DISPOSITION OF INTELLIGENCE REFERENCE COLLECTIONS IN OCR

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP70-00211R000500200051-7
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
January 4, 2017
Document Release Date: 
July 14, 2006
Sequence Number: 
51
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 10, 1961
Content Type: 
MEMO
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP70-00211R000500200051-7.pdf267.64 KB
Body: 
Approved For Release 20.06/07/14 CIA-RbP?0-002-11 R000500200051-7 Office Memorandum -UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO : Chief, Records Management Staff FROM . SUBJECT: Disposition of Intelligence Reference Collections in OCR 1. Problem a. To reduce the volume of other agency intelligence documents accumulated by CIA for reference use. be To control the future volume of such documents. 2. Facts Bearing on the Problem a. The member agencies of USIB Produce intelligence dcc .ents copies of which are exchanged within the community for ref- erence use. CIA. receives an;cually an average of 5 millwon copies of such documents. b. At the present time approximately 2,000 cu. ft. of other agency intelligence documents are held by the CIA Library in hard copy or microfilm. An additional 2,000 cu. f-c. are stored in the Records Center and much of this is now sore than 10 years old. e. Disposition instructions for this type of material u1ual.1y read "Destroy when no longer needed for reference pur-poses" or "Destroy when superseded or obsolete." These instructions have accomplished little in controlling growth of t.v re_;f- erence collection because of a nebulous, unofficial opinion within CIA and some agencies of the USIB community that the CIA. Library is a central, permanent repository for the USIT documents it receives. A corolary of this opinion is the notion that once a reference document is destroyed future retrieval of a copy would be difficult if not impossible. There is no official basis for this thinking and it conflicts with the findings of the Hoover Commission report of 1955 on "Intelligence Activities." This report noted that a cen- tral library for the intelligence community was impracticable. However, the influence of the unofficial opinion has contri- buted to some reluctance on the part of librarians and analysts to discard inactive reference material. Approved For Release 2006/07/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7 Approved For Release 2006/07/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7 d. Traditionally government and non-government liar rl have geared their disposal practices to the availability Q shelving space. When new books or other items aryivc and space is needed, the inactive material is we:ded out am! destroyed or trap ferred to the Library of ConSrcoz. In CIA books are transferred to Library of Cora: cos and otter items are stored in the Records Center. e. It is cheaper to store records in proper record: ccO r facilities than to microfilm them. The hoover Cc:;ni; V reported that on the average it costs 10O.C0 to ni cfllm 1 cuo ft. of records and about 60 cents to kenD the :::..s records in- a records center for 1 year. In this in_:; t_ .n ;e the break even point is not reached for more thin 60 yc:;rs. f. Today non-government libraries are taking other n_Daresc,:es to controlling the volume of holdings. Microfilm i3 ono of these. Another is the Library Center plan that prov.dc3 a central storage facility for libraries of a geo ?aDh_?cc! area, and a central reference service to the materials de- posited. This plan permits disposal of dupiicat: holdings among member libraries of the area. There is also the so called Farmington Plan that seeks to limit groat anc dup- lication of holdings. Under this plan mutual afire tense are secured among certain libraiges to assume renpon:ibility for acquisitions in specialized fields of knowledge, and to fur- nish mutual reference service on these collections. a. No precedents or standards exist for the systematic LicTosLl of intelligence reference files. This conclusion = rwacLsd after discussions with staff members of the National Arahivao and Records Service, GSA, and records officers of Ud:B agencies. estimates that strategic intelligence information in pcacet.me depreciates at the rate of 20% per year at a constant rate. Experience of the Agency Records Center indicates that calls for retired reference materials decrease to a negligible point within 5 years. in Strategic Intelligence Production. Ga. 23) c. Since librarians are usually involved in the administration of intelligence reference collections, a central concept of the Farmington :Plan, specialization in holdings, was consid- ered to be an effective basis for negotiating the objective of this project within the intelligence community. It is essential that USIB Agencies accumulate and have ready.ref- erence to each others specialized products. However, there is no necessity for retaining this reference material indef- initely after it becomes inactive, because other copies or originals are retained by the Agency of origin. Each USTB Approved For Release 2006/07/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7 Approved For Release 2006107/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7 Agency is thus building a specialized collection cc its own intelligence products. Access to these collect-o1,-, in cc--c of need after destruction of inactive reference ccIji.es would encourage disposal and establish volume control o-' intelli- gence reference collections. d. Any working arrangement that would insure inter-a ncy access to specialized collections required existence of t~:c folloe_.C rl conditions: 1. Each Agency would agree that copies of intelligence docu- ments used for reference should be destroyed after be- coming inactive. 2. Each Agency would assume responsibility for record copies of its own intelligence docunen::s. 3. Each Agency would agree to furnish reference E.?ervice on its record copies of intelligence documents after truction of reference copies.%1n other Agencies. e. In January 1959 a meeting of Records Management Officers CZ-' USIB Agencies was called by the Chief, Records Mane r -m nt Staff, CIA (See Tab A). The purpose of this r:v tin y. c t discuss informally means of controlling growth of referencu collections and. to secure reactions to establishirr' the con- ditions noted above. It was the unanimous opinion c,~ -hocfcc present that disposal of reference collections presov,t d a cond:ant problem, and that the CIA representatives chould proceed in a pioneering effort to establish disposition standards for such materials. 4. Conclusions a. After discussions with the .ARO/OCR, the Chief, Cire _a.::io~ Branch, LY/OCR and the Chief, Records Center a propc~,-ck in- teragency agreement on disposal of reference collect-_'o.-is was drafted and approved by the AD/OCR. The proposal o_~ie d for destruction of reference materials 5 years after becoming inactive. This retention period was based on Record- Center experience. The initial agreement was drafted for concurrdace of the Department of State (Tab B) and became the basic CIA position informal negotiations with other USTB Agencies. B- ginning with State Department, the proposed agreement was pre- sented in meetings with the Records Management Officers of each USIB Agency. b.\ The key principle of the CIA proposal, interagency access to each others intelligence collections after destruction of ref- erence copies, was concurred in by the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, --je Department of State, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (See Tab C). Approved For Release 2006/07/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7 Approved For Release 2006/07/4 : CIA-ROP70;00211R000500200051-7 c. On the basis of these agreements more specific dispc:,ul in- structions could be issued for reference collections Of docu- ments furnished by USIB Agencies. These instructions would read: "Transfer to Records Center when inactive. ''_,stroy after 5 years." d. Approximately 11.000 cubic feet of reference material 'old by the Records Center and the OCR Library are now subject to these instructions. About 25% of this material could be destroyed, at once and the remainder on a eontinuirs basis. e. Future growth of Agency reference collections could be con- trolled by application of these instructions. Action Recommended a. That the AD/OCR issue disposition instructions for LY/OCR reference collections reading: "Transfer to Records Center when inactive. Destroy after 5 years." b. That copies of this staff study be released to the cccrds Management Officers in USIB Agencies for use as a precedent establishing similar disposition standards within those Agencies. c. That reports on the volume of material destroyed under the new standards be submitted to the Chief, Records N'ara,r~*n+ c+~rf Annexes: Tab A - Memorandum of USIB Agencies records officers meeting. Tab B - CIA - State Agreement on Disposal of Documents. Tab C - USffi Agenciesl Agreements. Concurrence: /n Cl_ 1 /_L kbignature) Chiefs Records Management Staff Approved: (signature) Assistant Director for Central Reference (Title) v r. C I::_ C.9 ?1 ; ..a Approved For Release 2006/07/14: CIA-RDP70-00211 R000500200051-7