I work closely with our records manager and frankly, I've found that
departments have no knowledge of what constitute 'historical' records that
should be retained or saved.  That's essentially why I'm permitted to
review records headed for destruction to save those that should be kept for
historical reasons.   For example, in one department, I found the early
records and correspondence with Ed Ball about the creation of our "jewel"
Nature Trail on
campus.  In another, the auditor had a record of the damage (with
photographs) of the direct hit of Hurricane Ivan on our campus.  We still
get history questions about how did the University fare during Ivan.
These are important historical parts of our institution history, but often
lost amidst the office's desire to discard and destroy their older records.

I realize this does not answer the question directly, but unless you have
an archivist or archives, or unless the records manager assumes some
responsibility to preserve important records permanently, the office will
always sign off on getting rid of those old records no one needs anymore.

Dean


Dean DeBolt, University Librarian (Professor)/University Archivist
UWF Archives and West Florida History Center
University of West Florida Library
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
[log in to unmask];   850-474-2213

West Florida History Center is the largest and most comprehensive
history collection about Pensacola and the West Florida region.
http://libguides.uwf.edu/universityarchives

Digital collections can be found at:  http://archives.uwf.edu/Archon/
<http://143.88.66.76/Archon/>


On Thu, Jul 6, 2017 at 2:22 PM, Kathryn Johnson <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Has anyone heard of/had experience with removing the "historical"
> designation from records?  I'm curious to know if this is a common
> occurrence or typically not done.  I have a county department that
> originally marked a group of contract case file records as historical years
> ago and is now wanting to downgrade them to the standard contract case
> file, which would reduce the retention from permanent to 6 years, making
> them eligible for destruction now.  They don't have concrete criteria that
> they use when determining what makes a case "historical" and they don't
> give any reasoning for removing that designation now other than "we were
> mistaken and it should never have been marked as historical to begin with".
>
> Given that it is the record creator's responsibility to mark it with the
> correct classification and sub-classification, logically, I should take
> their word when they say it should be changed.  However, I know they are
> actively trying to reduce their physical footprint - they've made it known
> they want to destroy whatever they can - they are not requesting to scan
> and keep these records digitally either, they just want to get rid of
> them.  So I am hesitant to approve the change.
>
> We've never had a change request like this before and I'll be speaking
> with them in more depth to hopefully get some specifics as to why they
> think it should not be historical, but again, I'm curious to know if any of
> you have had this happen or what your thoughts might be.
>
> Any input is greatly appreciated!
>
> Thank you!
>
> Katy Johnson | Records and Information Manager
> Records Management
>
> Jefferson County
> 3500 Illinois St.
> Suite 2500
> Golden, CO  80401
> o 303.271.8451
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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