Council on archives international records management trust

Custodial Responsibilities

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Custodial Responsibilities

What will the original custodian agree to do or provide when the records are transferred? At the time of transfer to archival custody, the original custodian of the data/records, for instance the Ministry of Agriculture should be encouraged to take the following actions. The records manager will need to follow up on whether these things have been done. If not, the records staff should make provision for doing so.

Make a duplicate copy of the record or data at the time if transfer. This serves as a back up in the event of loss or physical damage to the master copy during processing. If diskettes are received, they should be virus checked and a security copy should be made prior to performing any processing.
Compare the record or data with the documentation supplied.
Identify and document errors in the documentation.
Consult the supplier of the electronic records or data in the event of difficulty in identifying codes or if there are errors and inconsistencies in the records or data.
Document the physical files, indicating any difficulties encountered.

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Who will have access to the records and how? Access to the records should be determined in consultation with the creating department. The same rules on accessing traditional paper-based records should apply to electronic records.

In order for electronic records to be used by researchers, they need to be readable, understandable and meaningful. Reference use can, therefore, be a good test of the preservation and processing of the electronic files. Users often identify problems or questions about the records (such as missing codes or files that can then be explained in the documentation). If electronic records do not have access restrictions but cannot be made available to users, then processing has failed.

What will happen if the records transferred are not readable, meaningful and usable? Restoring files from damaged media can be difficult and costly. Bad files or media can often be recovered if the cost can be justified. To avoid this, precautions should be taken to minimise the risk of receiving unreadable or meaningless electronic records. These include

ensuring that accompanying documentation actually matches records
verifying that all documentation is available (for example, documentation that only contains even-numbered pages may be missing half the pages)
checking that the records are indeed saved on the storage media and are readable.

Figure 13 below summarises the steps involved in preparing an electronic data file for long-term retention. This figure has been adapted from Hedstrom. Archives and Manuscripts: Machine-Readable Records, pp. 48-49.

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