Managing Records: Storage & Preservation
Appendix B The File Information Form for Microfilming Paper Records (File Information Form for short) has two objectives. The first is to develop, in combination with the appropriate Microfilm Production Guidelines, a microfilming specification. This specification will produce, for your government or agency, microfilm of good quality at a reasonable cost. Second, the information gathered will provide local governments with strong documentation when applying for a microfilming grant from the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). These instructions are intended to make accurate completion of the File Information Form as painless as possible. Since no forms or instructions are ever perfect, the writers invite comments and suggestions for improvement. Send comments to: New York State Archives recmgmt@mail.nysed.gov. Since it is rarely possible to look at every document, you must use a technique called sampling to form conclusions about the entire records series. When used for unbound documents found in file cabinet drawers or boxes, it is wise to sample several folders. If the documents are not in folders, several batches of documents (a batch is as many papers as you can conveniently pick up at one time in one hand) should be sampled. As a rule of thumb, examine three or four folders in a file cabinet drawer or transfile box. Sample one or two folders in a one-cubic-foot storage box. Sample records from every drawer or storage box. Doing this pays off in the end by reducing costs and saving time when you find a whole new category of records in an unexpected location. You must complete one File Information Form for each records series you propose to microfilm. For example, if you want to microfilm your town's board minutes and the town's birth records, you must fill out one form for the minutes and one form for the birth records. Note that there is no such thing as a "general file" records series. Invite vendors to review and comment on your records as you complete the File Information Form. The perspectives of potential vendors will give you additional insights into your microfilm project. If possible, meet with at least three vendors. If you are filming in-house, the micrographics coordinator should assist you in completing the File Information Form. You may also want your Regional Advisory Officer or other State Archives staff to review the File Information Form. 1. Name of Government or Agency 2. Prepared By 3. Name of Records Series 4. The Retention Schedule for These Records is ______Years 5. Activity 6. Order of Filming When microfilming, it is important to retain the original order of the records established by the office of origin since the office may have a particular filing system that should be retained. In addition, the order of the records may reveal institutional organization, functions, and history. Many records series are "self-indexing" either by surname or by number. Sometimes "self-indexing" systems are not as straightforward as they seem. Often there is an unwritten hierarchical arrangement that everyone in the office knows but fails to share with the microfilming vendor. For example, in a personnel file with two Jane Smiths, the secondary filing order might include filing by social security number. A local government's staff may understand the filing systems and how to use them, but conveying this information to people undertaking a microfilm project is sometimes difficult. Staff often assume that the microfilming vendor knows the basis for the filing system - such as the town name or the calendar year - and give the secondary filing order, leaving out the first index. It is essential that the micrographics staff and/or the microfilm vendor understand the filing system, and are aware that it applies to the entire records series. Sometimes file organizations change over the years; this could significantly change microfilming procedures. For example, personnel files previously kept by surname may now be filed by social security number. It is conceivable that the filing system currently in use will seem excessively complicated, and you may be tempted to use the occasion of this microfilming project to change the index. DO NOT TRY THIS! If you really think the filing system needs to be changed, undertake a file reorganization project, test the new filing system to make sure it works better than the old one, and THEN microfilm. A file reorganization project should be undertaken only after careful analysis of the records. Usually the original order of the records needs to be preserved for administrative and research purposes. If you do not understand the records series' file order, GO NO FURTHER! Ask other staff or State Archives advisory staff for help. If you continue, you are likely to waste time and money, create new problems, and create frustration among the users of the records series. 7. Total Number of Documents: 8. Total Number of Images: 8a. Total Number of Rolls: You must know the approximate number of images in each records series you microfilm. There are several ways to establish this estimate; which method you choose depends on the type of document (office documents in folders, bound documents, or maps and drawings) and on how much reliable information you already have about the records series. When you are surveying your records series, take special note of what percentage of the documents has information on both sides of a sheet. When microfilming documents on a "planetary" microfilm camera, an image consists of one side of one sheet of paper. Since some documents have information on both sides, the total number of images (and thus the scale and cost of the microfilming project) may be double the number of sheets. Here are three methods of measuring the volume of a records series:
The Linear Filing Inch method of measuring the volume of records can be used for a wide range of materials. It is based on the average thickness of a sheet of document paper. If you measured the depth (front to back) of a file cabinet drawer with a ruler or tape measure marked in inches, you would find that, on the average:
You can refine this method for bound materials by sampling the actual sheet count: take six inches' worth of books off the shelf, count the number of sheets in each book, and use this figure, divided by six, to estimate the number of bound documents. This corrects for the thickness of the book covers. Estimating drawings and maps is trickier because they are not always kept flat in special file cabinets. You can adapt this method by counting the number of drawings in a typical storage unit (bin or drawer) and then multiplying the number of drawings by the number of storage units. Cubic Footage estimating is adequate, providing the documents are in ledger, letter, legal, or computer printout sizes, and are in file folders. Drawing on the information in your active/inactive records inventory will speed up the process: multiply the number of cubic feet of records by 2,500 (the approximate number of documents in one cubic foot). This method is useful with bound documents, although you should refine by sampling (as described under "Linear Filing Inches" above). This method is not valid with drawings and maps because of the extreme variations in thickness and size which are typical of long-established, and/or large collections of maps. Inventory by Sequential Number may be acceptable, providing you are satisfied that the inventory is accurate. It is not unusual for a records series to have different numbering systems at different times, so the inventory numbers and the actual number of documents may not correspond. For instance, a group of "recorded maps" or of "plan drawings" may be assigned a single number because they are tied to the same parcel or building. On the other hand, certain records series, such as birth certificates, have an intrinsically accurate numbering system and are therefore good candidates for this inventory method. To calculate the total number of documents and the total number of images:
LINEAR FILING INCH example, based on 20 file cabinet drawers: Step 1. How many documents are there?
Step 2. You estimate that about 50% of the documents are double-sided:
Step 3. You are confident of your figures, so you add an error factor of 10%:
Step 4. Round up to an estimated total number of 153,000 images
CUBIC FOOTAGE example, based on 50 cubic feet of records.
Step 2. You estimate that about 50% of the documents are double-sided:
Step 3. You are not confident of your figures, so you add an error factor of 15%:
Step 4. Round up to an estimated total number of 216,000 images
INVENTORY SEQUENTIAL NUMBER example, based on 1,132 drawing (maps and plans) inventory numbers. You have sampled the drawing collection and find that, on the average, there are four drawings for each inventory number. Furthermore, the first drawing in each number always has recording stamps on the back, and these stamps must be visible on the microfilm. Step 1. How many documents are there?
Step 2. You know that the first drawing in each number has recording stamps on the back and averages one document in four, or 25%, double-sided documents:
Step 3. You are not confident of your figures, so you add an error factor of 15%:
Step 4. Round up to an estimated total number of 6,600 images. If the record series is a small one, you can count all of the maps, etc. After you calculate the total number of images you can estimate the rolls of microfilm needed. A rough rule of thumb is that a 16mm roll of office documents contains 2,500 images, a 35mm roll of microfilm contains 1,000 images, and a 35mm roll of drawings or large-size documents contains 500 images. You may want to allow about thirty frames from each roll for technical targets. Bear in mind that when making these calculations and when writing your contract, you should accept billing only for images actually filmed. Thus figuring in a reasonable error factor has few penalties. 9. Record Series Increases 10. Condition of Documents A. Size. Use a ruler or measuring tape; be sure you have measured the largest document in the record series. The size of the largest document determines the type of camera and the film format. Usually documents larger than 11" x 14" (in any direction) cannot be microfilmed using the typical "tabletop" 16mm camera. Large documents, particularly those with details, are commonly filmed on 35mm film to capture the maximum amount of detail. If there are multiple document sizes found within a records series, this can add to the complexity and cost of the project. Discuss this issue thoroughly with your microfilm vendor and State Archives staff. B. Age/brittleness/fasteners. The age and brittleness of the paper determine the difficulty of handling the documents, both for preparation and for filming. The type and number of fasteners (i.e., staples, paper clips, etc.) determine the difficulty (and cost) of making the documents camera-ready. C. Enclosure. Most office documents are either loose (frequently in folders) or bound. The quality and cost differences between microfilming unbound and bound documents are considerable. The disbinding of documents should be done if possible. Disbinding will usually decrease the cost and increase the quality of the microfilm. Such bindings as "ring", "drill post" and "clamp" are designed to make disbinding easy. At the other extreme are glued bindings (for example, the infamous "perfect binding"), which make it almost impossible to remove the documents without cutting them out of the binding (usually with a machine humorously known as a "guillotine"). Comb bindings are commonly used for computer printouts, which are left in their accordion ("unburst") state; the "comb" consists of a thin plastic or metal plate with many fine rods extending from one side of the plate. The rods are inserted through holes in the printout and fastened to a plate on the back of the package. D. Lay of the paper. Folded or rolled documents must be flattened before microfilming; the cost of this preparation should be factored into vendor estimates. E. Color of the paper. The color of the paper affects how well it will reproduce on microfilm, particularly when the color of the imprint (a collective term for handwriting, typing, printing, or drawing) is factored in. If all the paper is white, skip to the IMPRINT box. Use common terms to describe the colors, such as yellow, blue, pink, etc. Blueprints are drawings, usually with white lines and text on a blue background. Photostats may be any kind of document where the text is white or lightly shaded on a dark gray or black background. The paper is usually extra-thick; this should be taken into account when calculating your number of images. F-G. Imprint. The type and color of the writing or drawing are major considerations. The best results will come from very dense black ink on pure white paper. The worst results come from faded colored inks or light pencil on paper of the same color (i.e., faded red ink on pink paper, or third-layer-down carbon paper). Large printed letters reproduce better than fine handwriting. In rare cases, documents will be so illegible that producing acceptable copies from reader-printers will be impossible. In these cases, local government officials will want to ensure that these records have enough permanent historical, legal, or administrative value to warrant undertaking such a microfilm project. 11. Document preparation Document preparation for microfilming consists of the following steps:
In general, it is bad practice to have the microfilming vendor (whether in-house or a service bureau) perform either file organization or purging. Files are frequently organized in complex ways that the employees may understand but are difficult to explain to the microfilm vendor. The vendor might erroneously purge documents that should have been retained. This could leave the government or agency in a precarious legal position. If the number of documents to be removed is small and if retaining them is not likely to cause legal problems, then film all the records. It is usually less expensive to film these records than to pay staff to purge documents. If there are large volumes of duplicate records and blank forms, it will be economical to purge those items before microfilming. Records that must remain with a file but that are not to be microfilmed should be carefully marked so that the camera operator will not film them. It is usual practice for the microfilming vendor to remove staples and paper clips, repair torn sheets, flatten folded or rolled documents, and produce required information targets. The cost of this work is usually included in the cost of microfilming, although special problems such as mending a quantity of torn paper, flattening many folded or rolled documents, etc., may make it worthwhile to separate the pricing of this work from the pricing of the microfilming. Please note that the purpose of separating out the pricing is to establish a more accurate estimate, not to provide the microfilming contractor with a means for maximizing revenue. A government or agency that feels it can do this work as well as the microfilming contractor, and at substantially lower cost, may wish to exclude the cost from the microfilming bid, with two reservations: a. The quality of the work must be acceptable to the microfilming contractor (failing this the work will have to be done all over again, which eliminates any savings). b. Special care must be taken, when transporting loose documents, to avoid any shuffling of the documents (in a records series that is even moderately large, shuffling documents is equivalent to losing them forever). 12. Usage You will also want to consider if the microfilm will be used in conjunction with other paper or electronic records. Will an entire file be used, or only individual documents within the file? To the extent possible, you should base your estimates of usage on available figures: most governments or agencies try to keep statistics of how many users request what kind of information and how often. Describing who the users are may require watching the existing operation and "interviewing" both who retrieves the records and who uses the records (they are sometimes, but by no means always, the same people). If the retrieval system now in place is excessively time-consuming, difficult to use, and/or has a high rate of complaints (such as "I can't find this document"), you will add to your reasons to undertake a systematic review of your filing system. 13. Microfilm Format The microfilm format will affect filming techniques, camera adjustments and image arrangement of the microfilm. For example, for the use copy of large format drawings an aperture card might be appropriate. For case files, a use copy in microfiche format might be appropriate (as described below). Many governments or agencies now use Computer Assisted Retrieval (CAR) systems. These indexing systems, used primarily with 16mm roll film, have reduced the need for producing microfiche and aperture card formats for use copies of microfilm. Careful analysis of microfilm use will help you accurately project the number and types of microfilm formats needed. On the first part (A) of the Microfilm Format section:
On the second part (B) of the Microfilm Format section:
On the third part (C) of the Microfilm Format section:
Microfilming projects funded by a grant from the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) require the local government to supply the State Archives with a diazo duplicate of selected records series as outlined in grant application materials.
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