Mary,

I've been through a number of moves: some small (single office), one very large (two municipal buildings -- to temporary quarters -- and back again).  I'll be doing a session on relocating at IIMC's 2014 conference.  Unfortunately, most everything I have is in my head or notes-in-a-folder right now.

But to start with your initial questions...

Instead of zip ties, you could use use numbered, wire seals.  We use these for ballots and election tabulators.  Keep a log of the seal numbers assigned to each box so that you will know if seals were swapped out (unlikely).  It will be pretty obvious to determine if seals were broken.  You can get these from any election supply company, and they are probably available from other sources as well.

File cabinets have to be emptied to be moved, though some movers will allow you to keep material in the bottom drawer.  If the material is confidential, empty the file cabinets entirely.  If you don't have a key for file cabinet locks, wrap thick tape around any push-in lock systems.  That lock will get pushed in during a move -- especially if you don't have a key to unlock it and you forgot to secure it.  I guarantee it.

Make sure every drawer on the file cabinet is numbered and the box that contains the material is correspondingly-numbered.  (Assuming you want the files to go back into the same cabinet and in the same order.)  I find that it takes two record boxes, or most of two, per one vertical file drawer.

If you re-use boxes, be sure the destination code for an earlier delivery is taken off or blacked out.  Otherwise boxes will be delivered to the wrong place.

Inventory what's going over before moving it.  You will know if some files are missing before the move, and you will know if any files went missing during the move.

There are a lot of other questions that need to be answered.  Will you be going to new space?  Will your file cabinets be set up in a similar manner?  Will you have less space? More? The same?  How many rooms are you moving from and into?  You will want to number rooms (A, B, D, etc.) and label boxes accordingly to ensure they are delivered to the correct room.

Consider how your boxes are going to be unpacked.  Be sure to move the boxes you want to unpack last, first, and those you want to unpack first, last.  Movers will probably stack the first delivery against the wall, the second delivery in front of those, the third delivery in front of those, etc.

Consider how much you have to move and whether or not an elevator will be needed.  If there is only one service elevator, don't hire a crew of 16 people and fill a tractor trailer full of boxes and expect to get everything packed, transported, and unpacked in one day.  One elevator can only hold so much at a time and will only go up and down floors at a certain speed.

There's a lot of planning to do.  Your moving company should have a packet of material than can help you plan a move.  A lot of what is recommended for furnishings, space planning, labeling, etc. can apply to records, too.

If you have any questions, please feel free to forward them to me.

Good luck!  

Paul Bergeron, MMC, CA
City Clerk
229 Main Street
Nashua, NH  03060
603-589-3004   

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bradley, Mary
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 3:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] Moving an Office

I'm wondering if anyone has seen or written a checklist of issues or action plan for moving an entire working office of paper records, storage cabinets, and all employees that use them daily.  I am also looking for an inexpensive way to protect and secure the information in these documents during the move.  We were thinking of using a zip tie to lock the containers but that can be removed and placed back on the container.  Any Suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Mary Bradley
The Investment Fund for Foundations
Four Tower Bridge
200 Barr Harbor Drive, Suite 100
West Conshohocken, PA  19428
Phone: 610-684-8033
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www.tiff.org<http://www.tiff.org>
Pursuing investment excellence




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