Unfortunately Ruth was not able to attend the meeting but Chris reported that she had been in contact with Vice President Maria Klawe about the importance of establishing a University Records Disposition Committee.
Bill Bruneau reported on the background of and future plans for the project. He suggested that the project was intended to help coordinate the activities of those involved in researching and writing histories on various aspects of UBC. This project will provide a research framework which will ultimately lead to the preparation of a complete history or, more probably, a series of histories of the University. Bill suggested that the participating individuals might be broadly grouped in three categories: professional historians, "enlightened" amateurs (for lack of a better term), and volunteers who would be willing to carry out some indexing and other clerical tasks. He would like to have an article about the project appear in UBC Reports and will organize a general meeting for interested individuals on or about May 15th. Bill suggested that given its advisory role for the activities of the Archives he would like to have the endorsement of the University Archives Advisory Committee. He pointed out that the success of the project will very much depend on the general health of the University Archives and will undoubtedly place some additional demands on the resources of the Archives. The project might also stimulate additional donations of material to the Archives. Chris suggested that this might provide an excellent opportunity to prepare joint proposals for grants for technological innovation and specialized projects which would assist both the University Archives and also the collaborative history project. Funding could be sought from amongst other sources, the Alumni Association, Koerner Foundation and the Vancouver Foundation.
Following a brief discussion, the Committee formally endorsed the project.
Chris pointed out that during the Committee meeting of November 10th, 1994, the Committee had asked that the Archives undertake additional consultation with University personnel before approving schedules. Erwin contacted all of the individuals identified and incorporated their comments into the schedules. The revised schedules were distributed at the January 27th, 1995 meeting for the consideration of Committee members. Chris commended Erwin for his excellent work in the preparation of the documents.
Committee members raised the issue of how we would now get this information out to campus offices. To a certain extent the timetable will be determined by the University's willingness to strike a Records Disposition Committee. The dissemination of the schedules will likely take place under the direction of the Records Disposition Committee. This means that we are, to a certain extent, tied to the speed with which the University acts in establishing this body. If this committee is not established we will have to look at other options. The Advisory Committee members felt that it would be important to include a short introductory statement with the material that indicated that the schedules provided guidelines for the retention and destruction of University records but that they did not necessarily make it mandatory for offices to adhere exactly to the time lines established. In this sense the schedules should be viewed as "enabling" documents for those offices concerned with systematically managing their records.
In disseminating the schedules to the University community, the Committee suggested adopting the same approach as was taken at the outset of the process -- that is make presentations to the Deans/Heads/Directors as well as the administrative assistants.
The Committee officially endorsed the retention guidelines as established by the records schedules.
Chris pointed out the Committee's considerable success in realizing many of the goals articulated at the outset of its activities. He suggested, however, that the most significant remaining objective was the "establishment of a central records storage program for the University, including a storage facility, to maintain inactive records in a secure environment and increase the amount of available office space." Bob suggested that along with the issue of records storage space we might also consider the matter of technological innovation which might well have an impact upon storage requirements. It was suggested that it would be useful to develop an appropriate and realistic approach to the problem and adopt perhaps a five or ten year plan. Bill Webber suggested that for the plan to succeed we would have to get the issue on the agenda of the Vice Presidents. It was agreed that Chris would consult with appropriate individuals on campus and develop a proposal outlining the requirements for the storage of University records. That report would then be reviewed by the Committee.
Action: Chris will prepare a report about the requirements for a central storage facility for University records which can be discussed at the next meeting of the Advisory Committee.
Tentatively scheduled for September 28th, 1995 - Librarian's Office, 9:00 - 10:30.
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