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69 Floppy disks and diskettes should be stored in protective envelopes that are resistant to static electricity build-up and have a non-abrasive surface. Tyvek envelopes are widely available and are suitable for this purpose. 7. Storage Areas intended for storage of magnetic media should be checked by qualified staff to ensure the absence of magnets or magnetic fields that exceed acceptable limits. Walls, floors and all storage equipment, electrical equipment and wiring within the area must be checked. The area should be free from potential sources of dust, such as typewriters, paper shredders and printers. Carpets should not be used and measures should be taken to prevent dust entering from outside, e.g. installation of an air lock, or maintaining positive internal air pressure. Magnetic media should preferably be stored in a vertical position in closed metal cabinets, to provide extra protection against heat and dust. However if there are adequate environmental controls, storage on open shelves and racks is acceptable. The storage equipment should: o be sturdy o allow for vertical storage of tapes and disks o be electrically grounded. 8. Environment Magnetic media should be stored at temperatures between 18-20 ºC and relative humidities between 35 – 45 %. In these conditions the natural deterioration of the items can be slowed. In some instances deterioration can be slowed further by lower temperatures. It is important that these environmental levels are stable. Mould will start to grow at around 60 % relative humidity. If the humidity fluctuates more than 10 % in 24 hours or the temperature is too high, the items will be stressed, speeding up their deterioration. Materials degrade quicker when exposed to ultraviolet light. Fluorescent tubes that are low in ultraviolet light should be used wherever possible in storage areas. Ultraviolet light can be easily measured with a light meter, and levels should not exceed 75µ W/lumen. Lights should be turned off whenever possible. Storage areas should not have windows, but if they do they should be covered with curtains or blinds. Insects and rodents once attracted to a records storage area may start eating the records, so: o do not eat in storage areas o keep surfaces (floors, tops of shelves) clean
70 Magnetic media are particularly vulnerable to irreversible damage if exposed to dust, heat and moisture; therefore storage areas should be fitted with special alarm systems. Use of these systems can provide much earlier warnings of fire or high dust levels than conventional detection systems and also minimize the need for large amounts of water to enter the storage area in the case of fire. The field of fire detection and suppression is a rapidly developing one and advice should be sought from the fire brigade to ensure that the best method is employed. 9. Maintenance The information held on magnetic media can only be processed or read by mechanical means, therefore it is essential that equipment is maintained in good condition – poorly maintained equipment may actually cause damage as it processes or plays tapes and disks. The heads, disk drive and tape drive elements of playback and recording equipment should be cleaned on a regular basis according to manufacturers’ recommendations. Tapes should be exercised to improve their life span. Problems such as ‘wrinkling’ or ‘cinching’ of tape may build up in a tape pack as it sits in storage. Exercising can reduce the stresses, which cause these problems and may also reduce the danger of print-through. Exercising involves winding the tape slowly through its entire length at playback speed, without stopping. The process should be carried out in the same environmental conditions in which the tapes are to be stored. Tapes which are to be moved to a different environment for exercising should be allowed a period of 24 hours to acclimatize to the new environment before exercising them. It is generally recommended that exercising be carried out at least every 3 years. 10. Reformatting and data migration To minimize deterioration due to handling and use, copies of important and frequently used tapes should be made for reference purposes. Ideally, a preservation master copy, a duplicating copy and a reference copy should be produced, with the preservation master copy stored in a different location from other copies. The duplicating copy is used to produce further reference copies, when multiple copies are required. Labels should clearly indicate the status of the copy. Long-term preservation of magnetic media is affected by two major factors: the intrinsic instability of the media and the likelihood of hardware used to read the media becoming unavailable. Even if tapes or disks made today are in excellent condition in 30 years time, the machines required to play them will almost certainly have been superseded long before. For all practical purposes the records will be unusable. Beta format videotapes are a good example of this problem. Once very common, they have now been entirely superseded by VHS format tapes and it will soon be very difficult to view a Beta video. The main prospect for long-term retention of the information held on magnetic media seems to be in regular copying or data migration, thus maintaining a good quality
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MANAGING ELECTRONIC RECORDS IN GOVE
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Content PREFACE ...................
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i PREFACE The increasing use of ele
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3 The Public Finance Management Act
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5 guidelines set out in this public
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7 means that it takes up very littl
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9 o identifying records that are du
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11 requirements regarding the mediu
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13 the AIIM International Standards
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15 invalidates accounting entries.
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17 While some of the records publis
Page 24 and 25: 19 The National Archives and Record
Page 26 and 27: 21 electronic document management,
Page 28 and 29: 23 necessary to avoid technological
Page 30 and 31: 25 • if and e-mail is received an
Page 32 and 33: 27 records to capture of their webs
Page 34 and 35: 29 only be necessary to provide an
Page 36 and 37: 31 bodies should ensure that, even
Page 38 and 39: 33 Managing electronic records_Poli
Page 40 and 41: 35 To ensure that records remain ac
Page 42 and 43: 37 Because users have high expectat
Page 44 and 45: 39 records. Archiving Electronic re
Page 46 and 47: 41 The electronic records managemen
Page 48 and 49: 43 duplicating documents that alrea
Page 51 and 52: 46 ANNEXURE B: Digital preservation
Page 53 and 54: 48 Migration Strategy 5. Store reco
Page 55 and 56: 50 ANNEXURE C: Schedule for electro
Page 57 and 58: 52 the system. A transfer list in w
Page 59 and 60: 54 Supportive legal documents attac
Page 61 and 62: 56 ANNEXURE D: General disposal aut
Page 63 and 64: 58 Africa, EXCLUDING records contai
Page 65: 60 4.13 Security Backup Files Elect
Page 68 and 69: 63 (e) (f) (g) annotated drafts whe
Page 70 and 71: 65 - Information in a form intended
Page 72 and 73: 67 3. Deterioration of magnetic med
Page 76 and 77: 71 signal which can be read using a
Page 78 and 79: 73 in optical disks. WORM and rewri
Page 80 and 81: 75 Insects and rodents once attract
Page 83 and 84: 78 ANNEXURE I: Glossary Act The Nat
Page 85 and 86: 80 Electronic records Any informati
Page 87 and 88: 82 microfilm or electronic media).
Page 89 and 90: 84 Transmission data Information in
Page 91 and 92: 86 ANNEXURE J: Bibliography Aeon Ar
Page 93 and 94: 88 Kronauer, C.: Special Report SAN
Page 95: 90 Vasudeva, A.: Special Report SAN
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