Correct me on this if needed, but I recall ANSI giving both acid-free 
paper and archivally processed/stored silver halide microfilm an LE 
(Life Expectancy) of 500 years.  But of course who cares since 98% of 
everything is electronic and all other media are uncool and obsolete! <g>?

Mike

  At 08:57 AM 7/12/2006, Scott, Paul (FPM) wrote:
>Shad Turner asked:  "For how many years can I expect regular,
>recycled bond (and the ink/laser jet type on it) to last while boxed
>up?"
>
>Subsequent responses from several subscribers sufficiently discussed the
>characteristics and preservation challenges of various types of office
>papers and inks.
>
>Still there was no real insight on the Shad's statement, "By 'to last',
>I mean that I want somebody to be able to open up the box and handle the
>documents normally without excess care."  I suggest archival theory is
>applicable here.
>
>For several years the concept of "Minimal Processing" has become
>increasingly accepted in the archival community as the appropriate
>approach to modern collections.  Essentially Minimal Processing is based
>on the reality that late 20th Century technology resulted in more
>documents than traditional processing standards can cope with.  Moreover
>information inflation results in each document having less value so that
>the loss of individual pages is not as serious as in the past.
>Consequently the emphasis is on storing the papers in appropriate
>environmental conditions and describing the collection.
>
>Whether this policy of benign neglect is appropriate in Shad's case
>depends upon how valuable these papers are and how long they have to be
>retained.  And that is a question only he and his Risk Management
>Department can answer.
>
>Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM
>Records Management Officer
>Harris County, TX
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance

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