Hello,
 
I have just started working in records management at a local government,
and I'm new to both.  I'm wondering how other records managers handle
resource materials that aren't created by the organization.  We have
some material that was gathered as background information for projects,
for purchasing equipment, etc., such as printouts from webpages,
brochures, and books, as well as other resource materials such as
magazines and newsletters.  This information has often been filed in the
corporate record folders, where it inflates the files and is subject to
the retention schedule for each file.  In many cases, department
managers prefer to have the material close at hand for long periods of
time, so applying the retention schedule is problematic, and in some
cases, inappropriate.  We have several departments, and each is
responsible for their own files.
 
What is the best way to handle this information - include it in
corporate files, put it in separate resource folders with their own
retention schedule but interfile them with corporate records (to keep
like subjects together), create a separate collection/library, or some
other?  If you create a separate collection, what tools do you use to
organize the materials, some of which would be in file folders?  Do you
use the same subject classification system that is used to organize the
corporate records (ours is based on the Records Management Manual
produced by the Local Government Management Association of British
Columbia), or do you use some other classification system (if so, what
system?).  How do you manage retention?  What are your criteria for
identifying information as resource material?  
 
Thank you!
Andrea
 
Andrea Kross, MLIS
Records Technician
Cowichan Valley Regional District
175 Ingram Street, Duncan BC V9L 1N8
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(250) 746-2505 -- fax (250) 746-2513
 

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