Hello everyone, today the editor of Duiguan Technology Nanda Zhixing will share with you some useful information on file management. The main content of this article is-misunderstandings and countermeasures in file appraisal. Archives appraisal work in our country is mainly carri

Hello everyone, today the editor of Duiguan Technology Nanda Zhixing will share with you some useful information on file management. The main content of this article is-misunderstandings and countermeasures in file identification.

my country's archives appraisal work is mainly carried out in government archives, and the appraisal results are affected by the subjective factors of the archives appraisal personnel. For a long time, due to insufficient theoretical guidance on archive appraisal, archivists have insufficient understanding and mastery of the concepts, principles, standards, and methods of archive appraisal, and there are many misunderstandings. The appraisal work in the archives room is unsatisfactory, resulting in the transfer of archives into the library. There are problems of narrow scope and low quality.

1. Six misunderstandings in archive appraisal

1. Misunderstandings about agency documents

We often say that archives are transformed from documents. However, in various departments of the government, agency documents are often one-sidedly understood as red-headed documents. Only red-headed documents that have been strictly collected and issued can be archived and archived for identification and sorting. Therefore, we have also heard another name derived from this: "off-book documents." "Off-book documents" are not well collected, identified and organized, especially the existing "off-book documents" in the agency archives. Confidentiality work inspections are often destroyed as unarchived documents. The lack of many "off-book documents" with preservation value in the archives has resulted in the preservation of transferred files being too narrow. Usually when we talk about incomplete collection of documents and materials, most of them refer to these “off-book documents” that are useless for registration. If the archives office of the agency cannot conduct a careful and careful appraisal of the existing "off-book documents" and does not archive or preserve them, it must be said that it is irresponsible for the archives work.

2. Misunderstandings about the value of archive preservation

We say that the value of archives determines the preservation and destruction of archives. The so-called archive value refers to the demand of the subject (archive users) for the object (archives of various types, carriers, and contents produced in different periods). It is an abstract summary of archival operations. In archive appraisal, archivists play the role of users, analyzing, predicting and estimating the value of archives, in which human subjective factors play a considerable role. In this sense, archives appraisal allows non-users to measure the future usefulness of the archives and determine whether to preserve them, thereby determining the preservation value of the archives. From a theoretical perspective of archival appraisal, this is no problem. However, our country’s archives work follows the principles of unified leadership and hierarchical management. The archives office of the government ignores this principle and does not distinguish the place where the archives are kept. As long as it is deemed to be of preservation value, all archives are archived, especially red-headed documents. This has resulted in low quality of archive identification and a large number of duplicate archives. There are many phenomena, and it also causes the problem that files kept by archives other than the same level are still brought into the library.

3. Misunderstandings about the sources of documents

The archives of a filing unit handle the identification and sorting of documents. The sources include four parts. This is what we usually call: department documents, communications from superiors, and subordinates. Communications, communications from parallel agencies. Archivists often have unclear understanding of the scope of communications from parallel agencies, or some documents simply do not come from the fourth part. The confusion that arises during the identification process can be imagined. The result is that the vast majority of documents that need to be archived and preserved are "parallel documents." "Communications from agencies" are excluded. Of course, the literal meaning of the term "parallel agency communications" is too narrow, and it actually covers a wide range, which is prone to cognitive ambiguity and misunderstanding. If the term "parallel agency communication" is changed to "unaffiliated units or individuals", it should be better understood, cover a wider range, facilitate practical operation, and be appropriate and feasible.

4. Misconceptions about “I am the main one”

In archive appraisal work, the concept of “I am the main one” is generally emphasized, but in actual work there are two completely different incorrect understandings and practices. . One is to paranoidly emphasize the value of "for my own use".It is believed that all documents that have evidence and reference functions for the same-level agency, or that the documents are expected to be useful to the same-level agency in the future, and as long as the name of the unit or individual appears in the document, they are all kept as permanent files, and too much emphasis is placed on maintaining the entire file. The integrity of the document cannot clearly distinguish between permanent and periodic archives, and it magnifies the "me-based" identification behavior without restrictions. The other type is just the opposite of the previous one, and one-sidedly believes that "self-centered" means "self-centered". It is blindly emphasized that only documents produced and issued by the unit can be stored permanently, and external documents are not within the scope of the unit's archiving, resulting in the phenomenon of "cutting them all off".

5. Misunderstandings about identification principles and standards

my country’s theoretical research on archive identification is relatively weak, and its ineffective guidance on identification practice has attracted the attention of the theoretical community. In recent years, some theoretical research articles and research results have also appeared one after another, such as Mr. Wang Kongde's "On the Standard Principles of Archives Appraisal", Beijing Archival Science and Technology Research Project "Research on Archival Macro Appraisal", etc., which have made great achievements in archive appraisal. Great to explore. However, through investigation, we learned that most of the archives office personnel do not know what the principles of archive appraisal are. Some people only understand the "Regulations on the Destruction of Unfiled Documents and Materials" and the "Schedule of Storage Period of Documents and Archives" as the principles of appraisal. The level of cognition lacks an outline and guiding ideology. In terms of appraisal standards, the "important" and "general" terms listed in the "Time Schedule" are not fully understood and grasped accurately, making it difficult to solve practical problems.

6. Misunderstandings about appraisal time and methods

Archives appraisal work is carried out at the right time and in a scientific way, which will achieve twice the result with half the effort and will inevitably improve the quality of archives appraisal. Our original intention of defining the eight links of archival work should not be to separate the process and continuity of archival work. In government archives offices, file identification is often ignored as an additional work process, and the degree of emphasis seriously does not match its importance. In terms of appraisal time, it only becomes an accessory to the archives organization work, that is: without organization, there is no appraisal. This is also one of the reasons why “off-book documents” cannot be authenticated and preserved. In terms of specific identification methods, we are accustomed to using the "direct identification method", which requires the identification personnel to review the documents one by one and determine the preservation value of the archives. However, the results can easily fall into the embarrassing identification situation of "for my own use". In addition, under heavy work pressure, appraisers often give up this time-consuming and labor-intensive method, and are at their wits' end. The result is a lack of leniency, low appraisal quality, and some documents that obviously have no permanent preservation value are kept in the library.

2. Countermeasures for archives appraisal work

Many problems existing in the archives appraisal work have made it difficult to overcome the contradiction between the quantity and quality of the archives in the collection. On the one hand, the number of archives is increasing day by day, but there is a serious contradiction of being confused; on the other hand, behind the seemingly prosperous and infinite collection of archives, there is a prominent contradiction of being a bit wide but narrow. This situation has a lot to do with the above-mentioned misunderstandings in the agency archives. However, it is very unfair to blindly blame the actual appraisal department for its mistakes. Reflecting on the archival world, we now have a lot of work to do and changes to make. Reform and advancing with the times are the only way out. In addition to our usual emphasis on strengthening archives publicity and business training, making leaders at all levels pay attention to archives work, enhancing the archives awareness of agency business personnel, and improving the business theoretical knowledge and business skills of archives personnel, we should also start from the following three Consider multiple aspects.

1. Establishing my country's archive appraisal theory

At present, in order to do a good job in archives appraisal, we must first solve the problem of ideological understanding and raise the appraisal work to its due height. Through the processes of theoretical discussion, comprehensive analysis, key breakthroughs, and practical testing, Establish my country's archives appraisal theory and create a new situation in archives appraisal.

(1) Systematization of archive identification theory. Archival appraisal has not become the focus of theoretical research and work discussion in our country for a long time.Although various journals have also published many articles on the evaluation of the value of archives and , and some monographs and collections of papers have been published, but judging from the overall number of papers, the proportion is very small. Moreover, the articles on appraisal are too pragmatic. They are not specific enough in terms of methods and measures to make leaders pay attention to and enhance the archives awareness of business personnel and improve the professional level of archives personnel, and lack the operability to solve problems. In particular, some key research has not been carried out enough, and theoretical research lacks systematicness and completeness, and has little practical application value, resulting in a serious disconnect between theory and practice.

To change this status quo, it must be led by higher-level professional authorities, scientific research institutions and business units work together, combined with the actual work of our country’s archives, to strengthen systematic research on identification theory, and seize the missing parts and weak points to overcome difficulties. On the basis of summarizing the work of archive appraisal in my country, we critically inherit and learn from traditional archive appraisal experience and some foreign appraisal practices, innovate appraisal theory, and establish an archive appraisal theoretical system that is in line with my country's national conditions. This system should include: a series of contents such as the concepts, objects, principles, theoretical basis, systems, standards, time, methods and quality control of archive appraisal.

(2) The practicality of archive identification theory. practice is the only criterion for testing truth . Whether a theory is correct or not is not a question of whether the article is well written, nor is it a question of whether the research project is passed or not. It must be tested in practice. Nowadays, many archival theory research results often end up being turned into statistical data for individuals to "evaluate professional titles" and units to "record achievements". However, not many are put into the stage of practical testing and utilization transformation, and the research results are shelved. To change the situation of theoretical research, we must follow the research path from practice to theory, and then put the theory into practice for testing. Therefore, we can select a number of targeted and operable archival identification theoretical research results to formulate a plan, invest in representative pilot trials, and then conduct sub-item evaluations and comparative studies on each pilot situation; The best plan will be revised and improved, and then returned to the pilot test. After a stage of repeated practice, it will finally be comprehensively refined and form my country's archive appraisal theory to be promoted nationwide.

2. Establish a scientific archives appraisal system

my country’s current archives appraisal work lacks systematicity and standardization. In general, the archives department lacks effective control over archive identification. First, the archives office lacks effective control over the handling of “off-book documents” by business agencies; second, the archives office lacks effective control over the quality of archives appraisals. This has resulted in biased archival collection and incomplete collection of a large number of precious archival materials. How to establish a scientific archives appraisal system and solve the problem of "wide scope but narrow scope" must start from the organizational structure of archives appraisal and the process of appraisal work, so that the appraisal work is guaranteed by rules and regulations. In the specific identification work, we focus on three aspects.

(1) Respect the working status of archive appraisal. Archival appraisal is not only weak in theoretical research, but also in the wrong position in practice, with insufficient attention and insignificance. In specific work such as laws and regulations, archives teaching, business training, plan summary, inspection guidance, handover and acceptance, etc., archives appraisal has always been in a subordinate position, which restricts the role of appraisal. To change the current situation, the due status of appraisal work must be respected. In particular, it is necessary to first appraise and then organize, that is, first review the appraisal catalog of the acceptance files, and then organize the case files. From top to bottom, we should effectively strengthen and attach importance to archives appraisal work in all tasks.

(2) controls the destruction of "off-account files". We often cry "collection is difficult, collection is difficult". In fact, an important reason is that the destruction of "off-book documents" is not effectively controlled, artificially expanding the scope of destruction of unarchived documents and materials. The quality of today's appraisals depends to a large extent on the formation agency's understanding and mastery of the meaning and standards of appraisal work. However, this understanding and mastery are very arbitrary, and the archives department is in a very passive position.To change this situation, the archives department must change the principle control of the appraisal process into full-process control, especially front-end control, and modify the system of "Regulations on the Destruction of Unfiled Documents and Materials" to "Regarding the Processing of Unfiled Documents and Materials Submitted for Review and Review" Opinions” system. Perhaps the revised system will be difficult to implement, and there will be many obstacles and resistance. If we continue to revise and improve it during implementation, and pay as much attention to confidentiality as we do to confidentiality, we should get the expected results.

(3) Establish a file appraisal organization. For a long time, our country has lacked a specialized archives appraisal organization, a lack of strict appraisal procedures, and a lack of archives grade appraisal certificates. As a result, archives appraisal is basically in a state of no one to catch, no one to manage, no one to ask, and no one to take responsibility. In combination with my country's national conditions, without increasing the number of staff, adjustments can be made within bureaus and libraries above the county level to establish specialized archives appraisal institutions, or an archives appraisal committee or appraisal group can be established. The personnel are preferably composed of 1 administrative cadre from the bureau and 2 technical specialists from the library. The key tasks are to supervise, inspect and guide the archives appraisal work in the region, coordinate the relationship between archives and confidentiality work, and review the "About Documents and Materials Submitted for Review and Not Archived" "Handling Opinions", review and approve the appraisal results of the filing unit.

3. Establishing the appraisal perspective of "archives"

The storage of permanent archives is too broad. The direct reason is that the standards for the storage period are too rough and the terms listed are vague. In particular, there is not much explanation for the descriptions of "important" and "general", and there is no clear guiding principle. It is difficult for office archives personnel to accurately grasp the standards. When files are handed over for acceptance, the archives generally do not make any major corrections, nor do they conduct appraisals, resulting in a serious situation where the archives in the collection are “mixed up with the real facts.” To solve this problem, it is necessary to establish the perspective of archives appraisal from the "archives", that is, to consider the problem from the perspective of the archives. The key is to pay attention to and strengthen the following two issues.

(1) Revisit the storage period schedule from the perspective of "archives". On the one hand, it changes the guiding ideology of the original standard formulation. The previous idea of ​​maintaining the completeness of the archives within the collection from the perspective of the filing unit has been transformed into the perspective of the archives, maintaining the mutual unity of the archives among all collections in the library. Specifically, for all the archives kept in the archives, there are no duplicates within each fond; there are few duplicates between fonds; and there are few duplicates between the full archives within the library and those outside the library. Understand: Except for the orders, instructions, and approvals issued by the superior agencies that are specific to the unit, the files of the lower-level filing units will not be saved. With the widespread application of information technology in archive systems, the utilization methods have undergone earth-shaking changes, from the original manual retrieval to digital retrieval. The idea of ​​placing too much emphasis on the completeness of the entire collection seems mechanical and conservative.

On the other hand, accurately delineate the boundaries between permanent and periodic archives. “If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.” From the perspective of the archives, we must comprehensively judge the role of permanent and periodic archives, determine their preservation value, and determine the unit to which they must be kept. The revised "Document and Archives Storage Period Schedule" must be detailed and clearly divide the storage period of common documents and materials. Each filing unit shall refer to the storage period schedule at the higher level to formulate the storage period schedule at the same level and submit it to the superior appraisal organization. Institutional approval.

(2) Strengthen the management of regular files in the agency archives. At present, the appraisal work of periodic files is very arbitrary. Doing a good job in the appraisal of periodic archives is part of the archives appraisal and is a useful supplement to the appraisal of permanent archives. It is the unshirkable task of archives offices at all levels to carry out regular archive appraisal, sorting and utilization services. Of course, for the organization of regular files, some steps can be omitted at present, and specific work can be discussed. At the same time, the archives administrative department must inspect and guide the work of regular archives in each filing unit, truly give full play to the role of regular archives, and effectively integrate various archival resources.

Source: Xinjiang Military Region Archives