Request Review of Revised U.S. Geological Survey General Records Disposition Schedule

In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 807

Supervisors, Managers, and Team Leaders:  Please ensure that employees 
without access to e-mail receive a copy of this message.

MEMORANDUM

December 20, 2000

To:       All U.S. Geological Survey Employees

From:     Ellen Findley //signed//
          Acting Records Management Officer

Subject:  Request Review of Revised U.S. Geological Survey General 
          Records Disposition Schedule

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) General Records Disposition Schedule 
provides authorization for retention of bureau records of continuing value 
and destruction of records of temporary value after the expiration of a 
specified period of time or upon the occurrence of a specific event.  This 
schedule is used together with the mission-specific schedules that have 
been developed in the mapping, geologic, and water disciplines.  (A 
schedule needs to be developed to cover program records in the biological 
discipline).

The major objectives of the USGS records disposition program are to:
·       Preserve records that have permanent value.
·       Destroy records of temporary value as soon as they have served the 
        purpose for which they were created.
·       Remove non-current records from office space and filing equipment
        to less expensive storage facilities, thereby improving use of files 
        and reducing maintenance costs.

To accomplish these objectives, the USGS records disposition schedule was 
last updated in January 1997.  The schedule contains a description of each 
series of records together with instructions for disposition of the 
records when they are not needed for current business.  For this revision 
of the USGS General Records Disposition Schedule the chapters have been 
expanded to be functionally-oriented.  The goal is to match the schedule 
to our organization.  In addition, a new item has been added to each file 
series that provides disposition instructions for e-mail and word 
processing copies.

I wish to thank those employees who have already contributed input to the 
revised schedule.  I would now like to ask all USGS employees to please 
take this opportunity to review the revised USGS General Records 
Disposition Schedule to see if it meets their recordkeeping needs.  The 
schedule is in Microsoft Word 2000 (doc.format) and is available for 
downloading.  Employees can download either a specific chapter or the 
entire document, if desired.  The revised USGS General Records Disposition 
Schedule, with more specific instructions for downloading, are found at:  
http://www.usgs.gov:8888/ops/IRM/revsked.html.

Let me take this opportunity, in advance, to thank you for taking the time 
to review this vital USGS document.  The completed schedule becomes a 
legally binding commitment between the USGS, the Archivist of the United 
States, and the citizens of the nation.  The preservation of USGS records 
is extremely important to future scientists, researchers, and historians.