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Guidelines for transfer of records to the Regional Service Centres

Introduction to Regional Service Centres
Service Standards
Locations and Service Areas of the Regional Service Centres
Functions of a Regional Service Centre
Entrance Criteria for Storing Records
Accessioning Records Packing Records for Shipment to a Regional Service Centre
Labelling Containers Personnel Records
Essential Records Storage
Electronic Records Libraries Services
Archival or Historical Records - Direct Transfers
Delivery of Records
Reference and Consultation Procedures for Requesting Records
Archival or Historical Records
Electronic Records
Interfiles and Refiles Disposition of Records
Disposal of Classified and Designated Documents (Non-Accessioned Disposal)
Glossary

Forms

Accession Forecast Report [RTF 2,579 KB]
Request And Authorization for Access to Archival Records [RTF 292 KB]
Electronic Record Service Form [RTF 417 KB]
Regional Service Centre - Control and Request [RTF 295 KB]
Request for Non-Accessioned Disposal [PDF 51 KB]

Introduction to Regional Service Centres

The Regional Service Centres (formerly known as Federal Records Centres) of the Library and Archives Canada are a network of regional centres that manage records in all media on behalf of over 200 federal government departments and agencies. Centres are located in Halifax, Québec City, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. They take in records of continuing value to government institutions when it is no longer cost effective for them to be maintained in departmental premises. Centres economically store and protect the records, retrieve them when required for reference or research, and destroy other records in a timely and secure manner when they are no longer required. Centres also hold backup copies of electronic records which are deemed essential, in the event of disaster or emergency, to the operations of government and the protection of rights. Finally, the Centre in Ottawa manages the records of former military personnel, and the Centre in Winnipeg manages the records of former federal public servants.

This document offers suggestions and outlines requirements for properly transferring all types of information media to the Regional Service Centre.

For information on the services offered to the public, such as consulting, please refer to Government Records Accessible Outside Ottawa.

Service Standards

Regional Service Centres are committed to meeting the standards for Accessioning, Reference and Disposition services described below, 95% of the time.

Services	Description	Service Standards
ACCESSIONING	An accession is a group of records, meeting our admission criteria, and is transferred by an eligible government institution to the appropriate Regional Service Centre for management.	The accessions documentation is to be dispatched to the appropriate institution within a maximum of 10 working days from receipt of the accession.
REFERENCE	A reference is a response to a request.	A request received before 12:00 noon for records in any medium will be ready for pick-up by the end of the next working day. For electronic media where call-backs have been prearranged with the government institution, these are ready for pick-up by a prearranged date.
DISPOSITION	The disposition process authorizes destruction or archival preservation or the return to client of records managed on behalf of eligible government institutions.	Ten (10) working days to appropriately code boxes for disposition upon receipt of departmental concurrence through the form "Request for the consent to the disposition of records".

Locations and Service Areas of the Regional Service Centres

For information on the services offered to government by specific centres, first determine which centre serves your location, then use the following contact information.

For information on the services offered to the public, such as consulting please refer to Government Records Accessible Outside Ottawa.

Atlantic Region, Halifax
Serves federal offices in the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, including Labrador.

Québec Region, Québec City
Serves federal offices located in the centre and the eastern part of the Province of Quebec.

Québec Region, Montréal
Serves federal offices in Montréal and areas more than 50 km from Gatineau.

National Capital Region, Ottawa
Serves federal offices in the National Capital Region, including Gatineau and areas of the Province of Québec within approximately 50 km of Gatineau, and that part of Ontario that lies north of a line running between Belleville and Gravenhurst and east of a line running from Thunder Bay to Fort Severn.

Ontario Region, Toronto
Serves federal offices in the Greater Toronto Area and that part of Ontario that lies to the south and southwest of a line running from Belleville to Gravenhurst, including these cities.

Manitoba Region, Winnipeg
Serves federal offices in Manitoba and the part of Ontario lying to the west of a line running from Thunder Bay to Fort Severn, including these cities.

Prairies-Northwest Region, Edmonton
Serves federal offices in Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Pacific Region, Vancouver
Serves federal offices in British Columbia and Yukon.

Functions of a Regional Service Centre

Each Regional Service Centre performs the following functions:

Accessions all records transferred to it from eligible federal government institutions located within its service area.
Safeguards accessioned containers of records economically and efficiently.
Prepares accurate client accession reports.
Provides limited research on records in its custody. Also provides a reference service for these records. Both these services operate under access restrictions as determined by the client institution.
Disposes of records under approved Records Disposition Authorities after obtaining concurrence from the client institution.
Provides assistance and guidance to government institutions in three ways:
- offers advice on records description, arrangement, transfer and disposition;
- encourages and promotes the fullest use of the Regional Service Centre facilities and services; and
- distributes materials to help clients use the Regional Service Centre services more effectively.
Provides safe, secure, economical storage and management of electronic data media.

Note: Government security regulations stipulate off-site storage for back-up (security) copies of electronic information.
Safeguards the essential records of eligible federal institutions, and provides advice for preparing these records for shipment to a Regional Service Centre.

Entrance Criteria for Storing Records

Records proposed for storage in a Regional Service Centre must meet all of the following criteria:

Records must be dormant (no more than 1 reference activity {request, refile, interfile} per container per two years per accession over the time the records will be stored in the Regional Service Centre).
Where an institution has transferred records holdings to a Regional Service Centre in the past, the institution needs to have concurred with disposition upon expiry of the retention period(s).
Retention periods are assigned to both archival and non-archival records and approved by the institution's Senior Executive Official responsible for records management. When retention periods have not been assigned to the records they must be negotiated by a Regional Service Centre representative with the institution's representative and approved by the institution's Senior Executive Official responsible for records management.
Records must be in good physical condition.
Records must be well-organized for retrieval.
Records must be organized to facilitate disposition (either by disposition date or by year).
Records of archival or historical importance shall be segregated and boxed separately.