CILIP South West member Dani Stubbs, student at the University of Sheffield, describes the core concerns of a records management policy.
In a Records office, deciding what to keep, why to keep it and how long for, can be a troublesome bother. Many decisions and procedures are documented in retention policies, which are often usefully summarised on public archival or record office webpages, for example the UK National Archives Website[1]. This post will cover some of the fundamental considerations for this topic.
Although tempting to collect, maintain and make accessible an ever-growing collection of records, practical decisions regarding retention or disposal need to be addressed. We don’t have to keep everything and we don’t have to collect everything; this is a common misunderstanding of the role of a records office. Maybe this is due to the frequent conflation of the roles of a records office and those of an archive. Whereas the former exists to store items that have temporary value before either being disposed of or transferred elsewhere, such as a national archive, an archive exists to store items that have an eternal value. Hence, we would not be looking to dispose of an archive item.
As well as adding to the continual clutter of files, making life much harder for visitors and staff to find what they are seeking, the cost of preservation will rocket, while the physical space in which to do so will diminish, if we are considering physical records. Then of course, digital records will have to be maintained by means of technological updates. A retention policy will outline how long records are to be kept for and the process and approval of disposal.
Helpful guidance is listed on the UK National Archives webpage: ‘Disposing of records’[2]. If we consider step 1, ‘Understand why you need to take action’, it is worthwhile noting that many digital platforms of storage do not automatically account for or allow deletion or disposal of records/information. Take the social media site Twitter: what is posted cannot be deleted. But there are beneficial reasons that we would look to dispose of information: with regular deletion, we would reduce the digital space consumed, we would enable a more efficient search process for users and we will also meet policies of compliance. Further, we could potentially eliminate duplicate records.
From Step 2 we learn to conduct an Information Audit, to find out exactly what the institution is hoarding. These can be classified as ‘information assets’. Having an awareness of the information assets held can help an institution to produce relevant Information Management policies, design appropriate systems of storage, organisation and retrieval, and be prepared to advertise, publicise or even make deals at a corporate level.
Having an awareness of the information assets alone is, however, unhelpful unless they are managed in the right way. In a records office, it is important to use the appropriate technological or management systems. We should consider how up-to-date the software and systems are, as this will determine the proportion of information assets we deposit and at what point we will upgrade or purchase new technology. Lastly, if we consider the activity of helping users to retrieve information, keeping track of the correct details of the records will allow for a much more efficient activity. Using the correct classification systems, bibliographic formatting, or organisational procedures can make the difference between a seamless search and a few days’ worth of clutching at straws, researching and frustration.
Step 3 tells us to consider the value of our assets. There are a few different types of value that we can recognise in the decisions to keep records. We may be required to keep records by law for a number of years. For example, for GDPR regulations. If there is an ongoing project, compounding ongoing value and use, then we would be required to keep the related records for perhaps longer than we would otherwise. If records have significant and relevant historical importance attached to them, then we would have justification to maintain the records. For example, a Higher Educational Institution might specifically collect items related to the historical importance of certain alumni or founders of the College or University. Within the archival management and collections policies, the continual collection of related items would be indicated. A final point of consideration would be whether or not the records are being used or will be accessed in the future. Keeping a track of usage statistics and information requests in many workplaces is now of importance, and is made somewhat easier by various software and analytical tools. Conversely, predicting the future usage of records can be somewhat of a grey area unless we can use statistics from previous years or utilise various external factors such as upcoming events, public holidays or trends.
Once we have made the decisions based on steps 1-3, we are ready for step 4, the disposal of records. The central considerations that The National Archives suggests are to decide on the trigger points for the disposal. In the most basic explanation, we could look at deciding on a time-period in which an information asset would qualify as being ‘ready for disposal’ or not, from the last time it was accessed, or retrieved. So, much like a library would calculate a weeding process for books that have not been checked out of the library in the past so many years, the appropriate decision may be to send these books to storage or donate them to charity. Having matched a certain timeframe, the records may then be disposed of or moved to an alternate location/system e.g. the National Archives.
Lastly, to match our Information Audit (listing the contents of the collection), we would want to keep an audit trail that would demonstrate and track the deletion or movement of information assets. We may find ourselves in a position where we need to justify the actions taken and having a clearly laid out and easily accessible track of this will aid this process.
This post has set out some basic, fundamental processes and considerations to follow in regards to the disposal or retention of records. If not for any other intention, the need to organise an information overload is more relevant than ever before and records management considerations are bound to show up in a multitude of workplaces.
[1] See https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/.
[2] See The National Archives. (n.d.). Disposing of records. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manage-information/policy-process/disposal/
CILIP South West Member Network 