"Does anyone have an official policy on the retention of "general
business records"?  We define general business records as "electronic
non-record or working files..."

Laura;
We treat electronic & paper the same. We refere to General as records which
don't fit a current classification code and the volume is so low a new code
isn't warranted. Retention is Current year + 1 year onsite, 2 years offsite
then selective retention, meaning an archivist determines if they have
lasting value. We recommend reviewing General files when volume increases
(e.g.  1"+ thick) to determine if we need to open a new series code.
(Basically they're holding files for "record" material.) I dislike
"general" as it tends to be a "dumping ground" making retrieval difficult.

What you call General, we call "reference/resource" or "transitory"
records. They are either gathered from outside sources and have no lasting
value once their  purpose is served e.g. research or convenience copies
(duplicates)already being maintained by the originator. Retention is SO --
D (superceded/obsolete, no off-site storage, destroy).

Patti Kraatz
Technician, Information Mgmt & Archives
Regional Municipality of Waterloo

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