
to specialized collections required existence of t~:c folloe_.C rl
conditions:
1. Each Agency would agree that copies of intelligence docu-
ments used for reference should be destroyed after be-
coming inactive.
2. Each Agency would assume responsibility for
record copies of its own intelligence docunen::s.
3. Each Agency would agree to furnish reference E.?ervice on
its record copies of intelligence documents after
truction of reference copies.%1n other Agencies.
e. In January 1959 a meeting of Records Management Officers CZ-'
USIB Agencies was called by the Chief, Records Mane r -m nt
Staff, CIA (See Tab A). The purpose of this r:v tin y. c t
discuss informally means of controlling growth of referencu
collections and. to secure reactions to establishirr' the con-
ditions noted above. It was the unanimous opinion c,~ -hocfcc
present that disposal of reference collections presov,t d a
cond:ant problem, and that the CIA representatives chould
proceed in a pioneering effort to establish disposition
standards for such materials.
4. Conclusions
a. After discussions with the .ARO/OCR, the Chief, Cire _a.::io~
Branch, LY/OCR and the Chief, Records Center a propc~,-ck in-
teragency agreement on disposal of reference collect-_'o.-is was
drafted and approved by the AD/OCR. The proposal o_~ie d for
destruction of reference materials 5 years after becoming
inactive. This retention period was based on Record- Center
experience. The initial agreement was drafted for concurrdace
of the Department of State (Tab B) and became the basic CIA
position informal negotiations with other USTB Agencies. B-
ginning with State Department, the proposed agreement was pre-
sented in meetings with the Records Management Officers of
each USIB Agency.
b.\ The key principle of the CIA proposal, interagency access to
each others intelligence collections after destruction of ref-
erence copies, was concurred in by the Departments of the
Army, Navy and Air Force, --je Department of State, the Atomic
Energy Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(See Tab C).
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c. On the basis of these agreements more specific dispc:,ul in-
structions could be issued for reference collections Of docu-
ments furnished by USIB Agencies. These instructions would
read: "Transfer to Records Center when inactive. ''_,stroy
after 5 years."
d. Approximately 11.000 cubic feet of reference material 'old by
the Records Center and the OCR Library are now subject to
these instructions. About 25% of this material could be
destroyed, at once and the remainder on a eontinuirs basis.
e. Future growth of Agency reference collections could be con-
trolled by application of these instructions.
Action Recommended
a. That the AD/OCR issue disposition instructions for LY/OCR
reference collections reading: "Transfer to Records Center
when inactive. Destroy after 5 years."
b. That copies of this staff study be released to the cccrds
Management Officers in USIB Agencies for use as a precedent
establishing similar disposition standards within those Agencies.
c. That reports on the volume of material destroyed under the new
standards be submitted to the Chief, Records N'ara,r~*n+ c+~rf
Annexes:
Tab A - Memorandum of USIB Agencies records officers meeting.
Tab B - CIA - State Agreement on Disposal of Documents.
Tab C - USffi Agenciesl Agreements.
Concurrence: /n Cl_
1 /_L
kbignature)
Chiefs Records Management Staff
Approved:
(signature)
Assistant Director for
Central Reference
(Title)
v r. C I::_ C.9 ?1
; ..a
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