n.the usefulness or significance of records in supporting the operations and management of the organization that created themTrever 1941b, 304Among a number of laws relating to historical activities passed by the 1941 session of the Washington state legislature, one provides control of the disposition of public records (Session Laws of 1941, Chap. 109). Certain materials not related to accounting records shall be reviewed by an advisory committee to determine their possible historical or administrative value.Holmes 1943, 94So long as records have any considerable administrative value, even if the need to refer to them be only occasional, federal agencies like to have them at hand for quick reference when they are needed.Crocker 1950, 9Probably one of the most important considerations in evaluating the records for destruction is the possibility of their having continuing administrative value to the office creating or maintaining them.Bordin 1963, 349–350In disposing of those records which cease to be of administrative value, the governor would follow the provisions of section 13c, in which case the Michigan Historical Commission could disapprove the destruction or disposal of said records and receive possession thereof.Brichford 1977, 5–6The administrative value of records is a primary concern of the archivist. Short-term administrative values and long-term historical research values usually co-exist.Jones 1980, 44Administrative or operational value refers to the usefulness of records to the creating agency in the conduct of its ongoing activities, though it may also apply to the usefulness of records to another office of the same governmental jurisdiction.Duranti 1988, 350When documents are transferred from creating agencies to state archives (there are no records centers in Italy), they have lost most of their administrative value and have already acquired historical importance.Maher 1992, 42All records have administrative value insofar as they perform the function for which they were created, such as communicating a change in policy, articulating a problem or question, or registering a transaction. They are necessary for the administration of offices because they store information for potential future retrieval and use.Ricks, Swafford, and Kay 1992, 80Administrative value of a records series is the value it has to the creating office in performing assigned operations within the organization.Mims 1996, 19–20Records with administrative value enable the organization to perform its primary function: these operational records conduct the daily business off the unit.O’Toole 1998, 284The ability of records to leave behind evidence for such matters as the proper calculation of Easter and ‘all things necessary for the celebration of festal days’ were examples of the administrative usefulness of records, one of the traditional justifications for archival programs, especially in organizational and institutional settings.
Notes
Records having administrative value are generally considered useful or relevant to the execution of the activities that caused the record to be created and during an audit of those activities. Traditionally, archivists have seen administrative value as transient. For administrative records to be considered archival, they must also possess other values.
