DISPOSITION OF INTELLIGENCE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS IN OCR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100300036-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2006
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: January 10, 1961
• Content Type: MEMO

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Approved For Relea R'_'. _b '106
0`0112119: ; { Z3 402R000100300036-2
ce Memorandum ? UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
TO : Chief, Records Management Staff
Records Analyst, RMS
DATE: 10 JAI'. 9 j 1
svsJECr: Disposition of Intelligence Reference Collections in OCR
To reduce the volume of other agency intelligence documents
accumulated by CIA for reference use.
b. To control the future volume of such documents.
2. Facts Bearing on the Problem
The member agencies of USIB produce intelligence documents
copies of which are exchanged within the community for ref-
erence use. CIA receives annually an average of 5 million
copies of such documents.
. 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. ft. are
stored in the Records Center and much of this is now more
than 10 years old.
C. Disposition instructions for this type of material usually
read "Destroy when no longer needed for reference purposes"
or "Destroy when superseded or obsolete." These instrucions
have accomplished little in controlling growth of the ref-
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 USIB
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.
STAT
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Agency is thus building a specialized collection of its own
intelligence products. Access to these collections in case
of need after destruction of inactive reference copies would
encourage disposal and establish volume control of intelli-
gence reference collections,
d. Any working arrangement that would insure inter-agency acct
to specialized collections required existence of the following
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 maintaining
record copies of its own intelligence documents.
Each Agency would agree to furnish reference service on
its record copies of intelligence documents after des-
truction of reference copies in other Agencies.
4+.
e. In January 1959 a meeting of Records Management Officers from
USIB Agencies was called by the Chief, Records Managoment
Staff, CIA (See Tab A). The purpose of this meeting was to
discuss informally means of controlling growth of reference
collections and to secure reactions to establishing the con-
ditions noted above. It was the unanimous opinion of those
present that disposal of reference collections presented a
eondtant problem, and that the CIA representatives should
proceed in a pioneering effort to establish disposition
standards for such materials.
Conclusions
a. After discussions with the ARO/OCR, the Chief, Circulation
Branch, LY/OCR and the Chief, Records Center a proposed in-
teragency agreement on disposal of reference collections was
drafted and approved by the AD/OCR. The proposal called for
destruction of reference materials 5 years after becoming
inactive.. This retention period was based on Records Center
experience. The initial agreement was drafted for concurrence
of the Department of State (Tab B) and became the basic CIA'
position i ormal n'i3otiations with other USIB Agencies. Be-
ginning wi h State Department, the proposed agreement was pre-
sented in meetings with the Records Management Officers off.
each USTB Agency.
b.N 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, the Department of State, the Atomic
Energy Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(See Tab C).
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d. Traditionally government and non-government libraries have
geared their disposal practices to the availability of
shelving space. When new books or other items arrive and
space is needed, the inactive material is weeded out and
destroyed or transferred to the Library of Congress. In
CIA books are transferred to Library of Congress and other
items are stored in the Records Center.
3?
e. It is cheaper to store records in proper records center
facilities than to microfilm them. The Hoover Committee
reported that on the average it costs $40.00 to microfilm
1 cu. ft. of records and about 60 cents.to keep the same
records in-a records center for 1 year. In this instance
the break even point is not reached for more than 60 years.
f. Today non-government libraries are taking other approaches
to controlling the volume of holdings. Microfilm is one of
these. Another is the Library Center plan that provides a
central storage facility for libraries of a geographical
area, and a central reference service. to the materials de-
posited. This plan permits disposal of duplicate holdings
among member libraries of the area. There is also the so
called Farmington Plan that seeks to limit growth and dup-
lication of holdings. Under this plan mutual agreements are
secured among certain libraries to assume responsibility 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 disposal
of intelligence reference files. This conclusion was reached
after discussions with staff members of the National Archives
and Records Service, GSA, and records officers of USIH agencies.
b. Washington Platt in Strategic Intelligence Production (pg. 28)
estimates that strategic intelligence information in peacetime
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.
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 USIB
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On the basis of those a reen tints more specific disposal in-
structions could be issued for reference collections of docu-
ments furnished by USIB Ag neies. These instructions would
read: "Transfer to Records Center when inactive. Destroy
after 5 years."
d. Approximately 4000 cubic feet of reference material held 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 continuing basis.
e. Future growth of Agency reference collections could be con-
trolled by application of these instructions.
a. That the AD/OCR issue disposition instructions for LY/OCR
..reference collections reading: "Transfer to Records Center
when inactive. Destroy after 5 years."be That copies of this staff study be released to the Records
Management Officers in USIB Agencies for use as a precedent in
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. Management Staff.
Annexes:
Tab A - Memorandum of USIB Agencies records officers meeting.
Tab B - CIA - State Agreement on Disposal of Documents.
Tab C - USIB Agencies Agreements.
Concurrence: /, :_ f.
STAT
STAT
Chief, Records Management Staff
Approved:'
STAT
Signature)
.Assistant Director for
Central Reference
Title