Having cut my teeth in RIM by working in a state Archives and RIM
agency, I have to say that many archivists with historian tendencies do
like to keep as much as possible related to their specialty topics.  For
instance, the NM State Archives was loathe to have any document (even
dinner menus or laundry lists) destroyed if they related to the Spanish
Colonial era in NM.  The same record types from other time periods were
discarded without a backward glance.  Agencies soon caught on that once
certain documents met retention they could send them to the archives for
accession.  This created a validity conflict with the retention
schedules.  After much discussion with the State Archivist, we
compromised with having the retention schedules reviewed by her prior to
final approval.  Any record types she felt may contribute to the
historical knowledge of the state were given a "permanent" retention
value after due discussion. 8-)  She also reviewed destruction lists and
placed accession holds on certain records that met with the collection
policy of the archives.  Needless to say, after formalizing the process
much of the "keeping frenzy" subsided.

Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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