[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 238 (Monday, December 13, 1999)] [Notices] [Pages 69571-69572] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 99-32241] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION Records Schedules; Availability and Request for Comments AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration, Office of Records Services--Washington, DC. ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed records schedules; request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) publishes notice at least once monthly of certain Federal agency requests for records disposition authority (records schedules). Once approved by NARA, records schedules provide mandatory instructions on what happens to records when no longer needed for current Government business. They authorize the preservation of records of continuing value in the National Archives of the United States and the destruction, after a specified period, of records lacking administrative, legal, research, or other value. Notice is published for records schedules in which agencies propose to destroy records not previously authorized for disposal or reduce the retention period of records already authorized for disposal. NARA invites public comments on such records schedules, as required by 44 U.S.C. 3303a(a). DATES: Requests for copies must be received in writing on or before January 27, 2000. Once the appraisal of the records is completed, NARA will send a copy of the schedule. NARA staff usually prepare appraisal memorandums that contain additional information concerning the records covered by a proposed schedule. These, too, may be requested and will be provided once the appraisal is completed. Requesters will be given 30 days to submit comments. ADDRESSES: To request a copy of any records schedule identified in this notice, write to the Life Cycle Management Division (NWML), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. Requests also may be transmitted by FAX to 301- 713-6852 or by e-mail to [email protected]. Requesters must cite the control number, which appears in parentheses after the name of the agency which submitted the schedule, and must provide a mailing address. Those who desire appraisal reports should so indicate in their request. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marie Allen, Director, Life Cycle Management Division (NWML), National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. Telephone: (301)713-7110. E-mail: [email protected]. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Each year Federal agencies create billions of records on paper, film, magnetic tape, and other media. To control this accumulation, agency records managers prepare schedules proposing retention periods for records and submit these schedules for NARA's approval, using the Standard Form (SF) 115, Request for Records Disposition Authority. These schedules provide for the timely transfer into the National Archives of historically valuable records and authorize the disposal of all other records after the agency no longer needs to conduct its business. Some schedules are comprehensive and cover all the records of an agency or one of its major subdivisions. Most schedules, however, cover records of only one office or program or a few series of records. Many of these update previously approved schedules, and some include records proposed as permanent. No Federal records are authorized for destruction without the approval of the Archivist of the United States. This approval is granted only after a thorough consideration of their administrative use by the agency of origin, the rights of the Government and of private persons directly affected by the Government's activities, and whether or not they have historical or other value. Besides identifying the Federal agencies and any subdivisions requesting disposition authority, this public notice lists the organizational unit(s) accumulating the records or indicates agency- wide applicability in the case of schedules that cover records that may be accumulated throughout an agency. This notice provides the control number assigned to each schedule, the total number of schedule items, and the number of temporary items (the records proposed for destruction). It also includes a brief description of the temporary records. The records schedule itself contains a full description of the records at the file unit level as well as their disposition. If NARA staff has prepared an appraisal memorandum for the schedule, it too, includes information about the records. Further information about the disposition process is available on request. Schedules Pending 1. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (N1-29-00-01, 2 items, 1 [[Page 69572]] temporary item). Completed paper questionnaire forms of the 2000 Decennial Census, and the Individual Census Record File in electronic format. The completed paper questionnaires are sent to the Data Capture Centers for processing. The paper forms are scanned to create electronic images of the questionnaires, which are proposed for disposition in Disposition Job No. N1-29-00-02. All information from the scanned electronic image files is transferred to the Individual Census Record File, which is proposed for permanent retention. 2. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (N1-29-00-02, 52 items, 35 temporary items). Comprehensive schedule pertaining to all textual and electronic records of the 2000 Decennial Census, except the paper questionnaire forms and Individual Census Record File which are proposed for disposition in Disposition Job No. N1-29-00-1. The schedule covers six major processes of the decennial census: address list development, data collection, data capture, data processing, accuracy and coverage evaluations, and data products. Also included are program and administrative records such as pre-test questionnaires, contracts and related records, source documents relating to research, evaluation, and experimental programs. Records proposed for disposal include address lists and map update records, block canvassing, special place and group quarters inventories, local updates to census address lists, new construction lists, updates or revisions to census maps in electronic format, update/leave questionnaires, urban update/leave questionnaires, list enumeration and address registers, updates and revisions to the Master Address File, questionnaires, maps, and address registers created for special enumerations, respondent data collected by telephone assistance and through the Internet response program, operations and control records, electronic images of scanned paper questionnaires, unprocessed electronic source files of information captured from the electronic images, the Decennial Response File, the Census Unedited File, the Census Unedited File Sample, the Census Edited File, the Census Edited File Sample, the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (ACE) address lists, ACE telephone interview records, personal interview records and maps, dual system estimates, ACE support and management records, Census 2000 contracts and related records, census pretest records, research, evaluation, and experimental program records, and records created using electronic mail and word processing applications. Records proposed for permanent retention include the final Census 2000 electronic maps, the final electronic Decennial Master Address File and documentation, the Census 2000 Detail File, the Hundred Percent Estimated Detail File, the Sample Estimated Detail File, the State Populations Totals File, the Redistricting Data File, the Block- Level Data File, the statistically corrected and uncorrected Hundred Percent Data Summary Files, the Sample Data Summary File, the Public Use Microdata Sample Files, the statistically corrected and uncorrected Congressional District Data Summary Files, and all other final data products created for Island areas or other special demographic or geographic enumerations. Dated: December 8, 1999. Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for Record Services--Washington, DC. [FR Doc. 99-32241 Filed 12-10-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7515-01-P