Archival Values
Evidence
Each governmental entity is ultimately responsible
to the citizens of the state to carry out the functions the citizens have
charged the agency with. Evidential records document the fulfillment
of that obligation. Records created specifically to serve as evidentiary
documents are relatively easy to identify: minutes, policy manuals,
and executive directives are a few examples. Other records provide
evidence, but were not specifically created for that purpose. For
instance, press releases, correspondence, and internal memoranda often
have archival value. When evidential records are filed with materials
of a more transitory nature they are more difficult to recognize and much
more difficult to manage.
Information
State agencies also create or gather data.
This data may have enduring value in and of itself. Some data may
be used again for a related study or applied in an entirely new way.
The Archives and Information Services Division must collect and maintain
data as well as evidential records in order to fulfill its function to
provide historical materials for the study of Texas and Texans.
Identifying records that contain information of archival value can be
difficult.
The answers to three classes of questions
regarding the agency's data determine long-term information value:
1. Is the information unique?
Can it be found elsewhere?
For instance, did the agency create or gather the data in the series or
is some of it duplicated and transcribed from another source? (And,
what is the source?) Has the data been published by the agency or
others? (Under what title?) Has the data been duplicated and
filed with another agency? (What agency?)
2. In what form is the information?
Is the data valid and useful?
Is the data raw or analyzed? Has any data been removed or concentrated?
In general, information in its most summarized and condensed form is preferred
over raw data unless the potential for the re-use of the raw data is high.
Is the data arranged appropriately
for further uses?
Is
the data readable?
Please note: The Library
and Archives Commission lacks the resources to maintain archival records
in electronic form. If a series of electronic records is archival
and it can be printed on alkaline paper or output to microfilm without
loss of information, the paper or film can be transferred to the Archives
and Information Services Division. If it is not possible or feasible
for an agency to output an electronic record to paper or film, the agency
must maintain the records and the hardware and software needed to access
the records as well as migrate the records to new hardware and software
environments to provide continued access in the future.
3. How important is the data?
Will researchers now or
in the future need to consult the data?
In some situations the Archives
and Information Services Division will solicit expert advice from subject
specialists in the creating agency, in the affected professions, and in
academia before a final determination of long-term information value is
made.
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