< what you might look for if you visited a facility, and what you might
look for in a handling process.>
I look for proof that the facility meets the specifications I require.
I look at the handling process procedures, I talk to the person in
charge of dispatch and pick up/delivery functions.  I look at the
vehicles used.  I look at the storage vault/housing and check to make
sure it has the UL rating I required. I look at how the tapes are
handled, how they are stored, how they are or are not labeled. I walk
through and look for any risks or hazards to the tapes in storage.
There are a myriad of things I look for.

<that is if you meet certain criteria then you are eligible for
business, and obviously if you do not meet these criteria you are
ineligible.>
Exactly!!

<You say that you would look for a four hour fire rating, but what does
it
mean to have a four hour fire rating if the tapes are in an area that
might
burn for a week?>
If the housing is rated for 4 hours, then the housing must meet certain
criteria that would preclude it from being a normal fire hazard.  I
would not place my tapes in a storage facility so poorly designed and
managed that it would burn for a week under most fire circumstances.
This would mean there is no fire suppression at all in the facility, no
UL rated housing or vaults, and nothing that meets NFPA 232 (in the U.S.
- I don't know what the Australian equivalent is but there must be one).

< Is this a role that RM wants or needs to be involved in?>
Certainly.  As RM I am responsible for developing and maintaining a
vital records program.  This includes ALL mission critical records and
information, not just paper or microfilm records.  Since backup tapes
are not selective in what data or information is recorded from a server
(i.e. it backs up all the server information content), then I cannot be
selective in what backup tapes I include in the vital records program.
I have to include all of them.  And, as most of you know, one of the
essential elements of a vital records program is protection of the
identified mission critical records and information.  In many
organizations, that includes the storage and housing of backup tapes.  I
am even involved in determining the best protection method for
electronic vaulting, data mirroring and shadowing, and other electronic
back up methods not using hard or tape media.

< We do not want to waste your time or ours if RM are simply on the
fringes of the process.>
I am certainly not on the fringe.  I am a mid-manager in our IT
Division.  I've been in the RM field for 40 years, so I am not a
beginner.  I have written books and articles on the topic for a number
of years and have headed up a task force to produce a national standard.
I would not call that the fringe.  And I am not alone in this experience
or these qualifications.

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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