Please read about ISO Disposition from our Professional Standards Director, Roger Poole:

 

As you may know, I have been representing the membership on an ISO Ad Hoc working group (AHG2) relating to disposition.

 

AHG2 has met 7 times since the November 2020 ISO TC 46/SC 11 plenary. The group worked on a gap analysis, audience mapping, and identified potential stakeholders (I have spent over 18 hours on this!).

 

As part of the gap analysis work, AHG2 has discussed existing advice and guidelines related to disposition. There is extensive material about disposition available from National and Local Government Agencies and National Archives worldwide. These guidelines provide advice/guidelines/procedures for implementing disposal authorities and organising transfer to archival custody of records of continuing value. Because it was produced by local agencies in order to respond to their specific problems, this heterogeneous material presents differences in terminology and recommended procedures. There is the presumption that not all public agencies worldwide have produced guidelines for disposition of records.

 

The preliminary AHG2 gap analysis identified that there is not a single standard which could be used as reference by different stakeholders. AHG2 analysed existing ISO standards in terms of relevance to the disposition process. Disposition requirements are included in several ISO Standards, including ISO 15489 and ISO 16175. Based on the findings from the preliminary gap analysis, current ISO standards do not fully address disposition guidance.

 

As a consequence of our findings we are recommending a new preliminary work item for the development of a product to address the challenges we identified at the next plenary in May 2021.

 

I shall keep you informed of developments.

 

Roger Poole FIRMS, AMIRMS

Professional Standards Director