n.policies and procedures directing how files should be stored and indexed in order to ensure their retrieval, use, and dispositionBemis 1939, 158It is today the custom in some foreign offices, as in the United States Department of State since 1906, to classify the documents by subjects according to a decimal system of cataloguing. Legations abroad, and all officials in the ministry, are instructed in this new filing system which has its superior advantages for administrative purposes, although it presents difficulties for the historian. The archivist, however, has only to adapt himself to this system of filing when it begins, when the documents begin to flow in by the new order.Johnson and Duff 2005, 120Archivists also point historians to records held in other institutions and recommend other archivists to whom they should talk. They are knowledgeable about the government records that their archives hold: they know where these records are and understand their filing systems, their provenance, and who held them before they got transferred to the archives.Wagner 1999, 100During an annual review by the ONS archivist and records manager, National Office filing systems are reviewed and records examined for proper disposition. The records schedule thus can be continuously revised and rewritten in light of the most recent records survey and accessioning.
Notes
Sometimes called a recordkeeping system. Filing systems often include a records inventory, a retention schedule, and a file plan.
