RECORDS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK APPLYING RECORDS SCHEDULES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00005R000100020020-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 26
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 24, 2001
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 1, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

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RECORDS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK
Managing noncurrent files
APPLYING
RECORDS
SCHEDULES
Revised
May 1961
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE
RECORDS MANAGEMENT DIVISION
Federal Stock Number
7610-634-5022
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RECORDS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOKS are
developed by the National Archives and Records Service
as technical guides to reducing and simplifying paperwork.
RECORDS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOKS:
Managing correspondence: Plain Letters-- - - - - - - - - - - 1955 47 p.
Managing correspondence: Form Letters - - - - - - - - - - -
1954
Managing correspondence: Guide Letters- - - - - - - - - - -
1955
33 p.
23 p.
Managing forms : Forms Analysis - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1959 62 p.
Managing forms : Forms Design - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1960 89 p.
Managing mail : Agency Mail Operations - - - - - - - - - - 1957 47 p.
Managing current files: Protecting Vital Operating
Records-------------------------------------- 1958 19 p.
Managing noncurrent files: Applying Records
Schedules---------- ------------------------- 1956 23 p.
Managing noncurrent files: Federal Records Centers- 1954 25 p.
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
REVIEWING SCHEDULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
MATCHING SCHEDULES WITH RECORDS . .. . . . . . . . . . 5
WHEN TO APPLY SCHEDULES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
METHODS OF TRANSFER AND DISPOSAL . . . . . . . . . . . 14
KEEPING A SCHEDULE UP TO DATE . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ENSURING MAXIMUM USE OF SCHEDULES . . . . . . . . . . 17
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INTRODUCTION
Each Federal agency is required by the Federal Records Act of 1950 to estab-
lish and maintain a records disposition program to keep its records moving out of
high cost office space and filing equipment as rapidly as desirable.
Such a program includes two chief elements: the retirement of noncurrent
records to economical storage and the disposal of records not warranting further
preservation under even the most economical storage conditions.
The economies and other benefits to be derived from the transfer of records
to noncurrent storage are explained in the Records Management Handbook, "Fed-
eral Records Centers, " which also contains information about procedures to be
followed in packing and transferring records to these centers.
Transfers to centers, however, merely involve a transfer of custody or a new
location of files. The only way to avoid perpetual expansion of records storage
space and constantly increasing masses of records lies in vigorous disposal of
unneeded records.
Many Federal officials, particularly in the field, may feel that a disposition
program is no concern of their own small offices. They may need to be reminded
that about three-quarters of the savings resulting from records disposal over a
four year period came from the disposal of files held in field offices. (See Figure 1.)
DISPOSAL OF FEDERAL RECORDS
Annual Average-Fiscal Years 1952-1955
Records Departmental Field
Centers Offices Offices
I-' 7 qW
VOLUME
3.3
Million Cu. Ft.
SAVINGS
8.4
Million Dollars
.7
U
illlll
.4
The key to an effective records disposition program is the agency records con-
trol schedule, which lists and describes the records of the ;agency, and shows when
they shall be retired to a center or other storage space and when those not war-
ranting indefinite retention shall be disposed of.
Even the best records control schedules, however, are of little value unless
they are systematically applied to the records of the office, and it is the purpose
of this handbook to suggest ways to apply them effectively.
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REVIEWING SCHEDULES
The first step in applying schedules is to obtain current copies of them. Records
may be transferred to Federal Records Centers without being formally scheduled
for transfer, but records cannot be destroyed without Congressional approval of
their destruction. (See Figure 2.)
501.02 FEDERAL RECORDS CENTERS. When records become inactive in the
Regional Office they shall be transferred to the nearest Federal
Records Center (See Exhibit I for list of Federal Records Cen-
ters). Records are considered inactive when they are referred
to less than once a month per cubic foot of material involved,
i.e., if you have two file cabinets (16 cubic feet) and they are
referred to only twice a week (8 times a month) then they are
sufficiently inactive to transfer to a Federal Records Center.
Centers maintain the records until they are ready for disposal
The Records Disposal Act of 1943 provides three types of authorizations for
the disposal of Federal records, each of which must be approved by the Joint Com-
mittee on the Disposition of Executive Papers before it is put into effect:
1. LISTS of records in an agency's custody that are deemed not of sufficient
value to warrant further preservation. This is a one-time authorization and
permits disposal only of the precise records described on the list.
2. SCHEDULES of records that have accumulated in an agency or that may in
future accumulate that will not, after the lapse of a specified period of time or
after the occurrence of a specified event, have sufficient value to warrant
further preservation. These are mandatory authorizations for the periodic
disposal of records and may be used repeatedly.
3. GENERAL RECORDS SCHEDULES developed by the General Services
Administration covering records common to several or all agencies. These
schedules are permissive but within any agency by administrative action their
use may be made mandatory or may be left to the discretion of individual cus-
todians of the records.
Records Control Schedules required by General Services Administration Reg-
ulations combine these disposal schedule authorizations with instructions for the
transfer of records to storage and for the indefinite retention of records of enduring
value.
In field offices it is not always easy to determine whether currently applicable
schedules are at hand. At every session of the Congress hundreds of new disposal
authorizations are approved. Some simply revise existing authorizations to destroy
records, some authorize such destruction for the first time.
Small Business Administration's Field
Offices areencouraged to use Federal
i
Records Centers at local d
scretion.
-2-
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Theoretically all field offices holding a given type of records should be notified
by agency headquarters whenever there is a revision in the disposal authorization
pertaining to the records. In practice this would not be feasible so most agencies
try to issue annually revisions to generally applicable agency schedules.
If there is a change that is of particular importance, either requiring the re-
tention of records formerly disposable or permitting the disposal of a large
body of records, the field may be notified before the annuall consolidated state-
ment of revisions is issued. Normally this is not the case.
The most recent agency issuance governing records disposition may normally
be considered valid.
The issuance announcing the provisions of the schedule should be an agency
directive, or an attachment to an agency directive, usually issued at the bureau
or divisional level. It should:
1. Incorporate any necessary information from the pertinent laws and GSA reg-
ulations so that field officials need not check these legal documents.
2. Include a statement that the new schedule supersedes all schedules issued
in the past or, if this is not the case, explain what the relationship of the new
schedule is to prior schedules.
3. Define all terms subject to misunderstanding.
4. Authorize application of the schedules.
5. Indicate in understandable terms just what records. are covered by each item.
6. Indicate the use to be made of General Records Schedules.
7. Define the coverage of the schedule in terms of organizational units, dates
(if significant), and records.
If such an agency directive has been issued and is in the hands of the proper
field officials, there are no problems in determining what the agency's policies are
as to the disposition of the records of each office.
There may be very considerable difficulties if such a directive has not been
issued. In such a case the field official has two choices:
1. He can ask his central office what records disposition policies are in effect
that might be applicable to the records of his office, or
2. He may first develop descriptions of the records of his office and ask his
central office whether (a) he may transfer any of the files to a Federal Records
Center (if he has not discretionary authority to make this decision himself),
or (b) any of the files are covered by disposal authorizations.
Almost certainly some of his files are covered by General Records Schedules.
Since these are permissive, however, they should not be used by a field official
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unless he has determined whether it is agency policy to use them as issued by GSA
or to use them with specified modifications.
If the official's central office replies that the agency has no policies on disposal
or transfer of records, the General Services Administration's Records Manage-
ment Service in the field may be asked for assistance in developing an appropriate
schedule.
Field officials should not often get such an answer, however. Agencies have
reported to GSA that only 4 percent of all their holdings are not definitely scheduled
either for disposal or indefinite retention - by far the bulk of them are scheduled
for disposal. Of field records, only 3 percent have not been definitely evaluated.
With the applicable schedules in hand, it is most important that the person
responsible for applying them be thoroughly familiar with their provisions.
I TEN
NO.
JON NO.
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION OF RECORDS
CLASS
AUTHORIZED DISPOSITION
This schedule covers reports required of regional
offices as listed in B7.02 of the Organization and
Policy Manual. Unless otherwise indicated, this
schedule applies to both the central office and
regional offiol3 copies.
1
CSDA-52
Security program workload
Temporary
Destroy 1 year after
date of report.
2
CSDA-52
Work reports
See Budget Schedule
3
CSDA-52
Management comments:
Temporary
a. Budget and Finance Division copy
Destroy 2 years after
close of fiscal year.
b. All other copies
Destroy 1 year after
close of fiscal year.
4
CSDA-52
Status of disability retirement applications:
Temporary
a. Central office Medical Division copy
Destroy 3 years after
date of report.
b. Regional office copy
Destroy 1 year after
date of report.
REPORTS REQUIRED OF REGIONAL OFFICES ,, e 1
Marc h 1M
S-1
Civil Service Conmission schedule
covering reports required of Re-
gional Offices.
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MATCHING SCHEDULES WITH RECORDS
After the applicable schedules have been reviewed so that they are thoroughly
understood, the next step in applying them is to match the records of the office
with the written descriptions of the records to see what records are eligible for
transfer or disposal. In doing this matching job, usually one of four situations is
found:
1. SCHEDULE TAILOR-MADE FOR RECORDS OF ONE OFFICE
The schedule may be tailor-made for the records of the office, based
usually on an inventory of its records. This is likely to be the case if the
office is the only one performing particular functions.
If many offices perform exactly the same functions, a schedule based
on an inventory of the records of one of the offices may fit the records of
all similar offices, especially if filing systems are uniformly prescribed.
(See Figure 3.)
With a tailor-made schedule in hand, there should be no difficulty in
matching the schedule with the records and determining the disposition in-
structions applicable to each group of records.
2. A GENERALIZED SCHEDULE COVERING ESSENTIALLY ALL THE REC-
ORDS OF THE OFFICE
Such a schedule is usually based on an inventory of several offices
performing substantially the same work, but not always using exactly the
same terminology and often not keeping records in exactly the same man-
ner. Such schedules usually describe the records in terms of the function
performed so that differences in terminology and filing systems and loca-
tions do not affect the coverage of the items.
Major examples of such schedules are the General Records Schedules.
They are based on inventories of the records maintained by offices per-
forming the pertinent functions, together with analyses of the paperwork
procedures involved in carrying out the functions. Generalized descriptions
of the various types of records resulting from the procedures are then
developed. (See Figure 4.)
Similarly, many agencies have developed such schedules in cases
where field offices perform substantially the same functions.
Often all the items in a generalized schedule are not applicable to the
records of a given office. Therefore the person applying the schedule must
use his own judgment in determining which items apply to which of the
records.
Such schedules are much more flexible than the tailor-made schedules
in that the schedule need not be re-written with each minor change in record
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keeping or records-creating procedures. On the other hand at times
they may involve some difficulties of interpretation. (See Figures 5 and 6.)
3. LOCALLY PREPARED SCHEDULES THAT ARE DEVELOPED WITHIN
THE LIMITS OF AGENCY-WIDE GENERALIZED SCHEDULES
Some agencies obtain Congressional approval of generalized schedules,
then require each local field office to compile an inventory of its records,
indicating for each item the appropriate disposition instruction based on
GSA Reg. 3
Appendix B
(10-8-57)
Payrolling and pay administration records pertain to disbursements to civil employees of the Govern-
ment for personal services. This schedule applies to the pay records created since January 1, 1921, that
are common to all agencies, but it excludes (a) retirement record cards (Forme 2806 or equivalent) that
are maintained during employee duty and then are transferred to the Retirement Division of the Civil Ser-
vice Connieeion; (b) files physically transmitted to the General Accounting Office or maintained in agency
space for audit under section 117(b) of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 and the Poet Of-
fice Department Financial Control Act of 1950; (c) records relating to tax withholding, savings bonds, or
fidelity bonds, or other records held by the appropriate units of the Treasury Department responsible for
the related Government-wide programs; (d) or to Bureau of the Budget files reflecting agency personnel
needs and problems. Evaluation and disposition of these groups of records must be provided for separately,
except that Congress has given the St. Louis Federal Records Center authority to destroy certain pre-1921
files that are transferred to its custody, provided the transferring agency concurs in their destruction.
ITEM RECOMMENDED
NO. DESCRIPTION OF RECORDS METHOD OF FILING AUTHORIZED DISPOSITION
1. Individual earning and service cards Alphabetically by name Transfer to Federal Records
(such 's Standard Form 1127 or its of employee; start a Center, St. Louis, Mo., 1
equivalent), new file every year. year after audit. (a) If
in personnel folder or in
individual pay folder filed
adjacent to personnel
folder: dispose with the
personnel folder (Bee GRS
1, item 1);,(b) If not in
or filed adjacent to per-
sonnel folder: dispose 56
years after date of last
entry on card.
2. Correspondence files maintained by op- Conform to agency Dispose after 2 years.
erating units responsible for payroll practice.
preparation and processing, pertaining to
administration and operation of the units.
24. Wage survey files consisting of wage survey Conform to agency Dispose after completion
reports and data, working papers and related practice, of second succeeding
correspondence concerning area wages paid wage survey.
for each employment class (excluding author-
ized wage schedules and wage survey recapit-
ulation work sheets).
A General Records Schedule for
pay records developed by GSA.
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28. Records and Documents Regarding Program Planning, Farm and Ranch
Planning and Management, and Procedure
Program Planning: This includes the planning of surveys
to determine conservation needs and economic benefits
of conservation, lending assistance in the development of
new districts and the planning of District Programs and
Work Plans, assistance to the District governing body,
cooperation with local groups in developing or amending
State soil conservation legislation.
(b) Farm and Ranch Planning and Management
Includes techniques and procedures for the development
of conservation farm plans, improving and accelerating
farm planning, keeping the operating personnel acquainted
and up-to-date on the technical aspects and new develop-
ments in the field of farm planning.
(c) Procedure
Includes assistance in the development of operating pro-
cedures and the Development of State policy.
Records relating to the determination of the total soil conser-
vation job which needs to be done in the United States by Areas
in terms of land use adjustment, types and quantities, of
practices, technical personnel required, and costs. Involves
records of field surveys and data compiled therefrom, corres-
pondence and reports on basic land resource areas, minor resource
areas and basic land resource units, data and statistics on the
Soil Conservation District job ahead, and data on the rate of
soil decline.
Dispose: State Records
Work Sheets
Five years after survey is completed.
Soil Conservation Service covers
central office and field records
in one generalized schedule.
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Records Management PROGRAM RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULE B-620
(First of 6 pages
FOOD AND DRUG DISTRICT AND RESIDENT INSPECTION STATION RECORDS
Approved: H.R. 688-84th Congress-lst Session
NOTE: All previous authorizations for the
disposition of records covered by
this schedule are hereby rescinded.
Housekeeping records covered by
Department Records Control Schedules
should be disposed of at the ex-
piration of retention periods.
DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS AND APPROVED DISPOSITION
1. Establishment (Factory) Inspection Report Files.
a. Jacketed Records.
Retain records created prior to
January 1, 1941. Transfer to a
Federal Records Center.
Dispose of after 10 years. Transfer
to a Federal Records Center in 2-year
accumulations folders on firms which
have gone out of business, or which
are of no further regulatory interest.
These files consist of establishment (factory) inspection
reports, investigational reports, surveillance reports,
assignment letters, and related correspondence on firms
and their products, fastened in chronological date order
in folders which are filed alphabetically by firm name.
c. Unjacketed Miscellaneous Correspondence.
These files consist of an alphabetical file of correspondence
and reports on "home" District firms which did not develop
to point warranting the establishing of individual folders.
Appendix B-62o to HEW's Records ,Management
Manual covers in generalized items most
Food and Drug field records.
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the generalized schedule items. The local schedule is then reviewed at the
central office level before it may be applied. This represents a combina-
tion of a tailor-made schedule and a generalized schedule.
Insofar as it is a tailor-made schedule it usually requires frequent
revision but offers few difficulties of interpretation. Insofar as it is gen-
eralized, it obviates the need for frequently seeking new Congressional
authorizations for disposal.
In view of agency reports that 96 percent of all their records are
scheduled, this situation should seldom arise.
It will most frequently arise in cases where an agency over a period
of years has scheduled all its records, but has never integrated its dis-
posal authorizations into one issuance. If such a coordination has not taken
place, the existing disposal authorizations are likely to overlap, duplicate,
and even contradict one another, since they have been obtained at different
times when slightly differing procedures were in effect. In these cases it
may be impossible for the field office to tell what authorizations apply to
what records and it may be necessary to ask the central office for virtually
an entirely new schedule.
After agency schedules and pertinent General Records Schedule items have
been matched with the field files, an important segment of files will not have been
covered: the so-called site-audit records.
The site audit records are the contracts, accounts current, and all the support-
ing papers which, prior to the establishment of the site audit system, would
have been sent to the General Accounting Office in Washington for audit.
Agency records which have a subject matter relationship to the transactions
reported in the formal accounts are not part of the site audit accounts and are
covered by the General Records Schedules or the agency schedules.
The site audit records are records of the General Accounting Office, despite
their maintenance by the agency. As GAO records they are governed by GAO
retirement and disposal policies.
Under GAO policy, as expressed in the Policy and Procedures Manual of the
Comptroller General, each agency is required to submit for GAO approval a
plan for the retirement periodically to Federal Records Centers of the site
audit records after they have met administrative needs of the agency. After
GAO has approved this plan on an agency-wide basis, transfers are to be made
on the prescribed timetable, subject to the written prior approval of the GAO
Regional Director.
Federal Records Centers are responsible for obtaining clearance from both the
agency concerned and the GAO for disposal of the records 12 years after the
accounting period involved, in accordance with established GAO disposal policy.
Site audit records retired to the Federal Records Center are available for
reference both to the agency concerned and to the GAO. Therefore the agency
concerned does not need to create and maintain duplicates of these records for
reference purposes.
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WHEN TO APPLY SCHEDULES
Records do not have to be disposed of or transferred on the exact day their re-
tention period ends. Because of short and varying retention periods, it usually is
most practical to consolidate all disposal and transfers into one effort. It is recom-
mended, therefore, that eligible records normally be transferred or disposed of
once a year. Deviations from such a timetable maybe advisable if records accumu-
late very rapidly so as to make more frequent retirement to centers advisable or
accumulate so slowly as to make annual transfers unwarranted. Arrangements in
these unusual cases should be worked out by the local agency office-and the center
concerned.
In applying the schedule, the exact time of actual disposal or transfer of par-
ticular records should depend on two factors:
1. Regardless of schedule authorizations, agency personnel should not dispose
of records if such records are still needed by the agency for administrative,
legal, or fiscal purposes.
2. The costs of handling records for disposal or transfer should be kept to a
minimum.
Whenever records need to be retained significantly longer than required by the
schedule, presumably owing to events unforseen at the time the schedule was de-
veloped, the agency central office should be notified, with a detailed explanation of
the factors requiring further retention of the records. A delay in destroying rec-
ords should not be regarded as significant unless it is of more than a year's dura-
tion and concerns enough records to affect filing equipment requirements.
Careful timing of disposal and transfer actions will hold down the costs of han-
dling the records both in the agencies and in the centers. Technically, additional
records become disposable or transferable every day of the year, but to take action
so often would be uneconomical and inefficient. To avoid this several factors must
be considered:
Records should be disposed of and transferred during slack periods if
possible. The guiding rule should be to interfere as little as possible with
current operations.
Thus, whether such actions should take place at the same time through-
out an agency or should occur at varying times in different elements of the
agency, depends on the particular circumstances involved.
2. BULK HANDLING
It seldom pays to dispose of or transfer records in very small quanti-
ties. This is another reason records should notbe disposed of or transferred
more often than once a year, except where accumulations cannot be accom-
modated in the office in which they are filed for that long a period. (See
Figure 7.)
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904.6 RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULES. The provisions of such schedules are
mandatory. Records will be reviewed at least once a year, and action
-aken to dispose of those eligible for disposal in accordance with
approved schedules in section 904.6b. r--
Forest Service instructs field
offices to apply their schedules
at least once a year.
Since the volume of business may vary greatly among different field
offices, the volume of records of a particular local office may be so small
that it may only be worthwhile to effect disposals or transfers at much
longer intervals than the schedule requires.. This is usually the case when
an agency's field office schedule is prepared to take care of the records
turnover requirements of its larger field offices. The timing of transfers
may not be economically applicable to its small. field offices.
On the other hand, if the schedule is prepared on the basis of the needs
of the smaller offices, the agency's larger offices may find it advisable to
transfer their noncurrent records more often than the schedule itself
requires.
3. TIE-IN WITH FILE BREAKS
Files should be cut off periodically so as to make their disposal or
transfer as easy as possible.
Many groups of records fall naturally into chronological segments. In-
come tax returns are most easily filed by the year in which the tax return
is made; harvest records are almost automatically filed by growing season;
many fiscal records are necessarily filed by the period covered by the ac-
counts, such as month, quarter, or fiscal year. Retirement and disposal
periods for such records are easy to apply owing to the essentially chrono-
logical basis of the filing system.
Other types of records are not susceptible to chronological filing. Gen-
eral subject files, stock inventory files, and office reference files must be
artificially broken to facilitate retirement and disposal - that is, a new file
must be started periodically.
Some agencies, particularly those which create a considerable volume
of records, have prescribed periodic breaks either as aan over-all policy or
with respect to particular groups of records.
The Army requires the breaking of most department and field files on
an annual basis, except where the nature of the files dictates breaks
based on completion of action or other factors. This policy has been
written into all the Army disposal standards.
The Bureau of Narcotics provides periodic cutoffs for certain routine
correspondence files relating to Bureau activities. Files are broken
into five year segments, transferred to Federal Records Centers for an
additional five years, then disposed of.
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In the Atomic Energy Commission correspondence files are uniformly
broken every two years, and other files are broken at specified intervals.
The Civil Service Commission breaks its examination record card files
every five years.
The intervals between breaks should be tailored to the size of the files
and should fit the agency's needs. The breaks should be made long enough
before the actual disposal or transfer to allow the files to "cool off. " The
required retention periods must be reckoned for the cutoff files as a whole
and should therefore begin from the latest record in the file.
4. SCREENING
In order to dispose of a block of files, it may be necessary to remove
from the block certain documents or folders of continuing value. In other
cases, two or more files maintained in different offices may duplicate each
other to such an extent that their combined volume could be reduced by half
or more if they were merged and duplicate copies of the same papers de-
stroyed.
Such extraction of individual documents or folders from larger files is
called screening, and may involve either withdrawal of materials to be kept
or withdrawal of materials to be destroyed.
Folder-by-folder screening for disposal may be avoided by placing
closed cases in an inactive file upon completion of action. For example,
individual claims case files may be transferred to the inactive file upon
filing of the action indicating approval, disapproval, or closing. The inactive
file can then be transferred or disposed of on a block basis without screen-
ing for netive cases.
Screening is usually defended on the grounds that it will improve the
quality of the documentation and the ease of reference to the files, or it is
justified because it will free office equipment and space.
Generally, however, unless the documents or folders to be retained are
of permanent or very long time value and constitute only a very small por-
tion of the total file, it is extremely uneconomical to screen on a paper-by-
paper basis or where each folder must be completely reviewed.
The costs of screening the contents of one letter-size file cabinet, as
reported by various agencies, range from a minimum of about $3 to a maxi-
mum of about $60, depending on whether:
a. Complete folders can be removed,
b. Disposable material can be separated easily from individual folders,
as in the case of temporary records filed on a specified side of a folder,
c. The materials tobe extracted are easily identifiable by information
on the folder tab or, in the case of individual documents, by form num-
ber or similar obvious characteristics.
Savings in space and equipment that result from screening depend on
the following:
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a. Number of cabinets that must be screened to empty one cabinet,
b. Value of equipment released, and
c. Value of space released, computed annually for the period of time
the documents or folders to be kept must be retained.
Normally savings in space and equipment are not sufficient to justify
screening because there are more economical alternatives:
a. Transfer the files intact to a records center where they can be re-
tained until they are disposable as a whole, or
b. Microfilm the file intact, if the records to be retained are of per-
manent or very long time value and constitute a relatively large pro-
portion of the whole file.
Figure 8 shows the comparative costs of microfilming and retention in
a Federal Records Center. Before any agency undertakes a screening
project it should estimate the costs of the job and the resulting potential
savings. If necessary a pilot test can be undertaken to validate the estimates.
A comparison of these potential costs and benefits with the costs and
benefits involved in microfilming or center storage is usually conclusive in
determining that screening is not justified.
The real solution to screening problems in the long ruin, of course, lies
in revision of filing systems so that in future records to be retained for
long periods are not intermixed with papers of very t:emporary'value.
COMPARISON OF COSTS BETWEEN MICROFILMIN13
and USE OF FEDERAL RECORDS CENTERS
20 years
30 years
40 years
50 years
$ 50.00 $100.00 $150.00 $180.00
MICROFILMING: preparation, film and camera operation costs alone usually
range from $50 to $ 150 per 4 drawer file cabinet. These figures would be in-
creased if maintenance, equipment and other necessary costs were included.
At Federal Records Center the cost
of storing one cabinet of records is
$ 3.60 per year.
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METHODS OF TRANSFER AND DISPOSAL
When records have been identified as eligible for transfer or disposal in accord-
ance with agency policy as expressed in its schedules, the transfer or disposal may
take place in one of several ways. Transfers may be to an agency holding area,
records center, or depository, a Federal Records Center, or under very unusual
circumstances, to the National Archives. Disposals may be by sale, salvage, do-
nation, or destruction.
Records to be transferred to cheap noncurrent records storage areas,
for either permanent or temporary retention, normally should go either to
(a) Federal Records Centers maintained by the General Services Adminis-
tration, or (b) agency records centers or depositories approved by the Na-
tional Archives and Records Service in accordance with the provisions of
Title 3 of the Regulations of the General Services Administration.
Some agencies, particularly in the Department of Defense, have estab-
lished storage facilities intermediate between office space and centers.
These "holding areas" are used for the storage or processing of records
that must be retained for so short a period that it is uneconomical to send
them to centers.
Normally transfers to the National Archives are made only from head-
quarters offices of agencies located in Washington, and then only under cir-
cumstances specified in the GSA regulations.
Records may usually be transferred to Federal Records Centers at any
time, whether specifically provided for in a schedule or not. Information
about arranging and carrying out such transfers is included in the Records
Management Handbook, "Federal Records Centers. "
a. SALE OR SALVAGE: Disposable records should be sold on a competi-
tive basis as waste paper or other waste material unless:
(1) The quantities involved are too small,
(2) The market price is too low, or
(3) The records can be sold only after unwarranted expensive and time-
consuming sorting and cleaning.
In many regions, GSA's Personal Property Utilization Division has cur-
rently in effect a standard contract for the sale of waste paper, so that agen-
cies may simply call representatives of that Division to make arrangements
for the sale of waste paper. Where no such contract is in effect or where
the disposable records are at a distance from a GSA office having such a
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contract, representatives of the Personal Property Utilization Division will
assist the agency in letting such a contract.
Security-classified records may be sold as waste paper only if adequate
safeguards are taken to prevent any disclosure of the information in the
records prior to their shredding or other destruction. Confidential secu-
rity-classified records should be shredded before being sold. This may
occur after the sale, however, if the records remain until their mutilation
under the observation of an authorized Federal official or employee. Rec-
ords bearing a secret or higher classification must be burned. Security-
classified records must not be donated for salvage purposes without prior
shredding.
If the records are privileged, that is if their availability to the public
is prohibited by law or administrative regulation, the waste paper con-
tractor must pulp or macerate the records under the witnessing supervision
of a Federal employee.
b. DONATION FOR PRESERVATION AND USE: Whenever it is believed
that the public interest will be served thereby, a Federal agency may trans-
fer records authorized for disposal to a government, organization, institu-
tion, corporation, or person that has made application for them; provided
(1) That the applicant agrees not to sell the records as records or
documents,
(2) That the transfer is made without cost to the United States Govern-
ment,
(3) That no transfer shall be approved if the records contain informa-
tion the revelation of which is prohibited by law or would be contrary
to the public interest,
(4) That no transfer to a foreign government shall be approved unless
such government has an official interest in the records, and
(5) That no transfer to a person or business corporation shall be ap-
proved unless the records are directly pertinent to the custody or
operation of properties acquired from the Government.
Each donation of records to non-Federal custody should be reported to the
agency records officer who, in turn, must make a report to the National
Archives and Records Service.
c. DESTRUCTION: If records are neither salable nor otherwise salvage-
able, or if an agency considers their destruction necessary to prevent the
disclosure of information prejudicial to the public interest, the records
may be destroyed by shredding, burning, or other appropriate means.
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KEEPING A SCHEDULE UP TO DATE
After matching the schedules against the records on hand, some records may
be found that are not covered by any disposition instructions. Similarly, records
already transferred to a Federal Records Center may not be covered by disposal
instructions and the Centers will call this to the attention of the transferring office.
The reasons for such lack of coverage may lie in the fragmentary nature of the
available schedules, in the recent addition of new programs or functions to the of-
fice, in significant changes in existing programs, or in the termination, prior to
the development of schedules, of former programs. Regardless of whether these
unscheduled records are few or many, they should be called to the attention of the
agency records officer so that the agency schedules can be revised to include them
or, if appropriate, lists can be prepared to cover files that are immediately dis-
posable.
To revise a schedule the records officer will need complete information about
each series or group of the unscheduled records, including:
1. The purpose for which the records were created, their relationship to the
program activities of the unit creating them, and any other significant purpose
or function they may or do serve;
3. Their relationship with other records, including duplication elsewhere in
substance or content, either in record form or in printed or published private
sources;
4. If unusual and significant, the kind of copy, i. e. , whether all carbon copies,
all ribbon copies, all processed, or others;
5. The terminal dates of the files; and
This information should be sent to the agency records officer with the request
that disposition instructions be issued covering these files. If the field official hold-
ing the files has definite ideas as to what should be done with them, he should in-
clude his opinions for whatever help they may be in determining the proper disposi-
tion of the files.
Pending the receipt of such instructions, the records may be retained by the
office holding them, or, if not currently needed, they may be transferred to the
nearest Federal Records Center, which will carry out the disposal instructions
when they are received.
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ENSURING MAXIMUM USE OF SCHEDULES
In order to ensure that schedules are actually used, most agencies have in-
stalled certain management controls so that the headquarters offices and local of-
ficials can be aware of how effective the schedules are and wherein they need im-
provement. The four major records disposition program measurement checks are
(1) a reports system, (2) an inspection or audit system, (3) tickler files, and (4) a
requirement that the records officer approve all requests for filing space and equip-
ment. Normally at least three of these checks are necessary.
Such controls should be simple and require as little time and effort in field
offices as possible. A complex time-consuming controls system only defeats itself
by preventing the disposition program from making any significant net savings.
1. REPORTS SYSTEM
Volume data on records holdings, disposals, and transfers for a given
period are essential for measuring the over-all progress of the records dis-
position program. Such data must be furnished the agency records officer by
field and other operating officials.
Normally annual reports will be sufficient since in a given office transfers
to records centers or disposals usually occur only once or twice a year. Fur-
thermore, the reports should be designed so that an agency can easily submit
to the National Archives and Records Service the biennial statistical summary
of records holdings required by Title 3 of General Services Administration
Regulations. (See Figure 9.)
The volume data should be on an over-all basis for the reporting element.
It need not be broken down into individual schedule items unless special signifi-
cance is attached to certain records series, owing to their volume or other
characteristics. All volume data should be in terms of cubic feet.
It is essential that 'the reporting system not require too frequent or de-
tailed reports. The only purpose of collecting and compiling the volume data
is to be able to measure the general effectiveness of the program. The object
is not to maintain a current stock-type inventory. This means that separate
reports to central office on each records disposal or on each transfer to a rec-
ords center are usually unnecessary. In bureaus or offices where disposals and
transfers are centralized, the reviewing official can use a work sheet to keep
track of the volume involved. All individuals making on-the-spot disposals or
transfers should do the same. (See Figure 10.)
Information on the volume of total records holdings should be collected in
the easiest way possible. Two short cuts are:
a. To combine the task with the annual check of the records against the
schedule, or
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b. To combine it with an inspection by a records officer or specialist.
2. INSPECTION OR AUDIT SYSTEM
Nothing can replace personal inspection as a means of:
a. Getting a concrete picture of an agency's records holdings and records
problems;
b. Spotting or solving potential records problems and nipping them in the
bud.
Ot?AaiMM DO AtiBKY
5TA1OMC row Fse
NBLNIAL SUMMARY
MI,Kti ION EGnION
019e191AL ROVI21, AOMEmm"o
OF RSCORDS HOLDINGS
a[O. a-I-107.00 117E-1001
To.
One copy of this report is to be submitted to General Services
Administration, National Archives and Records Service, Washington
25, D.C., by each Federal agency within 30 days after the close of
Fiscal Year 1960, and every even year thereafter (See iattrartioat on
inert,).
VOLUME OF WO
RDS ON NAND-END CC FI
SCAL YEM (Cabo W)
LOCATION Of aECOaD3
parAStNEIrr
FIELD
TOTAL
ttaantl FILE Roo" AND OFFICES
lTAONO, NouMeO. AND OTHER a1OM01 AEEAu
TOTAL
eaANIS (aa.d.. weI leAdr hen dm w sw a nai arM Ar prlad A dAard, 1,wir, od .AeA1Aq d made)
SMINATIN!
Tn1E
7
GENERAL
Records to be reported herein, with no distinction made
between them, are to include the following:
1. All of the records of the reporting agency;
2. Records held at the site for GAO audit; and
3. Official Personnel Folders (legally records of the
Civil Service Commission) in the custody of the re-
porting agency.
Nonrecord material (as defined in the Records Disposal
Act of July 7, 1943, as amended) is to be included in volume
reported if the reporting agency's practice calls for statistics
on this type of material.
No volume should be included for Agency Records Cen-
ten operated by the reporting agency in accordance with
GSA Regulations 3-IV-401.01, and 3-IV-401.03a, because
they submit separate reports on Standard Form 137, Agency
Records Center Annual Report. (See GSA Regulation 3-
IV-401.04.) No volume should be reported for Federal
Records Centers which report separately.
DEFINITIONS
"Departmental" means the headquarters office of the re-
porting agency, as contrasted to its field activities, but ex-
cludes Agency Records Centers.
'Field" means the reporting agency's offices other than the
headquarters office and Agency Records Centers.
"Staging, Holding and Other Storage Areas' means areas
at departmental or field locations formally designated for
staging and holding purposes, as well as all other storage
areas except current file rooms and offices, Agency Records
Centers, and Federal Records Centers.
EQUIVALENTS
For the purpose of this report, volume may be.calculated
according to the following table of cubic foot equivalents:
CA
I'll T
NOTE.-Equivalents are for fell bar workable drawers. Ap-
prvpriare adjesnsrents shcwld be made for parts 1y
filled drawers.
Agency biennial! report to GSA of
records holdings.
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There are two equally important types of inspections. One is a check by a
records officer of operating office files. The other is an audit in a large agency
of the operations of subordinate records officers.
Every records officer in a field office or staff or operating division of a
central office should make a personal inspection of the records holdings under
his jurisdiction whenever he has reason to believe the disposition program is
not moving smoothly. At other times records should be spot checked to see
how the schedule is being carried out. However, if the records officer is also
the one who checks the records against the schedule to see what changes are
necessary to keep it up to date, then of course he does not need to make spot
inspections.
Agencies accomplish this inspection or audit in different ways, but the aim
is the same.
The Civil Service Commission has its field operations personnel attached
to its central office check on records management activities as part of an
annual administrative audit.
Maintain a folder to include a disposal sheet for each calendar year,
a copy of each Transmittal of Government Records, each Shelf List,
each Form 2615, Annual Records Inventory Report, and each letter of
transmittal forwarding the inventory report. The disposal sheet
will be a simple record indicating the volume of records destroyed
in each disposal recorded in cubic feet and totaled in cubic feet at
the end of the calerdar year. This data will enable the Office Man-
ager to provide volume records information to the Director, Adminis-
trative Services Division, as provided in 2 above. All records data
included in the folder will be kept on a cubic feet basis by use of
the following table of conversion:
Legal or Cap Size Drawer
Letter Size Drawer
3 x 5 12" Drawer
4 x 6 12" Drawer
5 x 8 12" Drawer
Map Cabinets and Other
Outsized Equipment
Shelving
2 Cubic Feet
11 Cubic Feet
110th Cubic Foot
1/6th Cubic Foot
1/4th Cubic Foot
Cubic Measurement of
Inside Containers
Cubic Measurement of
Space Occupied
Federal Housing Administration instructs
its office managers to keep a simple
record of records transferred and
disposed of.
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The Army has an elaborate and extensive audit system. Since 1950 rec-
ords management specialists in The Adjutant General's Office have made
annual audits of field command levels as part of the larger annual joint
command inspections. In turn the command levels are expected to survey
the subordinate levels.
Commodity Stabilization Service has a staff representative based in Denver
inspect disposal activities in field offices west of the Mississippi River
and a staff representative based in Washington inspect offices east of the
Mississippi.
Veterans Administration makes records management inspections at three
levels: the Departmental level, the Administrator's level (through an in-
ternal audit group), and the agency records management level. These in-
spections may occur at any time and may cover records activities spe-
cifically or be part of larger administrative or program audits.
Tickler control files are used in Federal Records Centers and in some
agencies to make sure that records are disposed of when they are eligible for
disposal, or, in the case of agencies, transferred to storage when they become
noncurrent.
Some agencies require controls of this kind, while in other agencies their
development and use is discretionary.
The Veterans Administration requires every installation to maintain cards
as tickler controls.
The Atomic Energy Commission encourages the use of tickler files in field
offices, but does not require them.
Techniques used in recognizing when records should be transferred to
storage or destroyed are left by most agencies to the discretion of field offi-
cials.
4. RELATED SPACE AND EQUIPMENT CONTROLS
Many agencies require the approval of the local official responsible for
disposal activities on all requests for filing space and equipment, in order to
comply with GSA directives for the economical use of such equipment.
a. Ensuring compliance with the schedule,
b. Ensuringthat unnecessary nonrecord materials - obsolete publications,
stocks of obsolete forms, and unnecessary reference files - do not remain
in office space and equipment, and
c. Spotting records problems.
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Before approving requisitions for additional filing, equipment, the records
officer should investigate the extent to which the requesting unit is complying
with authorized records disposition policies, and the possibility that existing
schedules need revision.
Only if the records officer is satisfied that the unit is disposing of its rec-
ords in a prompt and orderly fashion should requisitions for additional filing
equipment be cleared.
See Figure 11 for a filing equipment requisition bearing a certification
that the regulation providing for the proper utilization of such equipment
has been complied with.
M-TODD OI AUTN011ITY
D[PARTM[NT OF
w
fl.
?p???
N"I
GSA - St
k
HEALTH, EDUCATION. AND WELFARE
-
aF1
..P
APEaf
?e wC1U
!
.I.e IM.-a..
oc
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
wou No.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
-12 - 6
A~7568870
PURCHASE ORDER
oAa
4
Jan. 25, 1956
"meal. oNNo.
MAIL INVOIC-TOI ?partment Of ?a11:h, uoation, and ? are
12776
Social Security Administration
ALLOTM-NT ur?-ANC.a
Bu. of 0. A. S. I.
25.08
Accounts and Audit Section, Baltimore, Maryland
PL-A.E D-LIV.1 IN AGCO-DANCE IT. INET-UCTION. AND TN- T9-M. OP ANY mal?1'INO CONTRACT AORtWm(I. ACC-FT-D I.-
PO-MAL MID M QUOTATION. THE ARTIC- OR .--VIC.? U-10 .6 .
*
CON.IQN-- AND DDRINATION
.General Services Administration
M Departmeotof Health, Education, and Welfare
[ Federal Supply Service
I Social Security Adnin., Bu. of O.A.S.I.
L 7th & "D" Streets S.U.
F Earle Bldg.
L Washington 25, .G.
J
T 74 Neat Washington Street
R
0 Hageretam Karyi4ati
1 A NO. C NO.
TIME 1011 Oft.-
SCOUNT TEeM.
0,
F. a POINT I ONIP VIA GOVT. ?/L NO.
ITEM NO.
ARTICLES OR SERVICES
QOI
UNIT
UNIYPaIn
AMOUNT
7110-273-944
Section filing, upright, 4-drawer,
/
without look, 01iv~ Green, letter ei5(
7L0
ea.
V'
I
NOTEt 11
~~//
a certifies that this DepAFtment has ocmpl
ed
w
ith the applicable utilimon provisions of
A Reg. I-III-204.00
ok
I r...1N..le N
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~~
. P.M~.,N M ..1 rW aY . I.M, M ..,I...$O . M N wN.ID
l M~ b 5SN5~,.11 ..N. IM I,., ..l.r, w YNr.1 NI.1,. T . .I.rM ~wW
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TOTAL
~ u
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.
u
I aftHJ thm the as.. HEY amt e Jut East
.e .~L C< ..,
av..-t wnt.a e....t b- ned..J.
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M
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Chiefs.
urchase Sec on
.we ree.,'~im uw~'MON.w r..
Purchase Order with certification
of compliance with GSA regulations
onutilization of filing equipment..
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CHECK LIST
The questions are so worded that check marks in the NO column indicate the need
for corrective action.
1. Are your records all covered by records control schedules?
2. Are copies of all currently applicable schedules available to your
office ?
3. Are applicable schedules incorporated in a single document?
4. Are the disposition instructions and the schedule clearly under-
stood by those applying them?
5. Have the schedules been applied within the past twelve months?
6. Is timing of the application of the schedules coordinated with other
workloads ?
7. Is full use made of GSA's Personal Property Utilization Division
assistance in selling disposable materials?
8. Is the cost of screening records estimated and compared to center
storage costs before a screening project is undertaken?
9. Are the schedule provisions for transferring records to Federal
Records Centers appropriate for your office?
10. Are unscheduled noncurrent records sent to Federal Records Cen-
ters pending establishment of a retention period?
11. Are annual volume reports of holdings made to the agency records
officer ?
12. Has the effectiveness of the schedules been checked by the agency
records officer within the past year?
13. Does the agency or local records officer clear all requests for
additional space and equipment for records?
14. Are all disposition instructions satisfactory to your office?
15. Does your agency have in office space only those records needed
for the conduct of current business?
-23- o U, S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1966 0 - 252-504 (42)
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Washington: 1956
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing C)ffice, Washington 25, D. C. - Price 20 cents
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