n.a record used with sufficient frequency to justify keeping them in the office of creationMinogue 1945, 118Priorities on flattening should certainly be given to those groups already exhibiting evidence of physical deterioration and to very active records that are receiving unreasonable wear from their day to day use.Crocker and Brock 1956, 250It was obvious that two things were needed: (i) a central-office filing system that would provide the needed control for active records, that could be operated easily by busy office personnel, that could be quickly adapted to the needs of an individual school, and that could be expanded as the school grew; and (2) a workable system of controlling records filed or stored outside the central files.Darling 1959, 213A sound record management program will accomplish—among other things—the following: ¶ 1. Simplified identification of documents to aid filing. ¶ 2. Efficient filing of active records to permit easy accessibility. ¶ 3. The transfer of less active records to low cost storage. ¶ 4. A uniform retention schedule and the destruction of obsolete records.Case 1960, 426All of us in the records management field have responsibilities in this area of cutting costs. They are: (1) to study each record—its purpose, its use, the length of time it is an active record, and the number of years it need be retained; (2) to set the shortest practicable periods for retention in office files and overall retention; (3) to get top-management concurrence and understanding; and (4) to develop complete adherence to records retention and destruction procedures throughout all departments of the company.Crocker 1962, 185But there is a particular need for controlling active records that are used frequently either by town officials or by the public. The term controlas used here means the ability to file and particularly to find a needed record or item of recorded information with a minimum of delay. Adequate filing and indexing systems designed specifically for local offices will help local officials maintain control over their records.Reeves 1962, 260(9) Archives are “historical fact in course of development” (active records) and “the foundation of new historical nexuses” (inactive records) (Cassese).Sward 1966, 69Records keeping in the archival sense means retention of records permanently because of their historical or research value, whereas records keeping in the records management sense means keeping active records readily available for day-to-day use in the business. From these definitions it is evident that the major work of the archivist begins much further along in the life cycle of a record than does the work of a records manager. In fact, the archivist picks up where the records manager leaves off.Bain 1983, 173In the Legal Custodian category, for example, the best statements today spell out the custodian for the active record (the office), the inactive record (the records center), and the archival record (the archives).Taylor 1984, 30At the same time, we must be prepared to abandon the concept of archives as bodies of “historical” records over against so-called active records which are put to sleep during their dormant years prior to salvation or extinction. Records are active in direct proportion to the relevant information that can be retrieved from them, and dormancy is closely related to the inability to retrieve information.Bowers 1988, 143An active record’s primary value is administrative and informational, as it is indispensable to the daily operations of the creating office.Bailey 1989, 182Traditionally, records management practices have designated records as being active, semi-active, or inactive. Using the life cycle model, paper records are deemed to be active from creation to classification and maintenance when they are used frequently in the carrying out of daily business.Guercio 2001, 254The phases of organization of the records function established in the standard and in Italian archival practice include in particular: the management of active records (current archives), which comprises the activities of production or acquisition, organization, maintenance and use, and selection; . . .Mariz et al. 2011, 113Although these training examples focus mostly on issues related to active records, the training provides a prime opportunity to create awareness of the archival program and its relationship to accountability.Cocciolo 2016a, 131–132For archivists, DAM systems house active records put there for reuse, which for archivists means that they are not really inactive.
