Thought I'd get some feedback from everyone out there before I decide 
whether or not to tackle this "sacred cow".

Our office, a government agency, publishes reports and documents.  Our 
agency retention schedule indicates that the retention period for the hard 
copy camera-ready/proof sheet/masters is five years from the time of 
publication and a copy of the report, as printed, is to be transferred to 
NARA for permanent retention.

The GRS specifically states that it doesn't care aka "cover" the proof 
sheet copies, it is only concerned that one copy of the actual report as 
printed is turned over to the National Archives for permanent retention.

However, the folks in the graphics division of one of our offices wants to 
keep the graphics files for one year on site, another nine at the Federal 
Records center and THEN they want all materials to be reviewed at the end 
of the ten years for possible further retention.

My understanding is that this is done because "we've always done it that 
way" because we "might" be able to repackage or reuse the materials in 
another publication or they "might" need to reprint the report.

I've checked several other agencies who also fall under the same 
department we do and they generally follow the GRS which indicates that 
one permanent, as printed copy is transferred to NARA, and the rest are 
kept short periods between 3 to 5 years.

My gut feeling, based on the research I've done is that the three to five 
year period is reasonable and should be followed.  However, before I go 
tilting at this windmill or trying to sacrifice this "sacred cow", I 
wanted to get feedback from others.  

Is there something I'm missing?  I'm also concerned that they want to use 
this same retention period standard for the various electronic files 
generated when they create the reports, even those are considered by the 
GRS as wordprocessing copies and have a very short retention period.

As usual, any and all comments, concerns or suggestions will be welcome 
and greatly appreciated.

Charis Wilson, MLS, CRM

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