I insist on reviewing the records first, and ideally with the records 
creator before destroying them. I personally do not witness the actual 
destruction, but do oversee the records get deposited into secured 
destruction bins. I do this to be certain the contents of each box are as 
described. Occasionally there may be an added item to a box or the 
contents matches another box. I do not trust anyone (myself included) in 
assuming all management data is correct and disposition can go forward 
without personally reviewing and overseeing the disposition. For this 
reason I insist on an eyes-on review before disposition is carried out. 
This is not always possible for me. When I, or a colleague cannot be on 
hand, I add a note to the disposed records (in FileSurf) stating the 
circumstances. This way, of there is a question later, it can be answered, 
hopefully.

No personal horror stories. I did hear at a past AMIA conference that a 
film studio (for corporate films, not Hollywood) in Canada set aside a 
large collection of films. Bad timing resulted in the waste collection 
truck loading the films into its hold, instead of picking up the trash 
from its designated section of the loading dock, and unloading the films 
in the city dump. The films were palletized and awaiting pickup from the 
same loading dock. The archive truck arrived just after the garbage truck 
left the loading dock. They quickly realized the gaffe and rushed to the 
dump to retrieve the archival footage. Not quite a happy ending though. 
Just as they got out of their cars and began to pluck the film cans from 
the trash heap, it started to rain. They could only salvage a small 
fraction of the collection. The waste truck later returned to the studio 
where they picked up what was rightfully theirs. Not the usual records 
disposition gone horribly wrong, but in the same vein. The archivist 
learned not to leave archival material unattended when prepared for 
transfer.


Stephen Cohen
Records Manager
MetLife \ Legal Affairs
27-01 Queens Plaza North
Long Island City NY 11101
212-578-2373



When you have them pull the boxes for purging, do you then go to their
site and ascertain that they have pulled the proper boxes?

Do you insist on being present for the shredding or do you entrust your
vendor and trust their certificate of destruction as proof that they
have followed your directions?

Does anyone have any horror stories you'd care to share about purging?
At this point, I don't have any, but I have always been insistent about
personally verifying each step of the process.  Am I justified in doing
so, or am I just being my normal anal self?

David R. McLallen 
Information Technology/Records Management 




The information contained in this message may be CONFIDENTIAL and is for the intended addressee only.  Any unauthorized use, dissemination of the information, or copying of this message is prohibited.  If you are not the intended addressee, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message.

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]