Dear all,
Just thought I’d add my bit. 1000 years ago when I was working at the Tasmanian state Archives we had a clerk who separated the information we provided to requestors from the enquiry details and filed it alphabetically by the subject of the enquiry as soon as the letter with the bumph had been posted. We made it quick and easy for her by putting the findings on a separate sheet to the letter, with the subject heading at the top. These "Correspondence files" were and still are used by Archives staff to provide a quick response, as the same enquiries, especially genealogical ones, often come up again and again, and having the bumph already listed (catalogue entry, plus precis of what's in the records and often a photocopy/photograph of the records themselves) saved endless reinventions of the wheel and reduced wear and tear on the records. I don’t know if they still do this - but of course it would be even easier with digital enquiries files - just get whoever is doing the enquiry to extract and save the info in some sort of e-system as soon as the enquiry is completed - so I imagine they do. The actual enquirer bumph was and is no doubt destroyed according to their disposal policy.
Clare
Clare Cowling
Associate Research Fellow and Director,
Legal Records at Risk Project
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
School of Advanced Study
Charles Clore House
17 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DR
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http://ials.sas.ac.uk/research/areas-research/legal-records-risk-lrar-project
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pamela Birch
Sent: 22 February 2017 17:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Keeping old enquiries
Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure
I have replied privately already about our current policy but Paul's comment reminds me of a skeleton in our stacks. From the late 1990s to present day our enquiry files have had a 10-year retention on them and are destroyed on a rolling basis. Before that we did keep complete correspondence files, which were all correspondence and not just enquiries. In the late 1990s we realised that this was taking up rather a lot of space and many of the things in the files were of no use to anyone. A minion was tasked with going through each file to remove and refile anything useful in the subject filing system then in place and destroying the rest. I think our minion did manage to get as far as the late 1960s with this exercise but it was never high on their list of jobs to be done and when they left the whole thing stopped. If anything this made things worse as now we have to remember to look in different places depending on the date. I would love to be able to throw away these old correspondence files but the fear nags me that some of them contain useful information as to terms of deposit that need to be transferred to our depositor's files.
On the plus side we have always had a system that encouraged any staff member giving a full response to a particular question that they thought might come up again to create a file for our searchroom library (with all details of the original enquirer removed of course) so anyone could use it. This has proved very useful over the years and only the other day I found myself able to explain what had been found out in response to the same enquiry in 1951 and that we had not received anything further on the subject since that date (it was a family who had gone to America in the 1620s so not surprising that further evidence had not come our way).
The moral of the story seems to be if it's likely to be useful file it somewhere people can use it straight away rather than think you will recover it later.
10 year retention on enquiries seems about right to us, we often have repeat business during that time and it is useful to be able to refer back but only occasionally do we get people coming back beyond 10 years.
Pamela Birch
Service Manager (Archives Records)
Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service
800 years of history, 100 years of service.
Open: Mon 9.15am-5pm (5-7pm by prior appointment only), Tues, Wed & Fri 9am-5pm. If you wish to visit please contact us (01234 228833 or [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) to make a booking. Closed Thursday.
Tel: 01234 228908 (direct line) 01234 228833 (main office) www.bedford.gov.uk/archive<http://www.bedford.gov.uk/archive> Twitter @BedsArchives
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Sillitoe
Sent: 22 February 2017 16:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Keeping old enquiries
With due respect to compliance needs, and without wishing to advocate even more work, could the responses to old enquiries form a useful knowledge base for future enquiries?
Paul Sillitoe
Dr Paul J Sillitoe, Dip Arc Admin (Distn), RMARA Consultant Archivist Honorary Fellow, University of Liverpool
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/paul-sillitoe-42a1504a
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phaedra Casey
Sent: 21 February 2017 10:51
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Keeping old enquiries
Dear all
I'd be interested to hear from you how long you keep details of old enquiries, and in particular enquirers' details.
Do you have systems in place to remove enquirers' details from Calm (or your equivalent) after a certain number of years?
Many thanks.
Phaedra
Phaedra Casey BA MA MA
Archivist
Brunel University London
Governance, Information and Legal Office (GILO) My usual hours of work are Mon - Thurs, 9am to 2.30pm.
Brunel University London Archives
Kingston Lane
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH
01895 267095
Our archive catalogue is now online: https://archivesearch.brunel.ac.uk/calmview/
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