1. Records Management and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Presented by Jennifer Wright Smithsonian Institution Archives Records Management Team February 14, 2005

2. Goals of the Presentation  Introduce the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) and its Records Management Services  Discuss the Appraisal Process and the General Records Disposition Schedule  Describe the Processes for Discarding, Transferring, and Retrieving Records  Answer Questions

3. SIA’s Mission  Appraise, acquire and preserve records of the Institution  Establish policies and provide guidance for management of the National Collections  Offer a range of reference, research, and records services  Create products and services which promote understanding of the Smithsonian and its history

4. SIA’s Authority – SD 501  “All documents created or received by employees of SI in the course of official business are records of the Institution, and none may be disposed of except in accord [with guidelines] established by the Smithsonian Archives.”

5. Records Management Services  Help identify what to keep and what to discard  Create disposition schedules  Assist you in organizing your records – advice and file plans  Supply boxes and do the physical transfer of records  Maintain and care for records  Provide access to the records  Destroy records according to established schedules

6. Advantages of Records Management  Faster retrieval of documents  Reduced/eliminated level of record-keeping redundancies  Reduced costs of storage equipment and supplies  Elimination of unnecessary files storage  Increased usable space

7. What is a Record?  Any official recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, created, received, and maintained by a Smithsonian museum, office, or employee

8. What Do Records Do?  Document actions, decisions, policies and procedures  Legal evidence  Audit trail  Accountability  Corporate memory

9. What Do Records Look Like?  Records may be located in filing cabinets, storage rooms, servers, or electronic media  They may include: –Paper –Electronic Records –Film and Video –Audio Recordings –E-mail –Spreadsheets and Databases –Photographs

10. Appraising Records  Decisions about which records to keep or discard are based upon: –Function of the office –Which records best document that function –Where the most complete set of those records are located –Existing guidelines established by SIA, other SI offices, or outside institutions  An office should always contact SIA for an appraisal decision unless they have previously been provided with guidance

11. Two Broad Categories of Records  Institutional Records  General and Routine Administrative and Informational Records

12. Institutional Records  Institutional records document how an office functions and develops over time  Often relate to the office’s mission, goals, planning activities, funding, and major initiatives  May include reports, correspondence, memoranda, planning documents, budget records, grant records, and certain types of programmatic records  Permanent institutional records best document the history and functions of an office  Consult with SIA to determine if institutional records are permanent  Permanent Records should be sent to SIA

13. Programmatic Records  Subset of institutional records that document specific programs and projects within the office at a detailed level  May relate to festivals, exhibitions, publications, recordings, collections, and other activities  May include correspondence, memoranda, scripts, catalogs, agreements, floorplans/site maps, teacher/press packets, press clippings, brochures, photographs, draft materials, working files, publication galleys, logistical materials, and research/informational files

14. Programmatic Records (continued)  Temporary programmatic records should be weeded from the permanent records when no longer useful to staff –These include draft materials, working files, publications galleys, logistical materials (travel files, vendor information, delivery and setup time tables, etc.), and files used solely for research and general informational purposes  Permanent programmatic records may be sent to SI Archives or maintained on-site depending on how often the files are used and how integral they are to the understanding of the collections

15. Administrative and Informational Records  Administrative records document the day to day activities of the office –Pertain to accounting, contracts, payroll, personnel, training, travel, and standard forms –Administrative Records are temporary records that often must be maintained for a period of time to meet administrative, fiscal, or legal obligations –In many cases, another SI office maintains the original documents for the full period of time and individual offices are responsible for maintaining their copies for a shorter period of time

16. Administrative and Informational Records (continued)  Informational Records –Documents created by another SI Office or outside of SI that an office obtains for informational or research purposes –May include photocopies, articles, vendor packets, examples of work done elsewhere, widely used standards or guidelines, equipment manuals, general distribution memoranda, the Torch, the Blue Bulletin, and SI Announcements –All informational files are temporary records that can be discarded when or administrative need no longer exists

17. General Records Disposition Schedule  Still a draft, but the guidance is unlikely to change  Covers records common to most offices within the Smithsonian  Gives guidance about the disposition of inactive records  Call SIA to inquire about records not found on the general records disposition schedule

18. Discarding Records  Three methods for discarding records –Discard/Destroy on-site –Transfer to SIA’s Records Center to be destroyed –Send directly to a shredding or recycling company (best option for large numbers of records – SIA can direct you to a free service)  “Destroy” in the guidance means shred or otherwise obliterate sensitive information

19. Records Transfer  Call SIA with the types of records to be transferred and the number of boxes you will require  Transfer records from filing cabinets to boxes, removing all hanging folders and binders  Number the boxes and create a list of folder titles in each box  E-mail the folder list to SIA and schedule a records pickup

20. Records Retrieval  After the records transfer, SIA will provide you with the accession number and a copy of the folder list and will place another copy on the SIA website with full-text search.  To retrieve records, simply contact SIA.  Records stored on-site can be retrieved immediately. Records stored off-site will be retrieved once per week.  Records may be used in the SIA Reading Room or charged-out for extended use.

21. Records Center  Records Center materials should be prepared, transferred, and retrieved in the same manner as permanent records.  At transfer, a destruction date will be assigned based on the general records disposition schedule.  SIA will ensure the timely destruction of records.  Destruction will be suspended pending investigations or legal actions that might bear upon the records.

22. Contact Information and Resources  General questions and records transfers: contact Jennifer Wright, 357-1421 ext. 37, WrightJM@si.edu, or Mitch Toda, 357-1421 ext. 11, TodaM@si.edu WrightJM@si.eduTodaM@si.edu  Reference Services: e-mail osiaref@si.edu or call 357-1420osiaref@si.edu  SI Archives Website: http://siarchives.si.eduhttp://siarchives.si.edu  Records Management on the Web: http://siarchives.si.edu/records/main.html http://siarchives.si.edu/records/main.html