Archives of Ontario and Information Storage and Retrieval Services 339
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Chapter 4 Ministry of Government Services Section 4.01 Archives of Ontario and Information Storage and Retrieval Services Follow-up on VFM Section 3.01, 2007 Annual Report Access to the Archives’ collections can be Background obtained through its reading rooms, the Internet, and public libraries via the interlibrary-loan microfilm program. Annually, customer inquiries The Archives of Ontario (Archives) has a broad and access requests for the archival and art collec- mandate to oversee and manage recorded informa- tions include 16,000 visits to the Archives’ reading tion in paper, electronic, and other forms created rooms, 21,000 research requests, 7,000 microfilm by ministries and most agencies, and to preserve loan requests, and approximately 70 million visits recorded information of historical and permanent to the Archives’ website. value and make it accessible to the public. In the 2008/09 fiscal year, the Archives’ Records that are not needed on an ongoing expenditures were $18.8 million ($16.7 million in basis by a ministry or agency are transferred to and 2006/07) and the Archives employed about 100 stored in warehouses operated by the government’s staff. In April 2009, the Archives of Ontario com- Information Storage and Retrieval unit (ISR), pleted its move to a new head-office facility in north which has been the Archives’ responsibility since Toronto. April 1, 2007. Storage periods for these semi-active In our 2007 Annual Report, we concluded that records, which are set using a record-retention although the Archives had recently introduced a schedule authorized by the Archives, usually range number of initiatives to upgrade its facilities and from five to 100 years. After that, the records are information systems, it did not yet have adequate to be either destroyed or transferred to the custody systems and procedures to ensure that informa- Chapter 4 • Follow-up Section 4.01 and ownership of the Archives. tion of historical significance was being identified, Ministries and most agencies must follow a stored, or archived safely and securely, and made government directive that sets out requirements for readily accessible to users. The large growth and the storage of recorded information. The Archivist sheer volume of records destined for the Archives, of Ontario ultimately has sole responsibility for both paper and electronic, exacerbate the challenge approving the final preservation or disposal of all of identifying and cataloguing archival records of documents and records. 337 338 2009 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario historical value. Our more significant observations were as follows: Status of Recommendations • The Archives did not have adequate systems and procedures for ensuring that the more According to information received from the than 10,000 record-retention schedules of Archives, progress is being made in implementing government ministries and agencies, which most of our recommendations. Given the magni- are used to identify records with archival tude of the actions required, substantially more value, were complete and up-to-date. time will be needed for the Archives to fully imple- The Archives had no information on whether • ment or address several of our recommendations, ministries and agencies were following such as the recommendations that involve dealing required storage and archival policies. with the large quantity of archival electronic rec- The Archives needed to be more proactive • ords, reducing the growth in the volume of stored in working with ministries and agencies records, and fully describing archival records in the to reduce the significant growth in stored Archives Descriptive Database system to make them records. more accessible to the public. The Archives did not have a comprehensive • The status of the action taken on each of the strategy for dealing with the extensive elec- recommendations is described in the following tronic documents that will need to be archived sections. nor the technical expertise and capacity necessary to store and make them available to the public. Record-Retention SCheduleS We found a number of weaknesses in inven- • Recommendation 1 tory control practices, which may have To ensure that records created by all program areas of resulted in significant losses, including thefts, ministries and agencies are assessed for their archival over the years. value and the length of time they should remain in Many archival records were not readily access- • storage, the Archives, in collaboration with ministries ible to the public because they had not been and agencies, should: processed or fully described in the Archives complete its analysis of each ministry and Descriptive Database system. • agency, establish a list of all program areas that Although the Archives has made good • are required to prepare record-retention sched- progress in developing a modern new storage ules, and periodically update that list; and facility for archival records, the storage facili- complete its system enhancements so that it can ties and storage methods for the more current • ensure that it obtains and authorizes record- semi-active records that are destined for the retention schedules from all those required to Archives pose a risk of deterioration or loss of provide one. these records. Chapter 4 • Follow-up Section 4.01 We made a number of recommendations for improvement and received commitments from the OverseeIng of MInistRy And AgenCy Archives that it would take action to address our Record-MAnAgeMent PracticeS concerns. Recommendation 2 To ensure that the Archives can fulfill its obligations to monitor compliance by ministries and agencies with record-management requirements, it should: Archives of Ontario and Information Storage and Retrieval Services 339 • establish a cost-effective means of periodically In December 2008, the Archives contacted all obtaining the information it needs to monitor ministries asking for confirmation on their use of ministry and agency compliance; and updated record-retention schedules for common • use this information to identify best practices records, such as human resources and finance. Over among ministries and agencies and address any half of ministries had responded to the Archives as gaps between the directive, Archives policies of June 2009, with responses from all ministries and guidelines, and actual record-management expected by September 2009. The Archives plans to practices. make a similar request to agencies before the end of the 2009/10 fiscal year for completion by Septem- Status ber 2010. The Archives plans to issue compliance The following covers the status of both Recommen- reports on record-retention schedule coverage for dations 1 and 2. individual ministries by December 2009 and for The new Archives and Recordkeeping Act that was agencies by December 2010. Analysis of inactive implemented in 2007 strengthened the responsibil- record-retention schedules will also be completed ities of both the Archives and Archivist and the min- for ministries and agencies by these dates. istries and agencies. The Archives informed us that The Archives has converted approximately since that time, it has been working with ministries 14,000 approved record-retention schedules and designated provincial Crown agencies to mod- (formerly paper-based) to an electronic database. ernize records management across government. On-line access to the database and an information A multi-year strategy has been put in place for resource site for records management is available the Archives to complete its high-level analysis of to ministries on the government intranet. We were each ministry’s and agency’s creation of records informed that the agencies are to be provided with with archival value and record-retention require- on-line access to the database in the fall of 2009. ments. The Archives plans to complete all analyzes Subject to Management Board of Cabinet by the end of the 2010/11 fiscal year. It intends to approval, the Archives was planning to publish a use these analyzes in monitoring ministries’ and government-wide standard for storage of semi- agencies’ compliance with the Act. The Archives active paper records by September 2009. advised us that as of March 31, 2009, it had com- pleted or updated 46% of ministry analyzes and 48% of agency analyzes. eleCtronic RecordS In April 2008, the Archives streamlined the Recommendation 3 requirements and procedures for the approval of In order for the Archives to oversee, manage, and record-retention schedules. The Archives has estab- archive electronic documents and records created by lished a team of six records advisors that is provid- ministries and agencies, the Archives should: ing advice and training to ministries and agencies ensure that it has the necessary technical exper- on record-retention schedules and other related • tise and capacity to deal with electronic records; issues. According to the Archives, as a result of an and Chapter 4 • Follow-up Section 4.01 increase in requests from ministries and agencies to then establish and implement strategic plans update and add record-retention schedules, more • that would permit the efficient transfer of than 2,000 updates were made in the 2008/09 archival electronic documents and records to fiscal year. In addition, more than 700 obsolete or the Archives in accordance with recognized best superseded record-retention schedules have been practices for information management. deleted to date. 340 2009 Annual Report of the