Yes, a very interesting discussion - almost buried among people's reminiscences

The correct answer is, of course, "It depends".

In some circumstances it makes perfect sense to retrospectively apply disposal decisions. In others, it makes perfect sense not to go back and revise disposal decisions.

Managing disposal is all about managing risk - and managing that risk in the best possible way.

Despite best intentions, we make incorrect disposal decisions all the time - we cannot be 100% accurate, 100% of the time. I cant speak for NARA, but the National Archives of Australia has been reviewing the 'permanency' of records for a good many years. It is very easy to nominate certain records as 'permanent' - in some cases far easier than actually making a decision to destroy them.  We have refined our selection criteria from a very nebulous "research value" to a more detailed range of criteria (http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/disposal/why_keep/summary.html). We are also committed to revisiting the decisions made in the past to ensure that what we keep is worthy of keeping.

A short blurb on our collection review activities is at http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/disposal/collection_rev.html.

John Lovejoy
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The preceding views should be construed as my own, and not the official view of my employer (although they do coincide somewhat).

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