Page 23 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Information Analysis and Repackaging

Notes captions, each of which may cover a folder or several folders, which, in turn, may contain a number
of separate documents.
In a case file system — whether it is arranged alphabetically, numerically, or in some other way —
records will be assembled in case folders or dossiers. Where records are kept together because of
similarity of form, the units of form will often be considered as the file units. This is the case with
respect to bound volumes.
If, then, a series was established on the basis of the arrangement given the records— in the sense
that all file units arranged under a particular system are regarded as one series — the problem of
the archivist is fairly easy. He should simply maintain the series in the order imposed upon it by the
originating office. The serial order given the records, whether alphabetical, numerical, or
chronological, should be preserved.
A problem of rearrangement arises when this order has been disturbed or lost, or when, in exceptional
circumstances, it is unintelligible. In such instances the archivist should attempt to restore the order
given the records by the agency while they were in current use. In a subject system, for example, the
aggregation of folders or dossiers kept together under subject captions should be placed in
alphabetical order, if an alphabetical-subject system was employed, or in the order of the classification
numbers, if a system of classification was employed. Within the folders the individual documents
should be placed in proper sequence.
In modern file folders it is customary to file such documents in reverse chronological order, the last
item being placed first, while in many older folders the opposite order is employed. The order
followed by the creating agency should be observed by the archivist. In restoring the arrangement
of files reference should be made to the filing schemes, if such exist, or to indexes, subject captions,
folder labels, file notations, and the like.
If a series was established on the basis of the form of the records — in the sense that all records of a
given form are regarded as one series — the problem of the archivist, again, is fairly easy. A series
consisting of records having the same form, however, may become unarranged more easily than
one organized under a particular filing system. This is especially true with respect to bound volumes.
Normally bound volumes should be placed on the shelves in chronological order or, if numbered,
in numerical sequence.
If the arrangement given records by the originating office is unintelligible or one that makes reference
servicing difficult, the archivist may devise a system of his own. Such new systems must protect the
integrity of the records by reflecting their functional or administrative origins and must be designed
to facilitate the uses that can be anticipated for the records. An example of such rearrangement is
found in the order given the climatologically reports that were received from the Surgeon General’s
Office, the Smithsonian Institution, the Signal Office, and the Weather Bureau. Under the original
arrangement of these reports, it was impossible to ascertain what climatological data existed for a
given place.
If records are received from an agency in complete disarray, with no perceptible order, the archivist
again may devise a system of his own. Series of miscellany, in particular, should be arranged in
whatever order is best suited to make known their character and significance. The individual items
within such series may be grouped by subject, activity, type, place, or time, depending upon the
nature of the records. In developing a system of arrangement the maxim that “simplicity is the
shortest road to accessibility” should be followed.

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