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Re: C&U archives authority



It may well not be the easiest thing to accomplish, but I suggest that you first get the top administration of your institution be that person dean, director, president, or chancellor to endorse the concept of collecting all archivial materials in a single location--the Archives--and then have that person persuade the Board of Directors, Board of Regents, or whatever group that exists that sets policies to adopt a resolution stating that all the records of the institution belong to the institution and that the proper place to preserve them is the archives.  That gives you all the authority you will ever need to collect materials.  
Your next best option is to use your powers of persuasion to get administrative units to turn over to you those records that are traditionally considered to be permanently valuable.  Use arguments such as having a single copy of the permanently valuable records in a central location will release many offices of the burden of keeping copies while making them always available to anyone who needs them.  It will also relieve them of the burden of making their copies available to persons who need or want to see them.  Turning over to the archives permanently valuable records will give the administrative offices space they had not previusly had because they used that space to store records.
You may find it useful to adopt both of these things at the same time.  It might take longer to get the resolution mentioned in the first paragraph than it will take to persuage one or more offices to turn over their permanently valuable records and then tell their colleagues in other administrative offices what a wonderful service you provide.


Charles R. Schultz, CA
Professor and Clements Archivist
Cushing Library
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-5000
c-schultz@tamu.edu
979-862-1555
FAX 979-845-1441

State-of-the-art automation will never beat the wastebasket 
when it comes to speeding up efficiency in the office.
Ann Landers Gem of the Day, July 27, 1994

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