LETTER TO MR. BANNERMAN AND MR. COFFEY FROM ROBERT H. WILTSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 5, 1969
• Content Type: LETTER

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
r'ea. Hec Mgmt. 3Yff. Conf.
Mr. Bannerman and Mir. Coffey:
(Ocean City, Md.) 1969
and I attended the Annual Conference of Federal
Records Pia i age ment Officers at Ocean City, Maryland, May 26 through
28, 1969. The theme of tine conference was "elata. Compaction". A. copy
of the program is attached. There were about 60 people in attendance
representing about 35 different agencies of government. Most of the
speakers were from priv'aate enterprise although we had one from ULU, .
one from the Social Security Administration, and a couple from the
National Archives and Records Service (N.rS) on, the last day.
The theme of the conference grew out of IRS" concern with the
increasing quantities of magnetic tape being stored by Federal Agencies
in Federal Records Centers. While they still have no absolute proof,
the current estimates are that the shelf life of tape in storage is
less than 15 years, probably about 10.12 years. It may be less than
that if storage conditions are less than ideal. Most of the confer-
ence, therefore, dealt with conversion of the content of magnetic
.tapes to photographic storage media for long term retention and rapid
search and' retrieval. This will be very" useful and helpful for the
long term but does not contribute a great deal directly to the solution
of our present storage problem. We plan to make the information we
collected available to the other Directorates and work with them as
they begin to develop plans for their long term storage requirements
for information contained in magnetic tapes. The fact that magnetic
tape and all kinds of microforms are considered to be record material ?
within the scope of-responsibility of records management programs is
a key factor from our point of view and one which will require.more of
our attention than we have thus far given it.
Tice most important theme running through all of the presenta-
tions in terms of our storage problem is that none of these systems is
sold for the recovery of storage space. Each of the. representatives
of the companies which have developed or are selling these products
make the point that their utility must be measured in terms of. the
problems to be solved and the benefits to be derived for the total
system of which they are to become a part. Success of the installaa--
tions is entirely dependent upon the adequacy of the definition of the
problem and the system analysis and design. The point was made se=rv-
oral times that the key to proper "a of microform systems is in the
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
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accurate, objective appraisal of their suitability as information stor-
age, dissemination, and retrieval mechanisms in the system which has
the problem. If files are basically poorly organized - if they require
browsing to search -- miniaturization will only complicate the process.
The point was also made that microfilm readers are used primarily for
accessing and selecting material retrieved rather than for study and
digestion. This of course means that microfilm systems must include
reproduction equipment capable of furnishing the user with complete
hard copy text. Experience also'proves that microform systems will be.
used by the customer in direct proportion to the accessibility of the
stored material, the adequacy of the indexing and reference system,
and the degree to which the peripheral equipment selected serves the
basic purposes of the system and the user.
Eighty percent of the work to install such a system must be done
in the problem definition, analysis and design phases. Filming costs
are the least of the system costs. In addition to the costs of problem
definition and design, 80% of the system cost, there are costs for
peripheral equipment such as readers, printers, and the like.
Design of microfilm systems must consider such factors as: The
nature of the information: what are the input sources and where are
they located; when and where is the input generated; what kind of time
frames relate to the input, storage, and retrieval requirements of the
system. Organization of the information: how must it be indexed or
how must it be reorganized to make it indexable and retrievable. Loca-
tion of the information: how much is needed where in what time frames.
The size of the information unit: letter size documents; legal size;
engineering drawing, etc.
In addition to the presentations relating to technical state of
the art there were a couple of talks by representatives of NARS plead-
ing with the agency representatives to help them with their storage
problems which bear a remarkable resemblance to our-s.
a. NAILS figures it costs them 30 cents per cubic
foot per year to maintain records on the shelf without
servicing them.
b. There are about 28 million cubic feet of records
on hand in Federal Records Centers and there are 10 million
references per year. There has been an 8 percent increase in
the volume of records stored during the past 2 years which
compares with a rate of increase of about 1 percent per year
during previous years.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8
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c. About 40 percent of the records in the federal
Records Centers now are unscheduled -- indefinite retention.
d. Document-by-doccaaent screening of records pays
only if it results in 50 percent disposal. It is uneconomic
to screen if it results in less than 50 percent destruction.
e. The Records Center at Suitland, originally planned
for 10 years., is expected to be filled in another 18 months.
Nr aoS is creating a task force to work with the agencies to
schedule the unscheduled, reduce retention periods, and overhaul dis--
ssasal schedules. They are eM axrai.ning legislation to determine whether
changes In retention periods prescribed by law should be considered.
They have records centers under construction now and more on the draw-"
: ng boards.
Chief, Support Services staff
.Attachment
DDS/SSS I(5 June 1969)
Distribu ion:
Orig & 1 - Adse w/att
1 SSS Subject
1 SSS Chrono
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/28: CIA-RDP73-00402R000100110004-8