What Every DOI Employee Needs to Know: Guidance for Departing Federal Executives

Records Management is the planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting and other managerial activities involving the life cycle of information, including creation, maintenance (use, storage, retrieval) and disposal, regardless of media.

As a Federal employee, you will be creating and using Federal government records. They may be in many formats: paper, electronic, audio-visual, maps, etc. Records document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations and other activities of the Agency.

There are rules governing the use and destruction of all Federal records. It is your responsibility to protect Federal records in your custody, and there are legal implications for destroying records without the proper authority. Following good records management practices can benefit the Agency in many ways such as: improving access to information, saving time, space and money.

Keys to good filing practices are filing only what you need to file, filing it in a way that facilitates access and disposition, and doing it consistently. The answers to the following questions will help you gain a better understanding of your responsibilities.

• Question 1: Why Records Management? Ten Business Reasons
• Question 2: What is a Record?
• Question 3: What are your responsibilities?
• Question 4: Which Records are important to your program?
• Question 5: What is a Records Series?
• Question 6: What is a Record Disposition Schedule?
• Question 7: Index to NARA's FAQs about Records Management

Helpful hints and tips for managing the records that you are responsible for:

• 10 Frequently Asked Questions About Records Management
• 10 Commandments of Records Management
• 10 Easy Ways to Improve Records Management
• IT'S IN THE MAIL: Common Questions About Electronic Mail and Official Records
• Guidance for Departing Federal Executives: Personal Papers vs. Federal Records

DOI Records Management Program