TEXT С. Records Storerooms and Retirement

Task: go through the text and say why transfer of records to the records centre is necessary and at what point records are transferred to storerooms.

It is unrealistic to expect that records can be transferred direct from the registry to the records centre. Where this in fact happens without the use of an in-house storeroom or strongroom it only means that the records will be retained in the office and registry well beyond their active or current life. Many archival institutions indicated that records were retained in the creating agencies until they were some 15-25 years of age.

The retirement of records from the office or registry to the storeroom or strongroom is an absolute must for the better functioning of any records system. Unless it is done the system becomes burdened and overloaded by information that should not be there.

The main problem is knowing at what point to retire records from the office or registry to the storeroom or strongroom. The surest mechanism is the assessment of the rate of usage of the file and thus determining the point at which the rate has declined from the frequent to the occasional. For those who are unable to determine the rate of usage of records a second method is the periodic examination of the files to determine the date when last something was put on file. While this may seem a rough and ready measure it can be used as a reasonably accurate way of retiring records from active to semi-active use.

It is necessary to have a transitional period between active use and storage of records in offices and registries and their transfer to records centres. In this transitional period the records should be transferred and kept in storerooms and strongrooms within the premises of the record creating agency. During this period, the archivist must of course have an interest to ensure that no unauthorized destruction takes place and to ensure that the records are in a way that will make transfer to records centres easy.

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