Disposal - Chapters 4, 5 & 6

Hi Team,

Hope that you all enjoyed the long weekend.  The only down side is that I ended up getting a cold, so couldn't really enjoy it as I would have liked to.  Anyway I have soldiered on to bring you this very lengthy post.  Read on folks . . . .

The RDS question from chapter two

Local councils generally do not have an RDS – to that end, if you work for the council, you are not expected to have one handy.  What this means is that if you are unable to sentence a record using the GDS20 you will need to seek advice from State Records prior to destruction. 

Chapter 4

To kick off we firstly need to identify the sentence of our records prior to ANY transfer.  In this chapter we concentrated on the transfer of custody, i.e. the transfer of permanent (P) records from the agency to SRSA.  In order to do this there are a number of steps that I briefly outlined.  

Fig 1 - Transferring P records to SRSA

The steps that I have listed in Fig 1 are quite broad however this is a general overview of the transfer of P records to SRSA.  Some students have mentioned that it takes ages for SRSA to approve the transfer of the records.  There are a number of reasons for the lengthy approval, one of them being so that we can correctly find a place in the repository for the boxes that you want to transfer to us!  This is not an easy process, a bit like playing with a jigsaw puzzle, only 80kms worth of space to utilise!

Some of the points to highlight in this chapter include the following;

• Agencies, series and consignments are all interlinked - agencies create series (groups of records) and consignments (the numbers of boxes that make up the series / groups) – So what is the common thread here? It is the RECORDS;
• During this subject, we need to remember that the information that we are populating our paperwork with is to ensure that in the long term, generations after us can access and understand the records that our agency has kept and the context of their usage at the time that we created them;
• SRSA will only take records into the collection from registered agencies  ;
• SRSA do not take records from private collections;
• Agencies need to register with SRSA so that we can record the history of the agency, their primary function and administrative content so that future generations can put the records into context;
• Agencies registered with SRSA are issued with a Government Agency or GA number;
• Agencies are only to register with SRSA when they have records that are ready to be added into the collection – SRSA do this so that researchers searching records do not have to sift through dozens of GA listings that are empty & contain no records;
• In the table on page 78, the definition of “Agency recording” should read “An agency that created or continued to document a series which could have inherited the series from another agency” -  This has been amended in the handbook for future courses;
• Page 79 of the handbook contains a table listing Mergers of existing agencies even if the name of one remains – an example of this is when Hindmarsh, Thebarton and West Torrens Councils merged to become one taking on the name West Torrens Council. Name change that accompanies significant functional shift or intention to shift focus – When State Rail transferred all of their operations to DTEI (DTEI primarily handling roads and the infrastructure around that). Name change, but minor or no functional change – when PROSA (Public Records Office South Australia) became SRSA (State Records of South Australia);
• When an agency changes Department it is the responsibility of the agency to request a change in GA number from SRSA;
• We looked at the Agency registration form in detail and an example was provided (please refer to the agency registration example for “Department of Railways”)

Fig 2 What makes up a series?

• We moved onto discuss a “series” – A series quite succinctly is a group of records.  They can be listed in various ways (refer to fig 2);

• Numerical series also known as annual single number series- eg. 2001/0001 – 2001/9999
• Annual single number series with a prefix – for instance here at SRSA we use the prefix SRO (State Records Office).  Eg. SRO2001/0001 – SR2001/9999 (note that it is although it is the exact same system as the numerical one but with the SRO – they remain two separate series.)
• Alphabetical Series – Animal Management – Traffic Control
• Chronological – Date order
• Alpha numeric – AA123-AZ123
• Multiple numbering systems – not that common these days mainly used by local councils – example 140/88/03 – the 140 might mean the name of a street in the council area, the 88 is the year (1988), and the 03 has its own specific meaning – to understand a multiple numbering system such as this you require the master list of meanings.
• An agency needs to register the series before they transfer the records to SRSA (please refer to the series registration example for “Department of Railways”).  If in doubt read the notes on the form or contact Collection Management services for further assistance.
• GRS = Government Record Series is what SRSA will allocate to the series

Later in the ACCESS subject we go into more depth about access determinations.  Depending on the type of records that you have will depend on the access determinations assigned to it (see page 89-92 of your handbook)  ***IMPORTANT***  Records open after 20 (Page 90 of your handbook) There has been legislative change with Cabinet documents having a 10 year determination, unless otherwise specified. 

Fig 3 - What makes up a "series"

When referring to a “series”, “consignment” or “unit” I make the analogy of a ‘pie’ (drew a big circle on the white board) cut into slices.  Consider that a series as the WHOLE pie.  Consignments are the slices of pie while units (boxes) are what make up a consignment. (refer to  fig #3)

Fig 4 - Units/Boxes and Items/Files

We talked about units – these are the  numbers of boxes in each consignment.  We also talked about items which are the number of records in each unit.  My diagram in pic #4 shows the hierarchy of how this all fits.

When sending consignments of records to SRSA, agencies will be required to fill in a Record Description List (RDL).  This is available on our website.  We will go through the RDL spreadsheet in chapter 5.  Within the spreadsheet the Yellow fields are MANDATORY, the blue ones are your opportunity to enter as much information as you can so that future generations can successfully search for and access your records.  

Chapter 5

This chapter involves the transfer of records.  When we transfer records we transfer the permanent records to SRSA & depending on space issues within our agency we may transfer temporary records to an ASP.  There is a process involved when we transfer records.  It’s not just about putting them into a box and calling a taxi truck company to transport them to either SRSA or an ASP.  The attached image shows the breakdown of transferring records.  You may have a few additional steps that your agency follows so please ensure that you include them.

Fig 5 Transfering records

 It is important that all documentation relating to the transfer of records is correctly inputted into your RM system.  I have heard of some “horror” stories where the master lists where not saved into the agency’s shared drive and/or EDRMS.  One such story is that all of the lists that the agency had about the transfer of temporary & permanent records were saved onto someone’s work computer, onto their personal drive.  Well one day that person left the agency & guess what?  Because no one was updating the transfer list anymore, records were coming & going throughout the agency & there was no record of where these temp records were being sent.  This meant that no one could even identify what records were transferred and what was contained in each box.  To add even more “horror” to the story the computer that had all of the info saved onto it, was disposed of because no one was using it.  Problem is that no one checked to see if there was any work related info on the computer before they disposed of it!  Please don’t let this happen in your agency, make sure that procedures are put in place to eliminate things like this occurring.

One of the reasons why we need to document the movement of records is so that we know where things are!  One such recent event occurred in America & their National Archives.  Read the following article from the International Business Times.

Interesting huh but scary at the same time!  

For this chapter you will need to complet the consignment spreadsheet.  I have attached an incomplete version of the spreadsheet to assist you when you are completing the Chapter 5 review.  There are a couple of things that you need to remember:

• Use the consignment spreadsheet (RDL) located on SRSA’s website, when transferring P records
• Hover over each column for further info - a pop up screen will appear that provides the user with more info about that field
• Yellow columns are mandatory – means that you MUST complete these sections or SRSA won't accept the consignment
• Blue columns are not mandatory – means you don’t have to fill these in, however more info that you can provide about the record better it will be for the researchers.
• Try not to use acronyms or abbreviations when listing records on the spreadsheet (For example - No 284/1982 Sthn Pacific Hotels Corp).  This comes back to how you initially classified the file.
• Dates must be listed as DD/MM/YYYY with the appropriate qualifier – CIRCA = approximate date, = = exact date known or N.D = date unknown.
• If in doubt contact srsaCollectionManagement@sa.gov.au for further assistance

You will notice in the spreadsheet attached (fig 6) that the date range has a combination of = & CIRCA.  This is because we are unable to identify exact dates in the file.  Be on the lookout for one of the activities as there is a bit of a “trick” with the dates in one of the examples!

Fig 6 RDL spreadsheet

Once we have correctly filled in the consignment list we can then box the records accordingly.  I have attached an image of what the box would look like for the activity in Chapter 5 (fig 7).  For further info about boxes etc please refer to pages 98 (box types), 100 – 101 (example of box label) & 101 (hints for boxing)

Fig 7 Type 1 Box

   

Fig 8 - Completing the front of a Type 1 Box for P transfer

Chapter 6

This is a relatively small chapter however it isn’t any less important that the previous chapters!  These chapter relates to the appropriate disposal of the records.  This means that we need to make sure that our records aren’t “dumped’ illegally – don’t forget to wipe hard drives from computers, scanners & photocopiers.  The records relating to the authority to destroy records & the intention to destroy records report (ITDRR) lists that you complete will need to be retained for 50 years.  Check out GDS15 V8 9.34.2 & 9.34.3 and GDS20 V5 13.30.1  and 13.30.2 for relevant information.

This completes the competency “Undertake Disposal”. 

Next week

We will start the new competency “Review the status of a record”, book 2.  

Assignments

As discussed here are the answers for C.C.C Chapter 6 that I want you to use when submitting Disposal Chapter 2 activities.  Compare your answers with the following . . .

State Government (use GDS15)
Activity 1 = Occupational Health & Safety/Inspections/Workplace Inspections
Activity 2= Property Management/Maintenance/Facilities
Activity 3 = Personnel/Arrangements/Travel (this is the preferred classification)
OR
   = Community relations/Arrangements/travel
Activity 4 = Strategic Management/Planning/Corporate plan (this is a tricky one!)
Activity 5 = Equipment plant & stores/ Acquisition/Furniture

Local Government (use GDS20)
Activity 6 = Social cultural & communities/Library management/recovery
Activity 7 = Animal management/ regulating/complaints (this is a tricky one!)
Activity 8 = community relations/public reaction/complaints
Activity 9 = Infrastructure/regulating/Overhanging growth
Activity 10 = Financial management/valuations/objections
OR
   = Financial Management/Rating

Please ensure that you only complete the activities associated with which area you work within.  You will not need to complete all 10 activities.

C.C.C. assignment marking

Apologies that I haven’t been able to provide you with your assignment feedback sooner.  It is fairly hectic here in the office, as most of you probably experience in your own agencies & I unfortunately have not had an opportunity to mark all of them as yet.  I thank you for your patience & over the coming weeks I plan on getting some feedback to you.  

Have a great week & hopefully the sun will shine over the weekend.

Ciao,
Melisa Z-G