A few followup points on the records and archives aspects of Leslie's question.

Leslie, as an historian but one who once worked as an archivist, I agree with those who say you should focus on the business needs of the university.  Of course, that should include all the stakeholders who deal with the entire life cycle of the records.  The creators and users of the records on the operational side have a useful perspective on their office's need for records.  If they rarely use the chron file, or find it hard to use, you certainly should take that into account.  In the short term, the creators are the closest to the records.  Their needs may end up influencing your decision more than anyone else's perspective, as well they might. But you should consider all the end users.

On general principles, and I'm not talking just about chron files here, I can see where, just as with records managers, the university archivists might have a broader perspective than the operational people working in any one functional unit. I'm assuming the university archives is the repository for the permanent records of the institution.

I don't know whether the university archives is open or closed, whether it serves primarily external or internal customers.  But I can see a scenario where archivists may deal with important internal researchers whose needs are different from those of the potentially more stovepiped functional units that create records.  As people on this List have said, records management involves "predicting the future." I would hate to imagine a scenario where you interviewed only the records creators and decided some records series was unlikely to be needed, only to discover later that the university president or some other official routinely turned to the archivists to research policies or precedents in just those very same files!  To get a picture of the life cycle, you need to talk to everyone who is on the receiving end of requests for information from the records.

I've never done research in university files so I'm afraid my research experiences may be of little value to you.  But, for what it is worth, here's my two cents worth.  As an historian and a former Nixon records archivist, I've found subject files and case files the most useful series for research as they are more complete.  Naturally, when well maintained, such files contain incoming and outgoing correspondence, supporting documents, attachments, etc.  But, depending on what I'm researching, I can see where a chron file might be useful in terms of providing a quick snapshot of the scope of issues an official dealt with during a particular period of time.

Here's an example from some files with which I'm familiar and which made the news after I left NARA.  Click on http://nixon.archives.gov/find/textual/presidential/special/staff/haldeman.html to see the varied series--including chron--in the Nixon-era H. R. Haldeman files, for example.  Then, consider all the stuff described in this newspaper article about some segments of the Nixon tapes:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/nixon17.htm .  If I wanted to study all the action memos Haldeman and his aides put out routinely during a known month when the chief of staff was talking to President Nixon about some of those issues, I could see myself pulling a chron file as well as subject files.   But in general, for most of my research, I would be more likely to use the subject or alpha name files in the Haldeman series.

So, my advice is -- talk to everyone who has a stake in the life cycle of the records, from creator to ultimate end user.  And don't forget the people who will be on the receiving end of the university president's and officials' queries down the road!  If you're lucky, as I have been throughout my career, you'll find yourself working in a collegial environment where you and your colleagues, both on the operational and archival side,  regard each other as assets and partners.  And nobody has to be king of the mountain, LOL.  Good luck1

Maarja (GAO Historian and former NARA Nixon tapes archivist)

>>> [log in to unmask] 11/09/05 5:51 PM >>>
Hi, Chris and List!  About to leave the office to go home so just posting a quick comment on "overstepping" rather than records disposition or archival issues...

Did I miss something in the original posting?  It wasn't clear to me whether the archivist in question was ruminating to the records manager generally about what s/he found valuable for research purposes, as opposed to "telling operations how to function." Actually, I can't conclude from Leslie's note whom the archivist spoke to and under what circumstances.  I can't tell whether s/he stepped on to the "front line" or simply talked (only) to Leslie.  Nor can I tell how long the archivist has been there (as opposed to Leslie, who seems to  have come in recently as the first records manager).  It's possible that operational people sought out the archivist's opinion previosuly, in the absence of a records manager.   And that Leslie now is filling a professional void that previously existed at the college.

I don't know enough about the circumstances to be able to say if anyone "overstepped" here, might not have been the case at all.

Maarja
>>> [log in to unmask] 11/9/2005 5:28 PM >>>
Wow! Archival theory questions here, who would have thunk it?

The Archivist would be correct in saying that the historical chrono
files should be maintained as a permanent record. However, it is not the
job of the Archivist to tell operations how to function. The Archivist
might lament the loss of such a historically valuable resource. If the
process no longer exists or is significantly altered, the Archivist
should document/records the change.

I suggest you determine the best business solution for your operation.
Measure your needs against the administrative, fiscal, leagal, and yes
even the historical values. The historical (Archival) value will in most
cases apply to the preservation of a record not the requirement to
generate it.

I think your Archivist mught be overstepping their bounds a bit.
Although, as an Archivist, I find it interesting that one should step to
the front line and take an active role.

Chris Flynn

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Leslie Knoblauch
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 6:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: University RM Question

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance