Indexing Minutes
by Geof Huth
Archives Technical Information Series # 78
2003
Introduction
Minutes are one of the most difficult types of records to use. Unlike many other records, they are not arranged in a way that enhances access. Personnel files, for instance, are filed alphabetically by name, and people almost always search personnel files by name. Minutes, however, are filed chronologically by date of meeting, yet people almost always search minutes by subject. So while filing minutes chronologically is logical and useful, it means that many organizations waste countless hours each year searching through them. Sometimes people spend days or even weeks reading through minutes in search of a particular piece of information. The solution to this access dilemma is to index your minutes to help users find the information they need.
This publication examines two basic ways to improve access to minutes. First, it discusses how to develop an index using a database. This technique requires you to become an indexer, read the minutes, determine the subjects within the minutes, and keep a record of those subjects. Second, this publication explores how to use full-text searching software to improve access to minutes. This technique requires users to become searchers. For full-text searching software to work properly, users of the software need to understand how to develop and refine a search; otherwise, they will frequently either fail to find what they are looking for or will end up with too many possible hits.
This publication does not address the indexing of other kinds of records, such as personnel files, student records, or birth, death and marriage records. Fortunately, these records are generally easier to index, since they are indexed by objective attributes, such as the name of a person, rather than by subjective attributes, such as topic of a record. However, many of the guidelines in this publication will prove useful for people carrying out any indexing project.
Step One: Assessing Your Situation
Before beginning to index minutes, you should evaluate your minutes and determine what type of access you need. This evaluation is an essential first step, since the best index will be one that fits the needs, habits, and preferences of the users of your minutes. Since indexing can be costly and time-consuming, you need to be sure you do only the level of indexing you need.
Users’ Needs
The first and most important part of assessing your situation is to determine how people use your minutes and what they need from them. Users often have different but interrelated needs, and your index must be sure to address these.
Search by subject
The most obvious need that users have from an index is access to information on the subjects in it. Therefore, before you design an index, you should first find out what subjects or issues users most frequently seek. This exercise will provide you with two pieces of information. First, you will determine what particular terms people use in their searches—so you can include terms in the index that are familiar to your users. Second, you will have a list of subjects important enough to index. You will probably decide not to index every single action documented in your minutes, so knowing users’ needs will help you determine exactly what information to index.
Search by department or unit
Some users need access to minutes by the department or unit of the organization most closely associated with the action. For instance, the highway department of a town might want a list of all issues related to their department that came before the town board, whether or not the actual subject of these actions was “Highways.” If your users need access by unit, be sure to collect this information during your indexing and to create a field in the index to hold this information.
Search by other special features
Users may need to search minutes by many different features, such as by resolution number or name of personnel. You should determine any of these special user needs beforehand, so that you can capture this information in the index.
How far back users search
One of the most important issues you need to determine is how far into the past users might search for information. Many organizations have minutes going back decades—even centuries—but there is probably little need to index any set of minutes from their beginning. Most organizations find that indexing their minutes back a few decades meets most requests for information. Don’t index minutes older than twenty years unless you can document a well-established and frequent need to access older minutes.
Need for a printed index
If you do not need to develop a printed index to your minutes, you can maintain a simple database or use full-text searching to hunt for information. If you do need a printed index, you can design and print one using any off-the-shelf database software package.
Features of the Minutes
The minutes themselves, how they were created (handwritten, typewritten, or word-processed), and their current condition all have an effect on how quickly you can index them. The attributes of your minutes may also help you determine which indexing technique makes the most sense for your situation.
Quantity
The quantity of minutes you plan to index directly influences the time the indexing will take and the cost of the project. To estimate quantity, measure the number of pages of minutes involved. There are two common ways to establish the number of pages. If you keep your minutes in books with numbered pages, you can easily add up the total of the page numbers in each minute book to arrive at an exact number. Many organizations, however, do not keep their minutes in books or do not have page numbers for large sections of the minutes. In such cases, measure one linear inch of your minutes, count the number of pages in that inch, and multiply the number of pages by the number of linear inches. Since this estimate will never be exact, add 5% to your total to make sure you don’t underestimate.
Condition
The condition of the minutes will affect the speed at which you can index the minutes. Minutes with torn or burned pages, minutes on flimsy carbons or onionskin paper, and minutes with many attachments stapled to their pages will slow the indexing process.
Readability
The handwriting in old minute books is often quite attractive, but if you are unfamiliar with that particular script your indexing will take longer than if you were reading clean typescript. Minutes with smudged text or very light print will similarly slow down the process.
Format
Format can have a greater effect on your indexing project than any other issue. If your minutes are in large-format bound minute books, these may be more difficult to handle and, therefore, more time-consuming to read and index. Handwritten minutes will require a traditional indexing solution, because no software can convert cursive handwriting into editable text. With typewritten minutes, you have two indexing choices: you can index them in the traditional way, or you can scan the pages of the minutes, convert them into electronic text, and use full-text searching software to gain access. If you have any quantity of minutes in electronic form, using full-text searching software is the cheapest and probably easiest solution.
Necessary Resources
When preparing to index, the final issue you must resolve is whether you have the resources to conduct the project. Often you may discover that you already have a number of resources on hand.
Staff
If you are considering traditional indexing, you will need to set aside staff time to complete a project of any size. Before you start indexing, you must determine if you have staff available for this project or whether you need to consider other options. Local governments, for example, can apply for a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund grant to pay staff and other costs associated with an indexing project.
Software and hardware
Sometimes you already have on hand the software and hardware you need for indexing. Most organizations have commercial off-the-shelf database programs (like Microsoft Access) that are usually adequate for any traditional indexing project. Some organizations have full-text searching software (like Isys or ZyIMAGE) that can search the electronic text of their minutes, as well as scanners and scanning software that can scan typewritten minutes and convert them into electronic text.
Existing indexes
One of the most important activities in traditional indexing is to develop a master list of terms, which is a list of chosen terms for your index. Appendix A, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes,” and Appendix B, “Master Lists of Terms for Indexing Board of Education Minutes,” consist of two sample master lists of terms. You can use these as a starting point, but you may already have other “preliminary” indexes on hand. If so, these might be a better place to start.
Some organizations have old indexes that they no longer maintain; for the sake of consistency, it may make sense for you to continue using the terms in that index. Some organizations have minutes with index terms written in the margins of their minutes. If you have these, then use those terms as the kernel of your master list of terms. If you have a related subject filing system (such as a mayor’s or district superintendent’s general files) that includes many of the terms used in the minutes, then it makes sense for you to base your master list of terms on that filing system. In this way, you will expand consistency between the two recordkeeping systems, and users will be more familiar with the terms used in both. If you have detailed agendas to your minutes, you can use those as the beginning of your index, which will also speed up the indexing process.
Money
Any indexing project will need money for supplies, software, and staff time. Be sure you have the funds necessary before you start an indexing project. An incomplete index may be better than no index at all, but a failed indexing project may give people the impression that indexing is always bound to fail.
If you don’t have the money available in your current budget, then you will need to talk to those in your organization in charge of finances and convince them that this project is essential. You should argue for the need for such a project in terms of time saved in finding information (which might be hundreds of hours per year), improvements to your operations when your organization can quickly find the information it needs, and improved responsiveness to queries from the public.
Once you have accumulated all this information, you should be able to design an index and an indexing process that will best fit your needs.
Types of Indexing
There are essentially two different ways to improve access to minutes: by developing a traditional index and by using a full-text searching tool. In the past, the traditional indexing method (requiring people to read, evaluate, and catalog information in a text) has been the most common. Today, full-text searching a “non-displayed index” of text is more common for two reasons: people are used to full-text searching (since this is the chief method they use to find information on the Internet), and organizations have much more electronic text than in the past. You should choose one of these methods based on your assessment of your minutes and of users’ needs. Keep in mind that you might choose to use traditional indexing for some of your minutes (for example, your older handwritten minutes) and a full-text searching solution for more recent minutes in electronic form.
Traditional indexing comes in many forms. In the past, most organizations maintained these indexes on index cards, which are awkward and susceptible to loss and disorganization. With the onset of word processing software, some organizations began to type their indexes into electronic documents. These indexes have the advantage of being in electronic form and of being updatable, but they still are more difficult to update or search than a database. That is why most organizations today use a database to maintain an index. You can either buy a standard database product (such as Microsoft Access or FileMaker Pro), or you can purchase a professional indexing software package (such as CINDEX or wINDEX). Most organizations will use basic database products and develop a database structure to meet their needs, since this is usually cheaper and easier than using professional indexing software. For a sample indexing database and instructions on how to use it, visit the State Archives’ website at www.archives.nysed.gov.
Full-text searching does nothing more than use software to search a body of electronic text. If you don’t have your minutes available in electronic form, you’ll need to convert them. Then you can use one of many software products (such as Isys and ZyIMAGE) to search the text.
A view of a simple database for creating and maintaining an electronic index of minutes. Note that, with only eight fields, you can collect all the information you need to find and judge the relevance of information in your minutes.
[Sidebar]
Deciding Level of DetailOne decision that will increase the time an indexing project takes is the level of subject detail you include in the index. Although this publication describes three levels of subject indexing (main subject, secondary subject, and the memo field), you may be satisfied with fewer levels than that. Carefully evaluate your situation to determine the suitable level of detail.
Main subject
Any index to a set of minutes needs at least one level of subject access, since the subject is always the primary means of searching for information. Always include a main subject level in your index.Secondary subject
The secondary subject level provides a little more detail than the main subject level. Use secondary subjects if you need to conduct more detailed searches than the main subject level will allow. Also, use secondary subjects in cases where you have many requests for information; the more requests you have, the more likely that you’ll need secondary subjects.Memo field
The memo field is not literally a third subject level, but it gives you a way to collect and use very specific information on the main subject. The more entries you have in your index, the more likely it will be that you will need to use the memo field to distinguish between similar entries. Use the memo field to store detailed information on actions, such as the names of streets, organizations, or personnel.
Step Two: Designing an Indexing Project
Planning is essential to any successful indexing project. If you plunge into the project without planning, you are likely to waste time and make mistakes. Good indexing is about maintaining consistency, and you will save the most time if you develop and follow logical rules from the outset. Consistency in this case means indexing in the same manner, using the same subject terms, and always indexing the same types of actions.
A. Determine how you will index
First, you must decide what your indexing solution will be: whether you will develop a traditional controlled index to your minutes or use full-text searching. This decision will have a great effect on your project. For instance, it determines how you will estimate the time needed for the project. For traditional indexing, you’ll need to estimate how many pages per hour an indexer can complete; for full-text searching, you may not need to estimate at all, because the electronic text is already complete, or you may need to estimate the time to scan the minutes and convert them into electronic text.
If you’re doing a traditional index, you can estimate that you will index about seven pages per hour. That estimate assumes you have a fairly standard set of minutes with only a few actions per page, and it also allows time for the indexer to read through the minutes and evaluate the importance of each recorded event. Some organizations’ minutes, however, will be more complicated, and so will take longer to index. For instance, if your minutes contain dozens of personnel actions each month and you need to index all of them, then you probably won’t be able to index at quite this speed. If you think your minutes will take longer to index, you should index a certain number of pages, keep track of the time it takes, and then extrapolate how long it will take to index all of them.
Many organizations do not perform scanning and conversion in-house. If this is the case, there is no need for you to estimate the time to complete these activities. If you are doing your own scanning and conversion, there are a few estimates you can use. Assuming you are converting 1,000 pages of minutes, you can estimate that it will take you about 1½ hours (or 675 pages per hour, using a scanner with an automatic feeder) to scan them. After scanning, you will have to verify that the pages have scanned correctly and legibly, and occasionally you will need to rescan a page. You can estimate that it will take you about 3.3 hours to verify and correct the 1,000 images you have produced (assuming a speed of five pages per minute). After converting the pages into digital images, you can estimate that it will take about 5½ hours to convert and save 1000 pages (assuming a rate of 20 seconds per page). Keep in mind once again that these are merely estimates, and that you may realize speeds that are much slower or faster than this.
B. Develop a preliminary master list of subject terms
For an index to be reliable, you must use the subject terms within it consistently. You must ensure that a term in your index always stands for only a single concept and that you don’t use two or more terms with the same meaning. The best way to maintain consistency in terminology is to develop a master list of terms. This master list should include all the main subject terms and secondary subject terms in your index. Indexers can refer to this master list to ensure that they are using only approved terms.
However, the master list can also help indexers maintain consistency if it also includes terms that are not approved for the index and thus directs users (via See references) to the approved terms. For instance, an indexer may try to index an action under the subject “Emergency” when the accepted subject term is “Public Safety.” By reviewing the master list of terms, the indexer will find the entry, “Emergencies. See Public Safety,” indicating that Public Safety is the correct subject term. The master list of terms should also include See also references that direct users from one term to a related term that may be more appropriate. For instance, the entry, “Students. See also Health,” in a master list of terms means that “Students” is an approved main subject, but that the related term “Health” may be a more appropriate term for some subjects.
You can begin developing a master list of terms by using one of the master lists produced by the State Archives (see Appendix A, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes,” and Appendix B, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Board of Education Minutes”). Or you can develop one on your own by using your knowledge of the issues discussed in your minutes, or by using subject titles in a related filing system as a guide. Keep in mind that the master list of terms will be a work in progress, especially during the first phase of your indexing project. You should be willing to add needed terms to the index as you proceed. See Appendix D, “Town of Brockway Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual,” section 2, for an additional explanation of the master list of terms. For electronic versions of the master list of terms, visit the State Archives’ website at www.archives.nysed.gov.
Although indexers usually compile master lists only for a traditional index, master lists can also benefit users of full-text searching. For example, a minutes-taker can use a master list of terms in advance, making sure that the preferred subject term is used within the minutes themselves. Thus, you will consistently use the same term for the same subject, which will make it easier to find information in the minutes.
C. Determine what to index
You must determine what actions in your minutes you will and will not index. Not every recorded event is important enough to index. For instance, there’s little reason to index the approval of each set of minutes, but you will certainly want to index any major decision recorded in the minutes. You should decide ahead of time what is important to you, and then instruct any indexer to follow these guidelines. See Appendix D, “Town of Brockway Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual,” section 3, for an example of how you might describe what you will and will not index.
You also must decide the range of years you need to index. Most organizations begin with the idea that they must index the entire series of minutes, but few organizations refer frequently enough to their earliest minutes to justify indexing them. Indexing takes time and money, so you need to make sure that it saves time in the long run. The way to do that is to index only those minutes that users refer to most frequently. As a rough guideline, many organizations find that they don’t need to index beyond their most recent twenty years of minutes. But it is best to specify exactly the minutes you refer to the most.
For instance, if you find you are searching last year’s minutes about twenty times a month, and it takes you an average of fifteen minutes to find what you’re looking for each time, then it is taking you about sixty hours per year to search through one set of minutes. That covers only one year’s worth of minutes, so indexing minutes would certainly save you a great deal of time. On the other hand, you might discover that it takes you thirty minutes (twice as long) to search for information in minutes that are thirty to fifty years old, but you only need to do this three times a year. So even though the time for each search is longer, the need for access is so infrequent that it is impossible to justify indexing those minutes.
The last indexing decision you must make is the level of detail you need for the subject. Some simple indexes use only one level of indexing (the main subject), but many organizations find this too restrictive and add a second level (a related secondary subject). Some organizations occasionally find a need for a third level of subject detail that gives very specific information (such as street names, personnel names, etc.). You should decide ahead of time what level of detail you need for the subject, and design your index to support that level. See Appendix D, “Town of Brockway Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual,” section 4, for an example of a decision on the subject level to include in an index.
D. Determine the order in which you will index
Most people index the most recent minutes first and work backwards. The merit of this approach is that it ensures you will first index the minutes most likely to be used. The problem with this approach is that, by indexing meeting by meeting, your indexer will constantly be moving backwards and forward in time without any context.
It is probably best to choose a point sometime in the past and index forward from that point, then move to a point further in the past and go forward, etc. This solution keeps you moving backward section by section, so that your indexer can follow the progress of discussions as they take place over time. In this way, the indexer will be more likely to understand the context of the issues under discussion and correctly index them. If you store your minutes in minute books, one way to follow this approach might be to index your latest minute book first, then the next-latest minute book, and so on.
[Sidebar]
What Don’t You Need to Index?Indexing minutes is a time-consuming process, so you should be careful to index only those actions you must record. Consider why you might decide not to index the following actions:
Approval of Minutes
Routine Monthly Reports
Adjournments
Although some organizations have indexed this information in the past, it is unlikely that you will have any need to index such routine information. Be sure to review your minutes carefully and identify whatever routine information you will not index.Approval of Payments of Claims
When an executive board approves any payments, the checks that actually make those payments usually follow shortly afterwards, so the date on the check and in your books roughly indexes the action to approve the payments. Even though you’ll discard these records after six years, it’s unlikely you’d need an index to them after this date.Acceptance of Policies
Many school districts develop policy books to codify their policies. Since the policy books include the date the school board adopted each policy, they automatically index that portion of the minutes. So there may be no need to index policies in this case—as long as the people using the index realize this alternate source of information exists.
Step Three: Indexing Minutes
After you have designed a plan for your indexing project, you are ready to begin indexing. Explained below are simple, discrete steps you can use to index your minutes.
A. Identify an important action within the minutes
What you want to index in your minutes are the actions taken by or presented to the board or committee. Your first step in indexing is to read the minutes and identify these formal actions within the minutes. Actions include such events as appointments, disapprovals, discussions, reports, and resolutions. See Appendix A, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes,” and Appendix B, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Board of Education Minutes,” for lists and definitions of sample action terms.
Tracking actions has two interrelated benefits. First, finding actions can help indexers identify what information in the minutes is important enough to index. If there is no action, for instance, there is nothing to index. On the other hand, if an action is a disapproval and you’ve decided not to index those, then the indexer will quickly realize not to index that action. The second benefit to tracking actions is that, if you include actions as a field in your index database, those terms can provide users with another way to search for information. For instance, if users want to find a record of each time the board passed a resolution on “Solid Waste Management,” they can search for this term in the index database by entering “Resolution” in the action field and “Solid Waste Management” in the subject field.
B. Identify the main subject
After identifying the action, determine the subject in reference to the action. For example, if your board has passed a resolution with a large number of paragraphs beginning with “Whereas,” you might lose sight of the main subject of the action. But if you focus on the important point being made at the end of the resolution, it should be easy to determine that the main subject is “Solid Waste Management.”
The main subject should always be a broad or general subject. See Appendix A, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes,” and Appendix B, “Master List of Terms for Indexing Board of Education Minutes,” for more information on subject terms.
C. Identify the secondary subject that is a subset of the main subject
If you believe that two levels of subject access are useful in your situation, you should next determine the more precise secondary subject of the action in question. The secondary subject should be one logical subset of the main subject. Keep in mind that you only need to use secondary subjects when a main subject has more than one secondary subject. For instance, if you use the main subject “Building Codes” but have only one secondary subject (say, “Electrical”), then you have no need for secondary subjects in that particular case. But if you could subdivide “Building Codes” into “Electrical,” “Fire,” “Plumbing,” and “Sanitary,” then it makes sense for you to include secondary subjects.
D. Identify any information for a memo field
Occasionally you might find it necessary to index additional information on a certain action, and you can store this information in a memo field. This field can include any detailed information about the action. The memo field allows you to store important keywords within the index and to provide details, so searchers realize sooner whether an entry is relevant to their search.
You should use memo fields sparingly, but don’t be afraid to use them whenever collecting more information will help users find or identify pertinent information. Examples of information you might put in a memo field include a short description of an action, a resolution number, the name of a person or organization submitting a petition, or the names of people being appointed to new positions. Adding these items of information to your index database provides users with more terms to search, increasing the chances they will find what they’re looking for.
Here’s an example of what a full set of subject fields might look like:
Action: “Approval”
Main subject: “Fiscal”
Secondary subject: “Loans”
Memo: “Construction Fund, Bank of Springfield”
Here the action is an approval, meaning that the board has passed a motion approving an item of business before it. The main subject is “Fiscal,” meaning that the approval was some type of fiscal action, and the related secondary heading is “Loans,” meaning the approval was of a loan. The memo field has two other pieces of information, little sets of keywords from the text of the action. One is “Construction Fund,” which indicates that the loan concerned the construction fund. The other memo item is “Bank of Springfield,” which probably indicates the bank that made the loan.
E. Identify other indexing information
For an index to be useful, you will need to maintain some other easily identified information within it. The date of the meeting is an essential piece of information, since this will lead the user back to the correct part of the minutes; without this information, your index leads you nowhere. Some organizations find it useful to include the volume and page number for each indexed action as a way to increase the speed of retrieval, but this field is not absolutely necessary so long as you know the date of the meeting. Some organizations also include fields for items like the personal name, resolution number, and department or unit affected by the action.
F. Verify the index and make it available
As you develop your index, you should periodically glance through your entries to check for misspellings and other errors. You should also spot check the index to make sure the use of subject terms is consistent and accurate. Once you’ve completed your index, you need to make it available to the public. You can do this by printing it and providing access to it at your offices or in a local library. You can also do this by loading a searchable version of your index on your organization’s website.
[Sidebar]
Developing Your Own Subject TermsIf you are considering the possibility of developing a new master list of terms or adding new subject terms, develop and follow a set of guidelines beforehand, such as the following:
Choosing terms
In general, choose terms commonly used in your organization, especially if they also appear in the minutes. This will ensure that users will be more likely to understand the intended concept behind each term. However, you should avoid any commonly used terms with dual meanings that might cause confusion, such as “senior” (which could mean “senior citizen” or “high school senior”) or “vital records” (which means both “birth, death, and marriage records” and “the most important records in an organization”).Designing terms
When developing terms for the master list of terms, make sure the subject terms are nouns (like “Health”), noun phrases (like “Collective Bargaining”), or compounds made up of nouns (like “Contracts and Agreements”). For abstract concepts, use the singular form of the noun (like “Insurance”), and use the plural form for concrete, countable concepts (like “Injuries” or “Permits”). You should leave off initial articles (“The,” “A,” and “An”), since including them will cause the entries to alphabetize incorrectly.Follow a single capitalization pattern for all new subject terms. The sample master lists of terms in Appendices A and B capitalize all the important words in the indexing term (as in “Parks and Recreation”). However, you might decide to capitalize only words in formal titles (like “Springfield City School District”) or personal names (like “Lanley, Lyle”), and leave all other terms completely in lower case.
Including alternative terms
Be sure to link subject terms in the index to any applicable alternative terms. Alternative terms include related terms that may be more appropriate for the searcher, or synonymous terms that are not accepted terms in your index.Allowing modification
After you finish designing your master list of terms, you may believe you are finished with it forever. However, you must still allow for the inclusion of terms denoting new concepts and for new terminology that appears over time. When you add terms that replace older terms, you can either change all the older terms in your index database to comply with the current terms or you can add See also references from new terms to direct users to the relevant older terms.
Full-Text Searching
Traditional indexing is not the only way to improve access to minutes. Many organizations are now using full-text searching as an alternative or supplement to traditional indexing. Because this solution never shows the user the whole set of information at once, some people call the electronic text that you will search a “non-displayed index.”
Full-text searching, as with any other solution, has benefits and drawbacks. One of the greatest but sometimes unappreciated advantages of full-text searching is that people are used to it. Anyone who uses a computer probably uses full-text searching every day. If you are working on a long electronic document and want to find where you wrote about zebra mussels, you would probably click on “Find,” type in that string of words, and hit “Return.” If you forgot the name of the document that included a discussion of zebra mussels, you could use the Windows search function to identify documents that contained the term “zebra mussel” in the text. And if you wanted to learn more about zebra mussels, you might go to a search engine on the Internet, type in “zebra mussel,” and examine the hits it provided you. All of these are types of full-text searching, and each works in a slightly different way. So full-text searching is nothing more than using an automated tool to search the entire text of whatever you are searching.
Another advantage to full-text searching is that sophisticated software tools of this type actually provide you with the ability to use a wide range of complex search mechanisms to refine your search. Some of these mechanisms are called Boolean operators (using and, or, and not to help narrow a search). But the developers of full-text searching software have provided a wide variety of other mechanisms to help you sift through digital text to find what you’re looking for. A few of these are explained below.
Boolean Operators and Other Ways of Narrowing a Full-Text Search
and
Use and when you want to search for two terms that are both present in the same document. This technique helps to narrow a search (since any two different words are less likely to appear in the same document than any single word alone). For instance, if you searched for “recycling and local law,” you would expect to find instances where the board discussed or passed a local law related to recycling. Searching for just one of the words might return too many hits, most of which would be without value to you.
or
Use or when you are not sure what term might have been used in a document, and you want to improve your chances of finding the subject in question by checking for different yet related terms. For this technique to work, you must choose likely synonymous terms. For instance, if you searched for “recycling or waste management,” you would find any document containing these two terms and be able to choose the correct hits.
not
Use not when you are sure of one term you want to find, but you don’t want to find it in the same document as another term. You should use this technique when you expect a second term to be associated with the major term you are searching for but you are interested only in instances besides this. For instance, you might search for “recycling not corporation” because you are interested in recycling as a subject, but you do not want to pull up hits related to recycling rules for corporations, since you are not interested in that subject.
near
Use near (or a similar search term) when you expect two terms to be used frequently together. Different search engines will use the concept of near in different ways: some will make a distinction between different levels of nearness, such as within ten words, in the same sentence, in the same paragraph, etc. For instance, you might search for “records near management,” with the understanding that you would find all instances of the phrase “records management” as well as instances of “management of records,” “records and information management,” etc.
parentheses
Some search engines allow you to better define a complex search by using parentheses: ( ). When a search engine supports the use of parentheses, you can use them the same way you would use them in mathematics: first, the search engine must address the issue within the parentheses, then the search engine continues to the rest of the “equation.” For instance, if you search for “(forests or woods) not pinewoods,” you are asking the search engine to carry out two separate but related activities:
first, search for all documents that include the terms “forests” or “woods” and develop a set of documents that meets that requirement;
second, eliminate all documents from that set if they contain the word “pinewoods.”
In this case, you are interested in searching for anything dealing with forests, so you search for two synonymous terms (“forests” and “woods”). However, you have no interest in pinewoods, so you narrow your search by eliminating all documents that refer to pinewoods.
character string
Search engines don’t search for exact words; they search for character strings, which are any set of letters, numerals, symbols, and spaces in one piece. You need to keep this idea in mind when you are searching the text of your minutes. If you are, for instance, searching for the term “records management,” you may need to make clear that it is a single character string by surrounding the term with quotation marks (“ ”). Otherwise, the search engine may assume you meant to search for “records or management,” and it will return too many hits for your review.
wildcard
A wildcard is a character (usually an asterisk [*], but sometimes a question mark [?]) that can take the place of any number of letters in a search term. For instance, if you search only for “records,” you would not find instances of “record,” “recorder,” “recorded,” “recording,” etc., all of which might have been reasonable hits for your search. If you search instead for “record*” (assuming * is the wildcard on your system), you will now obtain hits for anything beginning with the character string record. Wildcards usually appear only at the end of a search term, but some search engines allow for the use of wildcards anywhere within a term.
fuzzy searching
Many types of search engines allow for fuzzy searching, which means that the software will search for and return documents with any terms that match the terms you’re searching for—along with any documents with terms that almost match your terms. Fuzzy searching allows you to find a reference in a document even if the search terms are misspelled. For instance, if you did a fuzzy search for “record,” you would find all documents with “record,” but also documents with “racord,” “redord,” and other close misspellings.
These are just a few of the sophisticated searching mechanisms supported by different full-text searching software packages. Be sure to read the instructions for your particular software before attempting a sophisticated search using these techniques. Your software may not support all of these features, or it may have many more, or it may define these functions in slightly different ways. It is important to understand how your particular software works so you can search as accurately as possible.
When to Use Full-Text Searching as an Access Solution
Full-text searching makes the most sense when you already have your minutes in electronic form. In such a case, full-text searching is the easiest and cheapest solution for access. If you can spend a few hundred dollars on the software and a little while learning how its search engine works and how to set up a repository of documents for it to search, you will have a complete access tool. Most text-searching software can search text in dozens of different data formats, even databases, so you may be able to search your electronic index database and the text of minutes through a single interface.
Text searching is a little more expensive if your minutes are not already available as electronic text. If you have clean typewritten text of your minutes, however, you can scan the pages and convert the images of those pages into electronic text. Some organizations do this scanning in-house, but many others hire firms to carry out this conversion. Typically, you would scan pages of the minutes and capture each as a TIFF image file, which is a standard electronic image format for long-term records that uses a lossless compression system. Then you run these image files through an optical character recognition (OCR) engine that identifies the characters in the image and converts them into electronic text. The image files of the minutes and their electronic texts are associated with each other and both are saved. The electronic text then serves as the “index” to the associated images. Although there is no particular need to save the images of the pages, most people continue to save them because this is an easy way of making a copy of the minutes if a user requests it.
Regardless of whether you outsource such a project or keep it in-house, you will need to use a fairly expensive scanner if you want to have an accurate conversion of the images into electronic text. A poor scanner can have a huge error rate (say over 10%), but a high-quality scanner should have an error rate of around 2%. However, you will probably not need to worry about that 2% rate if your searching software supports fuzzy searching. Error rates for OCR conversions are based on the level of the character, so an error rate of 10% means 10 out of every 100 characters are wrong.
Some organizations take optical character recognition one step further, capturing their electronic text as images and converting them back into electronic text. They do this so that all of their minutes are searchable through the same system, and so they can easily make copies of their minutes directly from the computer. However, unless you have a need to make copies of minutes on demand, there is little reason to go to the trouble to convert electronic text back into electronic text since most searching software will be able to read the electronic documents in their native formats. If you are worried about the problems associated with migrating wordprocessing files, you can save your minutes as ASCII text files instead.
One case where full-text searching is not appropriate is when you do not have electronic text and do not have clean typewritten text you can convert. The earliest minutes from many organizations are handwritten, and there is no OCR engine that can convert cursive handwriting into electronic text (although intelligent character recognition can convert some hand-printing). Some typewritten minutes are carbon copies or other low-quality reproductions that you can convert into electronic text only with an unacceptably large number of errors. With minutes in these formats, organizations sometimes rekey them (type them all over again) to convert them into a searchable electronic form. However, this technique is far too labor-intensive and prone to human error to be successful. If you need better access to such minutes, develop a database to serve as an index to those minutes. This will be the fastest, cheapest, and most accurate method of indexing them.
Disadvantages of Full-Text Searching
Despite all its advantages, full-text searching does have disadvantages as an access tool for minutes.
Inaccurate searches
First, all full-text searching is prone to inaccuracies. If the document you are searching for has typographical errors, these errors may prevent you from finding what you seek. Also, staff in your organization who are searching the minutes might not understand the searching rules of the software well enough to design a good search. One study of Internet searching determined that users were less likely to find what they were looking for on a website if they used the site’s search engine than if they browsed the website on their own! Keep in mind, however, that traditional indexing is prone to many inaccuracies as well.
Harder to provide public access
With a traditional index, you can provide the public with both a paper copy of the index and a simple electronic version on a website. However, with full-text searching as the sole access tool, your only option is to load all the electronic text of the minutes on a website (or a kiosk in your building) and provide the users with a search engine to search the minutes themselves. If your website uses a different search engine than is used on office computers, there is a real possibility that the same search might result in a different set of results, which might cause embarrassing situations. (Imagine, for example, citizens relating how easily they found a document online that staff cannot find on their own computers.)
Service bureau costs
If you use a service bureau to scan and convert your minutes to electronic text, you sometimes have committed your organization to paying continuing annual costs for new conversions, updates to software, etc. These costs might be quite reasonable and expected, but you need to be aware of and prepared for them beforehand.
Data migration
Almost all data formats for electronic records become obsolete over time. The most common way to maintain access to electronic records is to move them from an old format to a newer format using a process called migration. The migration of electronic records can be time-consuming and even costly, but it is essential if you want to maintain access to your records. If you have converted your paper minutes into both TIFF images and electronic text, you have now doubled the quantity of electronic documents you will need to migrate. If a service bureau migrates data for you on a regular basis, you will not notice this increased quantity as much, but you will certainly have to pay for the service.
[Sidebar]
Avoiding Errors in an IndexEvery index is prone to error, so your goal should be to reduce errors as much as possible without unreasonably increasing cost. A few simple guidelines should improve the quality of your index.
Set up data entry rules from the start
If you want data to be consistent, make sure indexers know exactly what your rules are from the start. Data entry rules cover such areas as capitalization, use of abbreviations, formatting of dates, punctuation, formatting of personal names, and required level of detail.Verify data entry as you enter data
Make sure that indexers or those scanning your minutes check the quality and accuracy of their work before they move to the next step. A quick check at this point might save you hours of work later.Query data to check for inconsistencies
After completing a traditional index in a database, you can arrange similar data together in the index and scan the list for inconsistencies. Often this simple step will point out areas where the indexer has added unnecessary punctuation or misspelled a word. You can certainly also spell-check your index, but this will not necessarily uncover any misspellings in names within the index.Use pre-programmed data correction
In databases, you can set up fields so that they only accept certain data or so that they format data in the way you require. For instance, you could set up a field to force the capitalization of each initial word within it, to standardize the format of dates, or to require alphabetical or numeric data. If well designed, these features will save your indexer time and ensure consistency.Ensure good quality character recognition
To get the best conversion of hard copy text to electronic text, you need to start with good quality characters. If you have two copies of the same text you want to scan, choose the cleanest copy with the best contrast between the color of the paper and the color of the text. Do not skimp on the cost of a scanner. Higher quality scanners that do a good job imaging text for OCR are often more expensive than run-of-the-mill scanners, but the extra cost is worth it. Also, look for higher quality character conversion. Some character recognition software (sometimes called intelligent character recognition, or ICR) actually interprets characters based on their context within a word, allowing the software to determine characters more accurately.
Step Four: Developing a Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual
Your last step is to produce a minutes indexing procedures manual, but you should not wait until you finish indexing to begin it. An indexing manual is nothing more than the rules you follow to make, use, and distribute the index. The reason to write these down is to ensure consistency by making sure people continue to use the same rules for indexing and searching your index.
There are many reasons to compile an indexing manual. If an indexer at one point in time uses “elderly” as an index term, but later on another indexer uses the term “seniors” instead, users may fail to find the important pieces of information they need in your minutes. Also, if future users don’t know how your index or your full-text searching process works, they may also fail to find the information they need.
An indexing procedures manual should be brief and to the point. Few organizations will require a manual that is more than a few pages long. For ideas on what issues to address in such a manual, see Appendix C, “Indexing Procedures Manual Checklist.” For a sample manual, see Appendix D, “Town of Brockway Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual,” but keep in mind that this is a manual designed for traditional indexing using a database. It will not be adequate for all situations, and you should modify it to meet your needs.
Indexing Tips
Here are a few final tips to help you produce and maintain the best index possible.
Maintain consistency
Indexing is both simple and complex. The steps to follow are easy enough, but there’s always a subjective element to indexing that might make you stumble. Indexers are likely to use subject terms inconsistently at times, or to add subject terms to the master list when an appropriate term is already available. Also, searchers using full-text searching might occasionally fail to recall the particular subject term actually used in the minutes. For these reasons, it’s always important to train indexers well and to check the accuracy of your index. Similarly, it’s also important to train searchers how to search your minutes accurately.
Monitor your progress
As you are indexing your minutes, make sure to monitor the progress of the indexing. Keep track of the number of entries produced or the number of pages scanned and converted, so you can make sure you’re making satisfactory progress. Otherwise, you might fall behind and fail to complete your project on time.
Back up conscientiously
Whether you conduct a traditional index or a scanning and conversion project, you need to back up your electronic data conscientiously as you progress. Otherwise, you could lose days or weeks of work in an instant. Store any backups offsite so that you will have a copy of your data in case a disaster in your building destroys the copy stored there.
Migrate data
Changes in technology are constantly making electronic data formats unreadable. Electronic data is also susceptible to destruction in all sorts of ways. To make sure you don’t end up with data you cannot read, you must plan a thorough strategy to protect your data. This plan should include a schedule for backing up all electronic text and image files, migrating files as you update software and hardware, and establishing procedures to ensure that staff follow these safeguards.
Maintaining the Index
After you complete the index, all you have really done is begun a process. Now, indexing has to become part of your regular work. From now on, after writing each set of minutes, you will need to remember to index them or to store an electronic copy of the minutes in the repository for your full-text searching software. You will need to back up all this data (the index itself or the minutes) periodically so you don’t lose all your work. You will also need to update the master list of terms as new subjects enter the discussion recorded in your minutes. You will have to make indexing a routine.
For More Information and Assistance
The State Archives provides direct advice to state agencies and local governments on indexing and improving access to records. The Archives has regional offices throughout the state, and each office has an expert records specialist who can visit you and provide technical advice and assistance. The Archives’ website contains an indexing service that includes a sample indexing database, electronic versions of the master lists of terms, and instructions on how to use both. The Archives’ services also include publications and workshops on a wide variety of records management topics. For further information, contact your regional office or the following:
Government Records Services
New York State Archives
State Education Department
9A47 Cultural Education Center
Albany, New York 12230
www.archives.nysed.gov
(518) 474-6926
Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes
Anyone considering indexing minutes should develop a master list of terms before beginning to index. This master list contains the standard vocabulary that you will use in the index. It is important to have a standardized vocabulary so that you always index the same subject using the same term. Using standardized terms will also improve searches by directing users to a single term instead of many terms. A master list of terms includes cross-references that direct users from non-standard terms to standard terms. This feature minimizes useless searches by directing users to the right term each time.
No matter what indexing approach you take, maintaining and using standardized terms will be useful to both the indexer and the users of the minutes. If you develop an index in database form, you will use standardized terms when you enter data into this system. If you decide to use free-text searching software (which searches for character strings in electronic versions of your minutes), you will use the standardized terms while writing the minutes. By conscientiously using your standard set of terms as you write, you can be sure you will be searching for the right word when you use free-text searching to find information in your minutes.
A master list of terms for an index consists of a few separate lists:
1. Subject heading list
The subject heading list should include main and secondary subject terms that reflect the activities of your organization and the topics before it. Within this list, you should include formal names for any personnel positions, committees and boards, government properties, geographical features in the region (such as names of bridges, highways, and roads), businesses, organizations, and government agencies.
The subject list should also include See and See also references, which ensure that the index remains consistent and that users can always find the information they need. These references work in two different ways.
See references: A user might want to look up information related to finance by searching for the word “Finance.” But since “Finance” is not a standard term in this master list, the word is followed by the note “See Fiscal,” which indicates that “Fiscal” is the official term that the searcher or indexer must use.
See also references: A user might look up “Planning and Zoning” and discover a note to “See also Urban Renewal.” This means that “Planning and Zoning” is still a standard indexing term, but that the user might also find useful information under the related term “Urban Renewal.”
2. List of actions
The master list should include a list of actions before the board. Actions, which are explained below, are useful for two reasons. First, they help to isolate important discussions within the minutes. For example, an indexer will know that an appointment by the board is an action important enough to index. Second, actions are another useful way for users to search for information. In an index kept in a database, a user can easily produce a list of all resolutions. If using a text-searching tool, a user can achieve the same result by consistently identifying resolutions in the text of the minutes with the word “Resolution.”
3. List of departments
The master list should also include a list of departments or units within the organization, noting the authorized name and any standard abbreviation used in the index or minutes. Many organizations find it useful to identify the department or unit that is most closely related to any action. In this way, any department can retrieve a list of board actions related to its own work. There is no list of departments or units included in this master list of terms, since this is an objective list that varies from organization to organization.
To help organizations develop their individual master list of terms, the State Archives has compiled a template master list of terms for use by cities, towns, and villages. This template represents those subjects that are frequent concerns of municipalities, but it also may prove useful to other government entities. You should use this template as a starting place, adding subject terms that you decide you need and eliminating those that are of no use to you. Occasionally, you may decide to use a different official term that will be more familiar to the users of your minutes. You will need to add the names of committees, boards, local businesses, organizations, and properties as well. Nevertheless, the template can be of great value to you—not only for the headings included, but also because it shows you how to incorporate additional subjects, secondary subjects, and cross-references into your own master list.
This template list of master of terms consists of two sections:
1. Standardized terms for actions before a local government’s board.
2. Main and secondary subject headings.
1) Actions
You can make your index more useful by maintaining information on the type of actions that take place during the course of meetings. Tracking actions can provide users with another way to search for information, and can be helpful to indexers seeking to identify what information in the minutes is important enough to index.
Below are some suggested action terms, along with descriptions of when to use each. Use “Disapproval” for any motion that is not approved by the board. For all other actions, assume that the board has approved or received the action. To make the index as useful as possible, be sure to use the most specific terms possible whenever you have a choice between two actions. As with any part of this master list of terms, you should modify it to suit your own needs.
Appointment. Use for official appointments of individuals to government positions.
Bond resolution. Use for any approved bond resolution, if you decide you need to track these separately.
Complaint. Use for any complaints received, whether via discussion or correspondence.
Correspondence. Use for any cases where the board receives or sends a letter, including petitions from the public but not including complaints.
Disapproval. Use for any motion that is declined, rescinded, or not approved, if you decide to index such actions.
Discussion. Use for any cases that are merely discussions of a topic and which end in no formal decision, if you decide to index such actions.
Executive session. Use for cases where the board goes into executive session. (In such cases, you can provide only minimal information on the subject related to the action.)
Local law. Use for a local law, the highest form of local government legislation.
Order. Use for motions where the board is directing departments or officials of the local government to carry out a certain activity.
Ordinance. Use for any ordinance, which is special local legislation on a subject specifically delegated to local governments by the State Legislature.
Other action. Use for any actions that do not fit any of the descriptions of the other actions on this list; this is the “miscellaneous” category for actions.
Public hearing. Use for any formal public hearing.
Report. Use for any reports presented to the board by departments or committees.
Resolution. Use for those cases where the board formally expresses a particular opinion or takes a specific action.
Tabled. Use for situations where the board postponed
making a decision on an issue.
2) Main and Secondary Subjects
The following is a suggested list of main and secondary subject headings. Note that many but not all possible positions in municipal government are included in this list, always followed by “(Position)” after the title. You will need to add any other positions to this list, as well as other necessary subject terms.
911. See also E-911
Accidents
ADA. See Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Adult Homes. See Housing
Affirmative Action
Agreements. See Labor Relations or specific subject of agreement
Agriculture
AIDS. See Diseases
Airports. See also Public Transportation
Ambulance Service. See Public Safety
American with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Animal Control
Licenses
Nuisances
Rabies Outbreaks
Shelters
Vaccinations
Animal Control Officer (Position)
Annual Reports. See specific subject of report
Anticipation Notes. See Fiscal
Aquifers. See Water Supply
Architectural Plans. See Facilities Planning
Architectural Review. See Planning and Zoning
Assembly. See Public Assembly
Assessment. See Taxes, Real Property
Assessor (Position)
Assisted Living. See Housing
Associations. See Conferences or specific topic
Attorney (Position)
Auctions. See Sale, Surplus Property
Audits. See Fiscal
Audits, Performance. See specific subject of audit
Authorities. See name of specific authority
Awards
Background Checks. See Personnel
BANs (Bond Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Banking. See Fiscal
Beaches. See Parks and Recreation
Benefits. See Personnel
Bequests. See Commemorations
Bicentennial. See Celebrations
Bids. See subject of bid
Bike Trails. See Parks and Recreation
Billboards
Bills. See Fiscal
Bingo. See Games of Chance
Blasting Permits. See Permits
Boards. See specific function or name of board
Boats
Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs). See Fiscal
Bonds and Notes. See Fiscal
Bonds, Performance
Bonds, Surety
Bookkeeper (Position)
Bridges. See also Highways
Budgets. See Fiscal
Building Codes
Electrical
Fire
Plumbing
Sanitary
Building Inspection
Building Permits. See Permits
Buildings. See Public Property
Burial Permits. See Permits
Bus Service. See also Public Transportation
Cable Television
Capital Construction. See specific project or function
Carnivals. See also Celebrations or Permits
Cats. See Animal Control
Celebrations
Bicentennial
Parades
Cemeteries
Census
CETA. See Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (U.S.)
Chamber of Commerce
Charter
Churches. See Houses of Worship
Circuses. See Permits
City Hall. See Public Property
City Manager (Position)
Civil Defense. See Public Safety
Civil Service. See Personnel
Civil Service Employees Association. See Labor Relations
Claims (Bills). See Fiscal
Clerk (Position)
Clubs. See specific name of club
Code Enforcement Officer (Position)
Codes. See Building Codes or specific topic
Collective Bargaining. See Labor Relations
Commemorations
Bequests
Condolences
Dedications
Memorials
Proclamations
Tributes
Commissioner of Public Works (Position)
Commissions. See specific topic or name of commission
Committees. See specific topic or name of committee
Communications Towers
Community Center. See Public Property or Parks and Recreation
Community Development. See also Urban Renewal
Compensation. See Personnel
Complaints. See subject of complaint
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA)
Comptroller (Position)
Computers
Automation
Hardware
Internet Services
Training
Services
Software
Condolences. See Commemorations
Conference of Mayors. See Conferences
Conferences
Association of Towns of the State of New York
Conference of Mayors
Training (Use for non-annual training events)
Conservation
Drainage
Environment
Environmental Impact Statement
Flood Plain
Pollution Control
Soil and Water Conservation
Wetlands
Constable (Position)
Construction. See Public Property, Highways, or Subdivisions
Consultants. See specific function
Consumer Affairs
Contracts and Agreements. See Labor Relations or subject of contract
Copiers. See Office Operations
Corporation Counsel (Position)
County Sales Tax. See Taxes, Sales
Courts
Crime. See Public Safety
Culverts. See Highways
Curbs and Gutters. See Highways
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). See Drug Abuse Programs
Dedications. See Commemorations
Deeds. See Public Property
Delinquent Charges. See Fiscal
Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS (DEC). See also Conservation
Department of Transportation, NYS (DOT)
Departments. See specific name of department
Developments. See Subdivision or Urban Renewal
Disabilities. See Permits and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Disaster Preparedness and Response. See also Public Safety
Diseases
AIDS
Lyme Disease
Tuberculosis
West Nile Virus
Dismissals. See Personnel
Disposal Plants. See Solid Waste Management
Districts. See specific name or function of district
Docks. See Marinas
Dog Control Officer (Position). See Animal Control Officer (Position)
Dogs. See Animal Control
Donations. See subject of donation
Drainage. See Highways or Conservation
Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)
Drug Abuse Programs
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). See Drug Abuse Programs
Dump. See Solid Waste Management
DWI. See Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)
E-911. See Public Safety
Easement. See specific name of property
Economic Development
Elderly. See Senior Citizens
Elderly Housing. See Housing
Election Inspector (Position)
Elections
Polling Places
Voting
Electrical Codes. See Building Codes
Emergencies. See Public Safety
Emergency Services. See also Public Safety
Employee Agreements. See Labor Relations
Employee Handbook. See Personnel
Engineer (Position)
Entertainment
Environment. See Conservation
Equalization Rates. See Taxes, Real Property
Equipment. See Office Operations
Ethics
Excavations. See Public Property or Urban Renewal
Exemptions. See Taxes, Real Property
Expenditures. See Fiscal
Facilities Planning
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). See also Disaster Preparedness and Response
Fees. See Fiscal
Finance. See Fiscal
Fines
Fire Codes. See Building Codes
Fire District. See Public Safety
Fire Insurance. See Insurance
Firearms
Fireworks. See Permits
Fiscal
Appropriations
Audits
Banking
Bills
Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs)
Bonds and Notes
Budgets
Consulting Services
Delinquent Charges
Donations
Fees
General Fund
Investments
Loans
Payroll. See also Personnel
Petty Cash
Revenue Anticipation Notes (RANs)
Revenue Sharing
Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs)
Transfer of Funds
Fixed Assets. See Public Property
Floodplains. See Conservation
Fluoridation. See Water Supply
FOIL. See Freedom of Information Law, NYS (FOIL)
Forests. See Conservation or Permits
Freedom of Information Law, NYS (FOIL). See also Open Meetings Law
Funds. See Fiscal
Games of Chance
Bingo
Off-Track Betting (OTB)
Garbage. See Solid Waste Management
General Fund. See Fiscal
Geographic Information Systems (GIS). See also Records Management
Gifts and Memorials. See Fiscal or Commemorations
Golf Courses. See Parks and Recreation
Grants. See also specific subject topic or program
Grievance. See Labor Relations and Taxes, Real Property
Group Homes. See Assisted Living
Halfway Homes. See Assisted Living
Handicapped Accessibility. See Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Hazardous Waste. See Solid Waste Management
Health. See Public Health
Health Insurance. See Insurance
Health Officer (Position)
Highway Superintendent (Position)
Highways. See also Bridges and Traffic Control
Brush and Loose Leaves
Construction
Culverts
Curbs and Gutters
Damage Reports and Claims
Designation as Municipal Road
Hydrants
Lighting
Numbering
Parking Regulations
Repairs
Sidewalks
Snow Removal
Street Surfacing (Use for grading, resurfacing, potholes)
Utility Poles
Historian (Position)
Historic Preservation
Holidays. See Personnel
Hospitals. See also specific name of hospital
Houses of Worship
Housing. See also Urban Renewal
Elderly Housing
Group Homes
Halfway Homes
Nursing Homes
Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Hydrants. See Highways
Incineration. See Solid Waste Management
Injuries. See Accidents
Inspections
Inspector, Election (Position)
Insurance. See also Personnel
Disability
Fire
Health
Liability
Unemployment
Workers Compensation
Interns. See Personnel
Investments. See Fiscal
Jails
Junkyards. See Permits
Jurors
Justice (Position)
Justice Court
Kennels. See Animal Control
Labor Department, NYS
Labor Relations
Collective Bargaining
Employee Agreements
Grievance
Negotiations
Specific name of union
Land Conservancies. See Conservation
Landmarks. See also Commemorations
Landfill. See Solid Waste Management
Leases. See specific subject of lease
Legal. See specific topic
Legislation. See specific subject of legislation
Libraries. See also specific name of library
Licenses. See Permits, Animal Control, or Marriage Licenses
Lighting. See Highway
Lighting Districts
Litigation. See specific topic or litigant
Littering
Loans. See Fiscal
Loitering
Lyme Disease. See Diseases
Maintenance and Improvements. See Public Property
Marinas
Marriage Licenses
Mass Gatherings. See Public Assembly
Mass Transportation. See Public Transportation
Master Plan. See Planning and Zoning
Mayor (Position)
Medical Insurance. See Insurance
Memorials. See Commemorations
Microfilm. See Records Management
Mileage. See Personnel
Mobile Homes
Moratoria. See also Codes
Mosques. See Houses of Worship
Negotiations. See Labor Relations
Newspaper
911. See Public Safety
Noise. See Nuisance
Nuisance
Nurse (Position)
Nursing Homes. See Assisted Living
NYS Conference of Mayors. See Conferences
NYS Environmental Quality Review (SEQR). See Planning and Zoning
Office Operations. See also Computers
Copiers
Equipment
Furniture
Storage Equipment
Surplus
Officer. See specific position
Open Meetings Law. See also Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
Organizations. See specific name of organization
Parades. See Celebrations
Parking Permits. See Permits
Parking Regulations. See Highways
Parks and Recreation. See also Public Property
Athletic Fields
Beaches
Bike Trails
Community Centers
Golf Courses
Park Districts
Playgrounds
Pools
Programs
Senior Citizens
Tennis Courts
Youth Services
Payroll. See Fiscal
Peddlers
Pedestrians. See Traffic Control
Penalties. See Fines
Performance Bonds. See Bonds, Performance
Permits. See also Building Codes
Blasting
Block Party
Burial
Carnival
Circus
Commercial Hauler
Fireworks
Handicapped Parking
Junkyard
Parking
Special Use. See Planning and Zoning
Vending
Personnel
Background Checks
Bonding
Changes in Title
Civil Service
Deferred Compensation
Discipline
Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs
Employee Benefits
Employee Handbook
Insurance. See Insurance
Interns and Volunteers
Leaves of Absence
Meal Allowance
Mileage Allowance
Performance Appraisal
Reimbursement of Expenses
Reinstatement
Retirement
Sabbatical
Salary and Wages
Separations
Training
Vacation
Workers’ Compensation
Petitions. See subject of petition
Petty Cash. See Fiscal
Planning and Zoning. See also Urban Renewal
Architectural Review
Commercial Development
Master Plan
Residential Development
Special Use
State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR)
Variances
Wetlands
Playgrounds. See Parks and Recreation
Plumbing Codes. See Building Codes
Plumbing Permits. See Permits
Poles (Utility). See Highways
Police. See Public Safety
Policies and Procedures. See also specific topic
Polling Place. See Elections
Pollution Control. See Conservation
Pools. See Parks and Recreation
Postal Service
Proclamations. See Commemorations
Professional Services. See specific subject of services
Property. See Public Property
Property Taxes. See Taxes, Real Property
Public Assembly
Public Disclosure. See Freedom of Information Law
Public Health. See also Diseases
Public Housing. See also Assisted Living
Public Property
Building and Construction
Building Sites
Community Centers
Deeds
Equipment and Furnishings
Excavations
Facilities Planning
Fixed Asset Management
Grounds
Janitorial and Maintenance
Services
Remodeling
Rental of Property
Repairs
Specific name of property
Vehicles
Public Relations
Public Safety
911
Ambulance Service
Civil Defense
Crime
Disaster Preparedness
E-911
Emergencies
Fire District
Noise Control
Police
Rescue Squad
Public Transportation. See also Airports, Bus Service, or Railroads
Public Works. See specific function
Publications
Pump Stations. See Water Supply
Purchases. See Fiscal or specific subject of purchase
Rabies. See Animal Control or Diseases
Railroads. See also Public Transportation
RANs (Revenue Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Real Property. See Taxes, Real Property
Receiver of Taxes (Position). See Tax Collector (Position)
Records Access. See Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
Records Access Officer (Position)
Records Management
Electronic Records
Historical Records
Imaging
Microfilm
Records Disposition
Records Storage
Records Management Officer (Position)
Recreation. See Parks and Recreation
Recycling. See Solid Waste Management
Referenda. See specific topic of referendum
Refuse. See Solid Waste Management
Registrar of Vital Statistics (Position)
Rental. See specific subject of rental
Repairs. See Public Property or name of specific property
Reports. See specific subject of report
Rescue Squad. See Public Safety
Reservoir. See Water Supply
Resignations. See Personnel
Retirement. See Personnel
Revaluation. See Taxes, Real Property
Revenue Anticipation Notes (RANs). See Fiscal
Revenue Sharing. See Fiscal
Rights of Way. See specific name of property
Roads. See Highways
Rules and Regulations. See Policies and Procedures
Salary and Wages. See Personnel
Sale, Surplus Property
Sales Tax. See Taxes, Sales
Sanitary Codes. See Building Codes
Sanitary Landfill. See Solid Waste Management
School District. See specific name of district
Senior Citizens. See also Assisted Living or Parks and Recreation
Meals on Wheels
Medicare
Separations. See Personnel
SEQR. See Planning and Zoning
Sewage
Improvements and Repairs
Outside Sewer User Agreements
Professional Services
Sewage Treatment
Sewer Districts
Sewer Lines
Sewers
Wastewater
Sick Leave. See Personnel
Sidewalks. See Highways
Signs and Billboards. See Billboards or Traffic Control
Snow and Ice Removal. See Highways
Snowmobiles
Social Services
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (SPCA). See Animal Control
Soil and Water Conservation District. See also Conservation
Solid Waste Management
Collection
Garbage
Hazardous Waste
Incineration
Landfill
Monitoring
Recycling
Solid Waste Management Plan
Toxic Waste
Transfer Station
Special Use Permits. See Planning and Zoning
Speed Limits. See Traffic Control
State Agency, Law, or Program. See specific name
State Comptroller
Street Lighting. See Highways
Street Surfacing. See Highways
Streets. See Highways
Subcontracting. See also Policies and Procedures
Subdivisions. See also Planning and Zoning
Construction
Excavations
Planning
Special Use Permits. See Planning and Zoning
Specific name of subdivision
Summer Recreation Program. See Parks and Recreation
Supervisor (Position)
Surety Bonds. See Bonds, Surety
Surplus Equipment. See Office Operations
Surplus Property. See Sale, Surplus Property
Swimming Pools. See Parks and Recreation
Synagogues. See Houses of Worship
TANs (Tax Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs). See Fiscal
Tax Certiorari. See Taxes, Real Property
Tax Collector (Position)
Tax Receiver (Position). See Tax Collector
Taxes, Real Property
Assessment
Equalization Rates
Exemptions
Grievances
Revaluation
Taxes, Sales
Taxi Cabs
Terminations. See Personnel
Towers. See Communications Towers
Toxic Waste. See Solid Waste Management
Traffic. See Traffic Control or Highways
Traffic Control. See also Highways
Lights
Pedestrians
Signs
Speed Limits
Vehicles
Trailer Park. See Mobile Homes
Transfer of Funds. See Fiscal
Transportation. See Highways or Traffic Control
Trash. See Solid Waste Management
Travel
Treasurer (Position)
Trees. See also Public Property
Tributes. See Commemorations
Tuberculosis. See Diseases
Unemployment Insurance. See Insurance
Uniforms. See specific department
Union or Employee Association. See specific name of association
Unions. See Labor Relations
Urban Renewal. See also Community Development. See specific name of development or project
Utilities. See specific name or function
Vacancies
Vacation Leave. See Personnel
Vaccinations. See Animal Control
Vandalism. See Public Safety
Variances. See Planning and Zoning
Vehicle and Traffic Code. See also Traffic Control
Vehicles. See Traffic Control and Public Property
Vending. See Permits
Veterans. See also Commendations, Personnel, or Taxes, Real Property
Vital Statistics
Volunteer Programs
Voting. See Elections
Wages. See Personnel
Waste Management. See Solid Waste Management
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Water Supply
Aquifers
Fluoridation
Maintenance and Improvements
Master Water Plan
Monitoring
Professional Services
Pump Stations
Reservoir
Water Billings
Water Districts
Water Filtration Plant
Water Mains
Water Treatment
Waterline Repairs
Watershed
Wells
Watersheds. See Water Supply or Conservation
Waterways
Welfare. See Social Services
Wells. See Water Supply
West Nile Virus. See Diseases
Wetlands. See Conservation or Planning and Zoning
Workers Compensation. See Personnel or Insurance
Youth Services. See Parks and Recreation
Zoning. See Planning and Zoning
Master List of Terms for Indexing Board of Education Minutes
Anyone considering indexing minutes should develop a master list of terms before beginning to index. This master list contains the standard vocabulary that you will use in the index. It is important to have a standardized vocabulary so that you always index the same subject using the same term. Using standardized terms will also improve searches by directing users to a single term instead of many terms. A master list of terms also includes cross-references that direct users from non-standard terms to standard terms. This feature minimizes useless searches by directing users to the right term each time.
No matter what indexing approach you take, maintaining and using standardized terms will be useful to both the indexer and the users of the minutes. If you develop an index in database form, you will use the standardized terms when you enter data into this system. If you decide to use free-text searching software (which searches for character strings in electronic versions of your minutes), you will use the standardized terms while writing the minutes. By conscientiously using your standard set of terms as you write, you can be sure you will be searching for the right word when you use free-text searching to find information in your minutes.
A master list of terms for an index consists of a few separate lists:
1. Subject heading list
The subject heading list should include main and secondary subject terms that reflect the activities of your organization and the topics before it. Within this list, you should include formal names for any personnel positions, committees and boards, government properties, geographical features in the region (such as names of bridges, highways, and roads), businesses, organizations, and government agencies.
The subject list should also include See and See also references, which ensure that the index remains consistent and that users can always find the information they need. These references work in two different ways.
See references: A user might want to look up information related to finance by searching for the word “Finance.” But since “Finance” is not a standard term in this master list, the word is followed by the note “See Fiscal,” which indicates that “Fiscal” is the official term that the searcher or indexer must use.
See also references: A user might look up “Students” and discover a note to “See also Health Services.” This means that “Students” is still a standard indexing term, but that the user might also find useful information under the related term “Health Services.”
2. List of actions
The master list should include a list of actions before the board. Actions, which are explained below, are useful for two reasons. First, they help to isolate important discussions within the minutes. For example, an indexer will know that an appointment by the board is an action important enough to index. Second, actions are another useful way for users to search for information. In an index kept in a database, a user can easily produce a list of all resolutions. If using a text-searching tool, a user can achieve the same result by consistently identifying resolutions in the text of the minutes with the word “Resolution.”
3. List of departments
The master list should also include a list of departments or units within the organization, noting the authorized name and any standard abbreviation used in the index or minutes. Many organizations find it useful to identify the department or unit that is most closely related to any action. In this way, any department can retrieve a list of board actions related to its own work. There is no list of departments or units included in this master list of terms, since this is an objective list that varies from organization to organization.
To help organizations develop their individual master list of terms, the State Archives has compiled a template master list of terms for use by school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). This template represents those subjects that are frequent concerns of school districts, but it also may prove useful to other government entities. You should use this template as a starting place, adding subject terms that you decide you need and eliminating those that are of no use to you. Occasionally, you may decide to use a different official term that will be more familiar to the users of your minutes. You will need to add the names of committees, boards, local businesses, organizations, and properties as well. Nevertheless, the template can be of great value to you—not only for the headings included, but also because it shows you how to incorporate additional subjects, secondary subjects, and cross-references into your own master list.
This template of master terms consists of two sections:
1. Standardized terms for actions before a local government’s board.
2. Main and secondary subject headings.
1) Actions
You can make your index more useful by maintaining information on the type of actions that take place during the course of meetings. Tracking actions can provide users with another way to search for information, and can be helpful to indexers seeking to identify what information in the minutes is important enough to index.
Below are some suggested action terms, along with descriptions of when to use each. Use “Disapproval” for any motion that is not approved by the board. For all other actions, assume that the board has approved or received the action. To make the index as useful as possible, be sure to use the most specific terms possible whenever you have a choice between two actions. As with any part of this master list of terms, you should modify it to suit your own needs.
Appointment. Use for official appointments of individuals to government positions.
Bond resolution. Use for any approved bond resolution, if you decide you need to track these separately.
Complaint. Use for any complaints received, whether via discussion or correspondence.
Correspondence. Use for any cases where the board receives or sends a letter, including petitions from the public but not including complaints.
Disapproval. Use for any motion that is declined, rescinded, or not approved, if you decide to index such actions.
Discussion. Use for any cases that are merely discussions of a topic, and which end in no formal decision, if you decide to index such actions.
Executive session. Use for cases where the board goes into executive session. (In such cases, you can provide only minimal information on the subject related to the action.)
Other action. Use for any actions that do not fit any of the descriptions of the other actions on this list; this is the “miscellaneous” category for actions.
Public hearing. Use for any formal public hearing.
Report. Use for any reports presented to the board by departments or committees.
Resolution. Use for those cases where the board formally expresses a particular opinion or takes a specific action.
Tabled. Use for situations where the board postponed
making a decision on an issue.
2) Main and Secondary Subjects
The following is a suggested list of main secondary subject headings. Note that many but not all possible positions in a school district or BOCES are included in this list, always followed by “(Position)” after the title. You will need to add any other positions to this list, as well as other necessary subject terms.
Accidents and Injuries
Accounting
ADA. See Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Adult Education. See Curricula
Affirmative Action
Agreements. See Labor Relations or specific subject of agreement
Aide, Teacher’s (Position)
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Annual Report. See specific subject of report
Anticipation Notes. See Fiscal
Assembly. See Public Assembly
Assistant Superintendent (Position)
Associations. See Conferences or specific topic
Athletics
At-Risk Students. See Students
Attendance
Attendance Officer (Position)
Attorney, School District (Position)
Audits, Performance. See specific subject of audit
Auto Mechanic (Position)
Background Checks. See Personnel
Banking. See Fiscal
BANs (Bond Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Benefits. See Personnel
Bills. See Fiscal
Bids. See subject of bid
Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)
Board of Education
Boards. See specific function or name of board
Board Member (Position)
Bomb Scares. See Weapons
Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs). See Fiscal
Bonding. See Personnel
Bonds and Notes. See Fiscal
Bonds, Performance
Bonds, Surety
Bookkeeper (Position)
Boundaries, School District
Budgets. See Fiscal
Building Reconstruction. See Public Property
Building Safety. See Safety
Buildings. See Public Property
Bus Driver (Position)
Bus Leases. See Transportation
Bus Purchase Options. See Transportation
Buses. See Transportation
Business Manager (Position)
Cafeteria. See Food Services
Cafeteria Manager (Position)
Calendar
Cancellation, School. See Policies and Procedures
Census
Certification, Teacher. See Personnel
Chairperson, Department (Position)
Change in Title. See Personnel
Civil Defense
Civil Service. See Personnel
Civil Service Employees Association. See Labor Relations
Class Trips. See also Field Trips
Clerk (Position)
Clerk, District (Position)
Closing of Roadways. See Transportation
Clubs. See Extracurricular Activities
Coach (Position)
Cocurricular Activities. See Extracurricular Activities
Code of Conduct. See Policies and Procedures
Collective Bargaining. See Labor Relations
Colleges and Universities
Commemorations
Bequests
Condolences
Dedications
Memorials
Proclamations
Tributes
Commencement. See Graduation
Commissions. See specific topic or name of commission
Committees. See specific topic or name of committee
Community Activities
Compensation. See Personnel
Complaints. See subject of complaint
Computers
Automation
Hardware
Internet Services
Training
Services
Software
Conferences
Association of School Business Officials
School Boards Association
Training (Use for non-annual training events)
Consultants. See specific function
Construction. See Public Property
Contingency Fund. See Fiscal
Contingent Budget. See Fiscal
Continuing Education. See specific department or course of study
Contracts and Agreements. See Labor Relations or specific subject of contract
Cook (Position)
Copiers. See Office Operations
Curricula
Adult Education
Course Approval
Distance Learning
Driver Education
Evening Programs
Remedial Education
Specific name of course
Vocational Education
Custodial Service. See Public Property
Custodian (Position)
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). See Drug Abuse Programs
Deeds. See Public Property
Delay, School. See Policies and Procedures
Delinquent Charges. See Fiscal
Departments. See specific name of department
Disabilities. See Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Disadvantaged Pupils. See Students
Disaster Preparedness and Response
Diseases
AIDS
Lyme Disease
Tuberculosis
West Nile Virus
Discipline, Staff. See Personnel
Discipline, Student. See Students
Dismissals. See Personnel
District Clerk (Position)
Doctor, District (Position)
Donations. See subject of donation
Drug Abuse Programs
Drug Free Schools
Drug Policy
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). See Drug Abuse Programs
Elections
Elementary Schools
Emergency Procedures. See Disaster Preparedness and Response
Employee Agreements. See Labor Relations
Employee Handbook. See Personnel
Employment Certificates. See Personnel or Students
Equipment. See Office Operations
Evacuation. See Disaster Preparedness
Evening Programs. See Curricula
Examinations
Expenditures. See Fiscal
Extracurricular Activities
Facilities Planning
Federal Aid. See Income
Federal Programs. See Income or specific program or function
Fees. See Fiscal
Field Trips. See also Class Trips
Finance. See Fiscal
Fire Safety
Drills
Inspections
Protection
Firearms. See Weapons
Fiscal. See also Income
Appropriations
Audits
Banking
Bills
Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs)
Bonds and Notes
Budget, Contingent
Budgets
Consulting Services
Contingency Fund
Delinquent Charges
Donations
Fees
General Fund
Investments
Loans
Payroll. See also Personnel
Petty Cash
Revenue Anticipation Notes (RANs)
Revenue Sharing
Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs)
Transfer of Funds
FOIL. See Freedom of Information Law, NYS (FOIL)
Food Service Worker (Position)
Food Services
Cafeteria
School Lunch Program
Free and Reduced Meals
Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). See also Open Meetings Law
General Fund. See Fiscal
Gifts and Memorials. See Fiscal or Commemorations
Graduation
Grants. See also specific topic or program
Grievance. See Labor Relations
Grounds. See Public Property
Guidance
Guidance Counselor (Position)
Handicapped Accessibility. See Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Head Custodian (Position)
Head Start Program. See Preschool Programs
Health Insurance. See Insurance
Health Services
Dental Hygiene
Immunizations
Physicals
Hearings. See specific subject of hearing
High Schools
Holidays. See Calendar
Income. See also Federal Programs
Federal Aid
Rental
Sale of Property
State Aid
Special Education
Taxation. See Taxes, Real Property
Tuition
Injuries. See Accidents and Injuries
In-Service Training. See Personnel
Inspections
Inspector, Election (Position)
Insurance. See also Personnel
Disability
Fire
Health
Liability
Unemployment
Workers’ Compensation
Investments. See Fiscal
Janitorial Services. See Public Property
Junior High Schools
Kindergarten
Knives. See Weapons
Labor Relations
Collective Bargaining
Employee Agreements
Grievance
Negotiations
Specific name of union
Learning Disability Program. See Special Education
Leases. See specific subject of lease
Leaves of Absence. See Personnel
Legal Counsel (Position)
Legal Notices
Legislation. See specific topic
Legal Opinions. See specific topic
Library Media Specialist (Position)
Library
Lighting. See Public Property
Litigation. See specific topic or litigant
Loans. See Fiscal
Lyme Disease. See Diseases
Maintenance and Improvements. See Public Property
Maintenance Mechanic (Position)
Mass Gatherings. See Public Assembly
Medical Insurance. See Insurance
Merit Pay. See Personnel
Microfilm. See Records Management
Middle Schools
Mileage. See Personnel
Negotiations. See Labor Unions
Newspaper
Non-Public Schools
Nurse (Position)
Office Operations. See also Computers
Copiers
Equipment
Furniture
Storage Equipment
Surplus
Open Meetings Law. See also Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
Opinions of Commissioner. See specific topic of opinion
Parent-Teacher Association
Parking
Payroll. See Fiscal
Pensions. See Personnel
Performance Bonds. See Bonds, Performance
Personnel
Background Checks
Bonding
Certification
Change in Title
Civil Service
Deferred Compensation
Discipline
Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs
Employee Benefits
Employee Handbook
Insurance. See Insurance
Interns and Volunteers
Leaves of Absence
Meal Allowance
Merit Pay
Mileage Allowance
Performance Appraisal
Reimbursement of Expenses
Reinstatement
Retirement
Sabbatical
Salary and Wages. See also Fiscal
Separations
Tenure
Training
Workers’ Compensation
Petty Cash. See Fiscal
Planning
Playgrounds. See Public Property
Policies and Procedures. See also specific topic
Code of Conduct
School Cancellation
School Delays
School Uniforms
Substance Abuse
Preschool Programs
Principal (Position)
Principal, Assistant (Position)
Probation
Academic
Family Court
Professional Services. See specific subject of services
Property. See Public Property
Psychologist, School (Position)
Public Assembly
Public Property
Athletic Fields
Building Sites
Construction
Equipment and Furnishings
Fixed Asset Management
Grounds
Janitorial and Maintenance Services
Playgrounds
Reconstruction
Rental of Property
Repairs
Specific name of property
Vehicles
Public Relations
Purchases. See Fiscal or specific subject of purchase
Rabies. See Diseases
Racial Imbalance
RANs (Revenue Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Records Access. See Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
Records Access Officer (Position)
Records Management
Electronic Records
Historical Records
Imaging
Microfilm
Records Disposition
Records Storage
Records Management Officer (Position)
Recreation
Referenda. See specific topic of referendum
Registration. See Students
Religious Holidays. See Calendar
Remedial Education. See Curricula
Rental. See specific subject of rental
Reorganization, District
Repairs. See Public Property or name of specific building
Resignations. See Personnel
Retirement. See Personnel
Revenue. See Income
Revenue Anticipation Notes (RANs). See Fiscal
Sabbatical Leave. See Personnel
Safety
Building Security
Crossing Guards
Traffic Patterns
Salary and Wages. See Personnel
Sales Surplus Property
Scholarships
School Lunch Program. See Food Services
Schools. See specific name of school. See also Public Property
Secretary (Position)
Separations. See Personnel
Sewers
Sick Leave. See Personnel
Sites, Possible School. See Public Property
Snow and Ice Removal
Social Work Service
Social Worker (Position)
Special Education
Emotionally Disturbed
Hearing Impaired
Learning Disabled
Physically Handicapped Placement
Speech Therapy
Speech Therapist (Position)
State Aid. See Income
Student Government
Students. See also Health Services
At-Risk Students
Disadvantaged
Discipline
Enrollment
Registration
Work Permits
Subcontracting. See also Policies and Procedures
Substitute Teacher (Position)
Summer School
Superintendent, Buildings and Grounds (Position)
Superintendent of Schools (Position)
Surety Bonds. See Bonds, Surety
TANs (Tax Anticipation Notes). See Fiscal
Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs). See Fiscal
Tax Collector (Position)
Tax Exemption
Taxes, Real Property
Assessment
Equalization Rates
Exemptions
Grievances
Revaluation
Teacher Certification. See Personnel
Teacher (Position)
Telephone
Tenure. See Personnel
Terminations. See Personnel
Textbooks
Disposal
Distribution
Selection
Traffic. See also Safety
Training, Staff. See Personnel
Transportation
Bus Leases
Bus Purchase Options
Buses
Closing of Roadways
Transportation Supervisor (Position)
Travel
Treasurer (Position)
Tuberculosis. See Diseases
Tuition. See Income
Tutoring
Unemployment Insurance. See Insurance
Uniforms. See specific department, Extracurricular Activities, or Policies and Procedures
Unions. See Labor Relations
Vacation Leave. See Personnel
Vaccinations
Vandalism
Vocational Education. See Curricula
Volunteer Programs
Voting
Wages. See Personnel
Waste Disposal
Water Supply
Weapons
West Nile Virus. See Diseases
Work Permits. See Students
Worker’s Compensation. See Personnel or Insurance
Indexing Procedures Manual Checklist
Master List of Terms
Selection Criteria
Conducting the Indexing
Data Formatting
Updating the Index
Backing up the Index
Retrieving and Reporting Information
Distributing the Index
Definitions of Terms
Town of Brockway Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual
Table of Contents
1 Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual
2 Master List of Indexing Terms
2.1 Updating and Maintaining the Master List
2.2 Categories of Local Topics to Include in the Master List
2.3 Cross-References in the Master List
2.4 Actions Before the Town Board
2.5 Abbreviations for Town Departments
2.6 Indexing Personnel Actions
3 Selection Criteria
3.1 What Information to Index
3.2 What Information Not to Index
4 Using the Indexing Database
4.1 Adding, Revising, and Deleting Entries
4.2 Selecting Subjects
4.3 Determining When to Add a Memo Field
4.4 Cross-References Within the Index
5 Data Formatting
6 Updating the Index
7 Backing Up the Index
8 Retrieving and Reporting Information in the Index
8.1 Searching the Index
8.2 Printing Reports from the Index
8.3 Providing Access to the Index
9 Distributing the Index
10 Definitions of Terms
1 Minutes Indexing Procedures Manual
The town clerk as Records Management Officer is responsible for ensuring that the guidelines within this manual are followed for all current and future indexing of the minutes of the town board’s meetings.
2 Master List of Indexing Terms
The Town of Brockway’s Master List of Indexing Terms is based on the “Master List of Terms for Indexing Municipal Minutes” developed by the State Archives.
The town clerk has modified the original master list of terms to make it suitable for indexing the town’s minutes.
2.1 Updating and Maintaining the Master List
The town clerk will update the master list whenever necessary.
Reasons for updating the master list of terms include the following:
The list has no appropriate term for a subject being indexed
A term in the master list becomes outdated or inexact
After updating the master list, the town clerk will review the electronic database and update any entries if necessary to make sure they conform to the new master list.
2.2 Categories of Local Topics to Include in the Master List
The town clerk will ensure that the master list contains an up-to-date list of local topics in these categories:
Personnel positions in the Town of Brockway
Committees and boards in the Town of Brockway
Town of Brockway properties
Local geographical features (roads, bridges, buildings, etc.)
Businesses, organizations, and government agencies
The town clerk will add such local terms to the master list as needed.
Do not add terms to the list without the town clerk’s authorization.
2.3 Cross-References in the Master List
When devising or updating the master list, the town clerk or indexer may add cross-references, which will direct users and future indexers to related or more appropriate subject terms.
The indexer should add cross-references only with the express permission of the town clerk.
The indexer should add cross-references in these circumstances:
1. An old-fashioned term is used frequently in the minutes and may be used as a point of entry by users, but is not appropriate as a subject term itself. (Use a See reference.)
2. A modern but less-exact term is used in the minutes, and the indexer believes that users may look for this term. (Use a See reference.)
3. A term in the master list is related to another term that may also be useful to the user. (Use a See also reference.)
2.4 Actions before the Town Board
An “action” is any business transacted before the board. There are many types of actions taken by the board (or by others in attendance at a meeting) that count as actions.
The first step to indexing anything in the minutes is to determine the action that is recorded in a set of minutes.
In order to do this, the indexer must understand the meaning of each of the types of actions. The town uses the list of actions developed by the State Archives.
Include the following attached explanation of actions with any printed copy of the minutes that includes these actions:
Appointment
Use for official appointments of individuals to government positions.
Bond resolution
Use for any approved bond resolution.
Complaint
Use for any complaints received, whether via discussion or correspondence.
Correspondence
Use for any cases where the board receives or sends a letter, including petitions from the public but not including complaints.
Disapproval
Use for any motion that is declined, rescinded, or not approved.
Discussion
Use for any cases that are merely discussions of a topic and which end in no formal decision.
Executive session
Use for cases where the board goes into executive session. (In such cases, you can provide only minimal information on the subject related to the action.)
Local law
Use for a local law, the highest form of local government legislation.
Order
Use for motions where the board is directing departments or officials of the local government to carry out a certain activity.
Ordinance
Use for any ordinance, which is special local legislation on a subject specifically delegated to local governments by the State Legislature.
Other action
Use for any actions that do not fit any of the descriptions of the other actions on this list; this is the “miscellaneous” category for actions.
Public hearing
Use for any formal public hearing.
Report
Use for any reports presented to the board by departments or committees.
Resolution
Use for those cases where the board formally expresses a particular opinion or takes a specific action.
Tabled
Use for situations where the board postponed making a decision on an issue.
2.5 Abbreviations for Town Departments
The town clerk will devise and maintain a list of two-letter abbreviations for each of the departments in the town for use in the town’s automated index database.
The town clerk may modify these abbreviations if necessary and will revise any affected database entries in the index to conform to the new abbreviations.
Include the following list of abbreviations with any printed copy of the minutes that includes these abbreviations. Use the abbreviation “TB” (for “Town Board”) for any index entry that concerns the town as a whole or is related to a town-wide function.
Department |
Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Animal Control | AC |
| Assessor | AS |
Bookkeeper |
BK |
| Building Inspector | BI |
| Highway | HY |
| Historian | HS |
| Personnel | PE |
| Planning Board | PB |
| Supervisor | SU |
| Tax Collector | TX |
| Town Board | TB |
| Town Clerk | TC |
| Town Justice | TJ |
| Water Department | WT |
| Zoning Board | ZB |
2.6 Indexing Personnel Actions
Index all personnel actions, whether appointments, retirements, resignations, or changes in status, in this manner:
Action: “Appointment”
Subject: (Title of Position)
Secondary subject: (Specific personnel action)
Memo: (Person’s name)
Example:
Action: “Appointment”
Subject: “Attorney (Position)”
Secondary subject: “Resignation”
Memo: “Hutz, Lionel”
Note that the indexer must use the subject “Personnel” only for broad personnel policies or discussions, not for indexing information on individuals.
3 Selection Criteria
Whenever the town clerk modifies the criteria concerning what to index, the town clerk will decide whether a review of the minutes already indexed is necessary to ensure consistency in the index.
3.1 What Information to Index
The indexer must index any important information in the minutes, including:
Any motions, except for routine matters.
Any significant communications to the board, such as petitions from the public.
Any special reports made to the board, but not routine monthly reports.
Any public hearings.
Any time the board goes into executive session.
3.2 What Information Not to Index
Do not index any routine or insignificant information, such as the following:
Attendance
Approval of minutes
Routine monthly reports
Approval of bills
Routine annual events (like adoption of the newspaper of record)
Adjournment
4 Using the Indexing Database
The Town of Brockway uses a database template provided by the State Archives. This database currently runs under Microsoft Access. The town follows the State Archives instructions for using the database.
4.1 Adding, Revising, and Deleting Entries
Only someone specifically assigned by the town clerk should add entries to the indexing database.
If entries need to be revised or deleted, the indexer must make sure that there are no other entries within the database that fall within the same category that must also be revised or deleted.
The indexer may need to revise entries because of changes to the indexing criteria or an indexing subject term.
If there are such entries, the indexer must revise or delete all of them, so that the index will be consistent.
However, the indexer must not revise or delete any entries without first verifying with the town clerk the need to revise or delete this information.
4.2 Selecting Subjects
1. After determining an item in the minutes to index, identify the action.
2. Then determine the main subject of the action. Find the main subject within the master list of terms. In the rare case where the indexer believes there are two main subjects, the indexer should produce a separate entry for each main subject.
3. After identifying the main subject, determine the secondary subject, which is a related subject that is part of the main subject.
4. If necessary, the secondary subject can be expanded by adding a comma plus other information (such as “Vaccinations, Rabies”).
5. After completing the major subject information, the indexer can add any pertinent information in the memo field.
4.3 Determining When to Add a Memo Field
Add information to the memo field in these circumstances:
4.4 Cross-References Within the Index
See manual item 2.3, “Cross-References in the Master List,” for an explanation of cross-references.
There are two types of cross-references in the master list of indexing terms: See also and See references.
Example: “Dog Catcher. See Animal Control Officer (Position).”
The indexer must add each of these types of cross-references to the indexing database by adding the first subject (“Dog Catcher”) under the main subject field and the cross-reference itself, “See Animal Control Officer (Position),” to the secondary subject field.
Enter any cross-reference only once. The next time the term arises, the indexer must not add a redundant second cross-reference.
5 Data Formatting
The indexer must follow the following data formatting rules:
| Format of dates: | Use this format for dates: 11 Feb 1984 |
|---|---|
| Location (Vol/Pg): | Include volume and page numbers in Arabic numerals (1, 2, etc.) Example: 2:48 (meaning volume 2, page 48) |
| Abbreviations: | Use only the following abbreviations:
|
| Data entry layout: | Enter data in the order the database fields appear on the data entry screen, to avoid forgetting to include some information |
| Capitalization: | Capitalize only the first letter of all phrases (such as “Softball field rental”) Capitalize all important words in titles Capitalize every part of a personal name |
| Personal Names: | Add all personal names to the memo field Format in this order: “Lanley, Lyle” |
6 Updating the Index
Within a week after the approval of minutes of a board meeting, the town clerk will direct the indexer to add important entries from the minutes to the automated index.
If the indexer modifies any subject terms during the course of this indexing, the town clerk will direct the indexer to check and revise any pertinent entries in the index to conform to the new subject terms.
7 Backing Up the Index
| Frequency of backups: | After each revision to the index |
| Location of backup copies: | The town’s safe deposit box, Third National Bank of Brockway |
| Method used for backups: | Alternate media, so a backup is never saved onto another backup |
8 Retrieving and Reporting Information in the Index
See also manual item 4, “Using the Indexing Database.”
To be able to design new reports in the future, the town clerk must ensure
that someone in the office is always familiar enough with the Access database
program to do so.
8.1 Searching the Index
Conduct a search by using the search function in Access (binoculars on toolbar). Follow the guidelines in the search window.
For a narrow search, confine the search to words within the field you’re in.
For broader searches, make sure you select “Search All” in the search window.
For complicated searches using multiple fields, use the filter function (funnel on toolbar).
For searches you will conduct frequently, design and save a query.
8.2 Printing Reports from the Index
At the end of each year, print an annual index and file it in the back of the appropriate index book.
Quarterly, produce a new cumulative index of the entire index and make it available in the town clerk’s office
8.3 Providing Access to the Index
In the town clerk’s office, provide paper copies of the index to the public in two formats:
1. A cumulative copy, alphabetical by Subject
2. A cumulative copy, alphabetical by Memo Field (because the memo field contains notes on the names of streets and individuals)
Provide town departments with updated paper copies of the index if requested.
Otherwise, use the computerized index in the town clerk’s office as the main version for access by town staff.
9 Distributing the Index
In January of every year, the town will send an updated cumulative index to the Brockway Public Library and to the library of Brockway High School.
These indexes will be another way to provide access to the index to the general public.
10 Definitions of Terms
Actions: Actions are any events that take place before the board. These may be actions of the board itself (such as resolutions), or actions of department heads (such as reports), or actions of the public (such as petitions). Determining the action is the first step in indexing.
Cross-references: Cross-references, such as See and See also references, help the indexer index in a consistent way and help users find the information they need.
See reference: A type of cross-reference used to guide a user to the correct term in the database. A user might want to obtain information related to finance by looking up “Finance” in the master list. But since “Finance” is not a standard term in this master list, the note “See Fiscal” follows, indicating that “Fiscal” is the official term the searcher or indexer must use.
See also reference: A type of cross-reference used to guide a user to related terms in the database. A user might look up “Planning and Zoning” and discover a note to “See also Urban Renewal.” This means that “Planning and Zoning” is still a standard term in the index, but that the user might also find pertinent information under the related term “Urban Renewal.”
Glossary of Indexing Terms
access. permission, opportunity, and ability to use a record
action. an event that is recorded in minutes as having taken place during the course of a meeting
back up (verb). to copy an electronic record to ensure its information will not be lost, often compressing data to save space
backup (noun). a copy of an electronic record, maintained to protect the information from loss and often compressed to save space
Boolean logic. a searching method used in electronic information systems that uses logical operators ("and," "or," "not," etc.) in combination to improve the chances of successful search results
character string. a sequence of letters, numerals, typographical symbols, and/or spaces (such as a word, a number, or a phrase)
cross-reference. a notation in an index that directs users to relevant information under another subject heading. (See also "See reference" and "See also reference")
data format. a specific type of computer file, such as a Microsoft Word XP file or a JPEG image file; sometimes called "file format"
data migration. See "migration"
database management system. a software system used to access and retrieve data stored in a database
document. a single record item; a container of information in any medium, generated in the normal course of business, that facilitates the management of that information (such as a letter, an e-mail message, or a completed form)
electronic text. written matter in editable electronic form (a word processing file, for instance, as distinct from an image of a document)
field. a location in a database that stores one type of data (such as an address field, a city field, a state field, etc.)
filing system. a pre-defined plan using numbers, letters, or keywords to identify and organize records in a systematic scheme
free-text searching. See "full-text searching"
full-text searching. a system for seeking occurrences of certain character strings in electronic text files
fuzzy searching. a system for seeking occurrences of character strings in electronic text files that also finds instances of strings that almost match the request
general files. an alphabetic series of files on various topics. See also "subject files"
ICR. See "intelligent character recognition (ICR)"
imaging. the process of electronically capturing the visual appearance of documents, especially those on paper; informally called "scanning"
imaging system. a collection of units (a scanner, processor, printer, and monitor) that work together to capture and recreate images of records
index. an information guide that identifies the location of specific pieces of information within a document or a set of documents (for example, an index to a set of minutes could list topics and when they were discussed, or an index to personnel files could list the names of people included)
indexing. the process of designing a guide to identify and locate specific pieces of information within the records of an organization
intelligent character recognition (ICR). the recognition of
printed and hand-printed (but not cursive) characters by a computer that uses
context to determine the likely character and the subsequent conversion of images
of those characters into electronic text (See also “optical character
recognition [OCR]”)
interface. the place at which a computer program and a human
user interact; the specific layout and functionality of a screen in a computer
program
Internet. the master network of interconnected computer networks that allows the rapid transfer of information in electronic form between computers over large distances
keyword. a significant word in a document that might be used to find relevant content in a text
kiosk. a remote computer terminal that provides information to customers who may not have other access to Internet services
lossless compression. a compression method that retains every bit of data that was in the original file
lossy compression. a compression method that reduces a file by permanently eliminating certain information
main subject. the highest level topic of an index entry
master list of terms. a series of words or phrases that delineates the expected subjects in a set of minutes
memo field. a text field in a database that stores unstructured and sometimes lengthy text
migration. the periodic transfer of data from one electronic system to another, retaining the integrity of the data and allowing users to continue to use the data despite changing technology; sometimes called "data migration"
native format. the original file format of an electronic record
OCR. See "optical character recognition (OCR)"
online. on the Internet (occasionally spelled "on-line")
optical character recognition (OCR). the recognition of printed characters by a computer and conversion of images of those characters into electronic text. (See also “intelligent character recognition [ICR]”)
outsource. to pay an outside firm to carry out certain records management functions such as indexing, imaging, or microfilming, instead of conducting that work in-house
procedures manual. a written document of the rules to follow for certain records management functions in an organization
record
1. informal definition: information, in any format, that is created by an organization
or received in the formal operation of its responsibilities
2. legal definition for local governments in New York State: any book, paper,
map, photograph, microphotograph or any other information storage device regardless
of physical form or characteristic which is the property of the state or any
state agency, department, division, board, bureau, commission, county, city,
town, village, district or any subdivision thereof by whatever name designated
in or on which any entry has been made or is required to be made by law, or
which any officer or employee of any said bodies has received or is required
to receive for filing
3. legal definition for state agencies in New York State (plural): all books,
papers, maps, photographs, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical
form or characteristics, made or received by any agency of the state or by the
legislature or the judiciary in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction
of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency
or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies,
decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities, or because of the information
contained therein
recordkeeping. the creation and maintenance of reliable evidence of business transactions in the form of recorded information
records series. a group of related records (such as minutes of a board, payrolls, or purchase orders) that are normally used and filed as a unit and that normally have the same retention requirements
repository. (in document management) a storage area for documents searched by a specific electronic document management system or full-text searching application
scanner. a machine that converts eye-readable images into digital representations of those images
scanning. See "imaging"
search engine. a software program that allows users to search for electronic textual content stored on the Internet or a computer device
secondary subject. a subdivision of a main subject of an index entry
See also reference. a notation in an index that directs users from one subject heading to another possibly relevant subject heading. (See also "cross-reference" and "See reference")
See reference. a notation in an index that directs users from an unacceptable subject heading to the accepted subject heading in that index (See also "cross-reference" and "See also reference")
series. See "records series"
service bureau. a company that provides direct records management services, such as microfilming, imaging, or indexing
software. programs that run operations on a computer
subject files. a records series that consists of files on various topics maintained in alphabetical order
subject term. a word or phrase used in an index to represent a certain concept
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). a lossless file format for storing color and grayscale images and used as a standard for the maintenance of long-term records
TIFF. See "Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)"
website. a collection of webpages on the World Wide Web
wildcard. a symbol (usually an asterisk [*], but sometimes
a question mark [?]) designated to stand in for one or more characters in a
full-text search