Hello,
I have watching this list for a while now, but never posted. I 
subscribed initially because I knew that eventually the task of record 
management and retention times would enter my life and so it has.
I will attempt over the next few weeks to develop a retention schedule 
for a department heavily focused on IT-related work and so most of the 
records will be electronic. My background is nowhere near record 
management or archives, but my work focus has changed from biomedical 
research to administration/policy after I finished law school. 
Therefore, determining the retention times in line with the laws and 
statutes is the easier part for me, the actual archiving expertise (best 
practices to record management) is what I am missing.

While I know to determine retention times are based on content, my issue 
is centered around storage, backup, and longevity of digital records.
How do people handle commercial backup records? Due to a number of 
record types etc stored on backup tapes, how do you contract / handle 
the retention period? Some people in our office will have backups with a 
vendor, others do not, should I make it a requirement to create a 
uniform approach, ie: require subscription to a back up service?
email storage is another issue. While I have used for the longest time a 
very stringent directory-type email system, many of my colleagues never 
delete any emails and also do not have a very good directory email 
system. Should I incorporate a uniform directory tree for the work-based 
email to make the retention easier to implement?
Longevity of digital records: We store anything from CDs to hard drives 
on site. Based on the list messages, the environmental conditions can be 
interpreted very stringently for approved commercial storage facilities. 
Based on our need to access some of the media, we would prefer to keep 
the devices on site and have purchased fire proof safes that we keep 
temperature and humidity controlled, but no where near as stringent as a 
commercial vendor. Is such a type of on-site storage a big no and based 
on our access need can we still make a case for on site storage?
Thanks  - Eva

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