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48-450: The history of finding aids mirrors the history of information. Ancient Sumerians had their own systems of indexes to locate bureaucratic and administrative records. Finding aids in the 19th and 20th centuries were paper documents, such as lists or index cards . In the 21st century, they can be created in electronic formats like spreadsheets or databases. The standard machine-readable format for manuscript collection finding aids, widely used in

96-461: A card file . Professional book indexers used index cards in the creation of book indexes until they were replaced by indexing software in the 1980s and 1990s. An often suggested organization method for bibliographical citations and notes in a card file is to use the smaller 3-inch by 5-inch cards to record the title and citation information of works cited, while using larger cards for recording quotes or other data, but some people have also given

144-445: A basis. The Basic Description , Collection Overview , or Summary Information is usually the first section of a finding aid, containing information about the collection's creator, the physical space the collection occupies in the archive, and the date range and an abstract of its documents. A Biographical/Historical Note describes a collection from the perspective of the time period it was created, providing background information on

192-452: A consistent national standard in the US for finding aid terminology. Candida Fenton writes, "Encoded Archival Description Document Type Definition (EAD DTD) is a non proprietary encoding standard which specifies the structure of an electronic archival finding aid. The standard was developed in response to the growing role of networks in accessing information describing archival holdings, and to enable

240-600: A cost of $ 5 per request and can take months to process. In May 2018, it was disclosed that the Supreme Court of Canada under Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had placed a "50-year from the time they rule on a case" embargo on public access to files related to the deliberations of the judges. According to Archivist Michael Dufresne, it was not until 1940 and the advent of the Second World War that Cabinet kept an agenda and minutes of its deliberations. From 1867 to 1940,

288-625: A number of times. Following a 2010 update of the legislation, the office of the Prime Minister released as statement explaining that "the new regulations shorten the period after which non-security-related material may be viewed, from 30 to 15 years, while lengthening the confidentiality period of certain defense-related documents to 70 years in cases in which Israel's security conditions require it". The German Federal Archives generally makes its holdings available after 30 years. Exceptions are for personnel files, which are opened only 10 years after

336-525: A person or organization. It can also describe the history of the collection. The Scope and Content note briefly explains the collection's provenance, its arrangement and date range, and in general what kind of materials it contains—letters, reports, photographs, audio/video, etc. The Access and Use section that contains information about using the collection, such as terms of access and restrictions. Usage issues that may affect researchers could include donor agreements restricting access, copyright information,

384-583: A significant investment of resources. We will continue to process and release records as resources permit." In May 2017, it came to light that the Government of Canada was under no obligation to release documentary records after a number of years. NDP Member of Parliament (MP) Murray Rankin , a legal scholar, said at the time: It's a question of political will. Some countries do this a lot better than Canada. The Americans do. The Swedes do. The British do. We have to catch up. In June 2017, an agreement between

432-455: A standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. A collection of such cards either serves as, or aids the creation of, an index for expedited lookup of information (such as a library catalog or a back-of-the-book index). This system is said to have been invented by Carl Linnaeus , around 1760. The most common size for index card in North America and

480-526: A succession of six men served as Clerk of the Privy Council , and their duties included serving as the only institutional memory bank of the Government of Canada. The appointment in 1940 of Arnold Danforth Patrick Heeney as Clerk and as first Secretary to the Cabinet changed the format of memory bank from biological to scriptural. Heeney was surprised upon arrival by the informal ways in which important business

528-674: A wide range of information before any time limit has expired; and also removed some of the exemptions which had previously applied at the thirty-year point. After thirty years, records are transferred to The National Archives, and are reviewed under FOIA to see if they should be opened. The only rationale for keeping them closed within The National Archives is if a FOIA exemption applies. As a result of that change, releases now occur monthly, rather than annually, and include more recent events, rather than only those over thirty years old. An independent inquiry chaired by Paul Dacre , editor of

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576-747: Is a rule in the laws of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Commonwealth of Australia that provide that certain government documents will be released publicly thirty years after they were created. Some other countries' national archives also adhere to a thirty-year rule for the release of government documents. In the United Kingdom , the Public Records Act 1958 stated that: Public records   [...] other than those to which members of

624-702: The Daily Mail , recommended in January 2009 that the last restrictions on the release of information, such as Cabinet minutes, should be reduced to a fifteen-year embargo and phased in over a fifteen-year period. Under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 , the UK government started moving towards a twenty-year rule. Files from 1983 were released in August 2013 rather than January 2014, as would previously have been

672-623: The Archives Act 1983 . In 2009, the Archives Act was amended to reduce the closed period from thirty to twenty years, with Cabinet notebooks reduced from fifty to thirty years. Census records remain closed for 99 years to protect the privacy of individuals. Cabinet papers for a full year are released on 1 January each year. To reduce the withholding period from 30 to 20 years, two years of cabinet papers, and three years of cabinet notebooks, have been released simultaneously from 2011 until 2020, when

720-797: The Supreme Court of Canada and Library and Archives Canada arranged for the transfer of case-files under a 50-year rule. Israel adopted the British model of a thirty-year rule as the basis for reviewing and declassifying its foreign policy documents. Israeli declassification policy is based on the Archives law of 1955. The principle of the law is that all material is to be released after thirty years, subject to limitations based on damage to state security, foreign policy or personal privacy. In practice this means that declassification of documents are fixed at different periods based on type of material and date of production. The original law has been modified and updated

768-470: The UK is 3 by 5 inches (76.2 by 127.0 mm), hence the common name 3-by-5 card . Other sizes widely available include 4 by 6 inches (101.6 by 152.4 mm), 5 by 8 inches (127.0 by 203.2 mm) and ISO-size A7 (74 by 105 mm or 2.9 by 4.1 in). Cards are available in blank, ruled and grid styles in a variety of colors. Special divider cards with protruding tabs and a variety of cases and trays to hold

816-409: The 20th century. "Kardex" became a common noun, especially in the medical records field where "filing a kardex" came to mean filling out a patient record on an index card. Library card catalogs as currently known arose in the 19th century, and Melvil Dewey standardized the index cards used in library card catalogs in the 1870s. Until the digitization of library catalogs, which began in the 1980s,

864-541: The PCO released the records on an annual basis. In 2008, two years after Prime Minister Stephen Harper was elected, the tradition of annual voluntary releases of Cabinet Conclusions stopped. In September 2013 while the Harper government was in power, PCO spokesman Raymond Rivet told a news organisation that the office was "committed" to making government documents and information accessible but that "Processing these records requires

912-538: The Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Other notable cases that expand upon the doctrine of cabinet confidentiality include Canada (Minister of Environment) v. Canada (Information Commissioner), 2003 FCA 68 and Quinn v. Canada (Prime Minister), 2011 FC 379 . As of 2013, after a time lag of 20 years Canadians can submit access-to-information requests for cabinet records through the Privy Council Office , but this comes at

960-450: The US. The process of creating a finding aid often begins with archival description. For example, Encoded Archival Description calls for a basic description of the collection, a list of controlled vocabulary terms, administrative information, biographical information, scope and content, arrangement, description of components, and other descriptive data. In the absence of a universal standard for finding aids, these elements are often used as

1008-463: The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and elsewhere, is Encoded Archival Description . Finding aids exist as a central tool for user and archivist interaction with archival collections. Freund and Toms note that finding aids became the preferred means of user mediation with a collection, as a result of the print nature of most historical materials. They go on to explain that

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1056-555: The cards are also sold by stationers and office product companies. They are part of standard stationery and office supplies all around the globe. Index cards are used for a wide range of applications and environments: in the home to record and store recipes, shopping lists, contact information and other organizational data; in business to record presentation notes, project research and notes, and contact information; in schools as flash cards or other visual aids; and in academic research to hold data such as bibliographical citations or notes in

1104-516: The case, and files from 1984 were released in January 2014. There will continue to be two releases per year until 2022, when the National Archives will receive the files from 2001 and 2002, having caught up with the transition. In Australia, the thirty-year rule applied to Commonwealth (federal) government records, except for Cabinet handbooks (closed for fifty years) and raw census records (closed for 99 years). Those periods were laid down in

1152-424: The collection's history of ownership, any additional formats the collection may have, and if the collection is accepting additions. Additional Information contains details of related materials, language, citation instructions, any sponsors, and the date of processing. Search Terms are generally a list of subject headings, any personal, corporate, or family names, geographical headings, and genre terms that relate to

1200-736: The collection, and restrictions on use of or access to the materials. Finding aids may be detailed inventories that list contents. They may also include subject headings drawn from LCSH , AAT , or other controlled vocabulary , and may cross-refer to related collections in other repositories. The data elements essential to finding aids are defined by the International Council on Archives in the General International Standard Archival Description ( ISAD(G) ). Various national implementations of ISAD(G) exist, such as Describing Archives: A Content Standard , used in

1248-464: The collection, but also reflected that only the archivists would know about these changes to the collection. Paper based collections with finding aids ensured that patrons would have to rely upon the archivist to find and utilize materials. The contents of finding aids may differ depending on the types of material being described. Usually, a finding aid includes a description of the scope of the collection, biographical and historical information related to

1296-452: The contents of the collection. Arrangement is the manner in which the collection has been ordered (generally in accordance, as far as practicable, with its original order ). Hierarchical levels of arrangement are typically composed of record groups containing series , which in turn contain boxes, folders, and items. The Content List is a list of the collection's materials down to the box and folder level. Series descriptions containing

1344-562: The death of the individual or 100 years after the person's birth if the date of death is unknown, and records dealing with taxation, credit, and banking, which are sealed for 60 years. Additionally, Federal Archives holdings originating with the Communist Party and communist organizations of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) have been available for decades with almost no limitations. The Federal Archives has also worked to make East German government records available with

1392-501: The decision Babcock v AG Canada the court explained the reason as: The process of democratic governance works best when Cabinet members charged with government policy and decision-making are free to express themselves around the Cabinet table unreservedly. To preserve this rule of confidentiality, subsection 70(1) of the Privacy Act provides that the Act does not apply to confidences of

1440-411: The documentation of government. The Order-in-Council read, in part: The great increase in the work of the Cabinet... has rendered it necessary to make provision for the performance of additional duties of a secretarial nature relating principally to the collecting and putting into shape of agenda of Cabinet meetings, providing of information and material necessary for the deliberations of the Cabinet and

1488-581: The drawing up of records of the results, for communication to the departments concerned... Heeney established procedures and for the first time recorded the minutes and conclusions of a cabinet body – the Cabinet War Committee. In 1942, the Statutory Orders and Regulations Division was set up under PC 7992, 4 September 1942. Also under PC 7992, a registry for maintaining orders and minutes of council, Treasury Board Minutes and other government orders

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1536-449: The exchange of records between repositories." However, the hierarchical format of EAD finding aids has caused some controversy among users, as archivists have noted that it perpetuates the same confusions regarding finding aids for users. Freund and Toms asserted that collections become digitally accessible in greater frequency, archivists can no longer be expected to assist users at their every need. Clayton McGehee expressed concern about

1584-744: The extant finding aid. She concludes that Online participatory finding aids with user annotations are feasible for a repository of any size and budget, and will result in more complete resources for users and archivists...To be successful in reaching users, archivists must open themselves to new collaborations with diverse communities beyond the academic world, relinquishing the role of record gatekeepers and inviting in open communication with users. Index card An index card (or record card in British English and system cards in Australian English ) consists of card stock (heavy paper ) cut to

1632-478: The finding aid within this print-based form is designed to describe a single collection or arrangement from a similar provenance . Clayton McGehee argues that the finding aid became preferred by archivists and repositories as a means of organizing their collections because it allowed for them to intellectually and physically control the items they held. Archivists could acquire, deaccession, redact, and reorganize materials. The finding aids could reflect these changes to

1680-501: The information overload facing early scientists that occurred from overseas discoveries, though there is room for dispute about whether he alone was the index card's inventor. Linnaeus had to deal with a conflict between needing to bring information into a fixed order for purposes of later retrieval, and needing to integrate new information into that order permanently. His solution was to keep information on particular subjects on separate sheets, which could be complemented and reshuffled. In

1728-511: The lack of interaction between finding aids of different libraries and repositories. He argued that in order to remain in touch with the rapid share and spread of information, finding aids must interact with digital libraries. Laura Farley argued that both of these concerns about the speed of changing information and the need to adapt, could be supplemented by adding user annotations to online finding aids. Farley also noted that user submissions can help archivists highlight useful items not indicated in

1776-627: The mid 1760s Linnaeus refined this into what are now called index cards. Index cards could be selected and moved around at will to update and compare information at any time. In the late 1890s, edge-notched cards were invented, which allowed for easy sorting of data by means of a needle-like tool. These edge-notched cards were phased out in the 1980s in favor of computer databases, and they are no longer sold. James Rand, Sr.'s Rand Ledger Company (founded 1898) with its Visible Ledger system, and his son James Rand, Jr. 's American Kardex dominated sales of index card filing systems worldwide through much of

1824-460: The new 20-year period will be reached. The Government of Ireland declassifies files in a similar fashion according to the thirty-year rule. In recent years, files relating to the state’s role in the conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles are declassified in late December of each year. The Supreme Court of Canada has previously argued in favour of Cabinet confidentiality. In

1872-507: The opposite advice to put everything on one size of card. Index cards are used for many events and are helpful for planning. The first early modern card cabinet was designed by 17th-century English inventor Thomas Harrison ( c. 1640s). Harrison's manuscript on the "ark of studies" ( Arca studiorum ) describes a small cabinet that allows users to excerpt books and file their notes in a specific order by attaching pieces of paper to metal hooks labeled by subject headings. Harrison's system

1920-412: The primary tool used to locate books was the card catalog, in which every book was described on three cards, filed alphabetically under its title, author, and subject (if non-fiction ). Similar catalogs were used by law firms and other entities to organize large quantities of stored documents. However, the adoption of standard cataloging protocols throughout nations with international agreements, along with

1968-540: The public have had access before their transfer   [...] shall not be available for public inspection until they have been in existence for fifty years or such other period   [...] as the Lord Chancellor may   [...] for the time being prescribe as respects any particular class of public records. The closure period was reduced from fifty to thirty years by an amending act of 1967 , passed during Harold Wilson 's government. Among those who had repeatedly urged

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2016-456: The rise of the Internet and the conversion of cataloging systems to digital storage and retrieval, has made obsolescent the widespread use of index cards for cataloging. Many authors have used index cards for the writing of books. Vladimir Nabokov wrote his works on index cards, a practice mentioned in his work Pale Fire . Thirty-year rule The thirty-year rule (an informal term)

2064-482: The same time unless their release was deemed likely to cause "damage to the country's image, national security or foreign relations". Significant changes were made to the rules as a consequence of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) (which came into full effect on 1 January 2005). FOIA essentially removed the second of the thirty-year rules (the access one), and replaced it with provisions allowing citizens to request

2112-547: The scrapping of the fifty-year rule was the historian A. J. P. Taylor . There were two elements to the rule: the first required that records be transferred from government departments to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives ) after thirty years unless specific exemptions were given (by the Lord Chancellor 's Advisory Council on Public Records ); the second that they would be opened to public access at

2160-466: The title, dates of coverage, and a brief description of the contents of each series. Series descriptions may also include the range of containers, a statement of the type of arrangement, and a note on any restrictions for each series (for example, an embargo on public access for a set period for reasons of confidentiality). Encoded Archival Description (EAD) was created in 1998 for the use of finding aids in an online environment. Its creation allowed for

2208-412: Was conducted: I found it shattering to discover that the highest committee in the land conducted its business in such a disorderly fashion that it employed no agenda and no minutes were taken. The more I learned about Cabinet practices, the more difficult it was for me to understand how such a regime could function at all. Order-in-Council PC 1940-1121 of March 25, 1940 ushered in a significant change in

2256-457: Was edited and improved by Vincent Placcius in his well-known handbook on excerpting methods ( De arte excerpendi , 1689). The German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was known to have relied on Harrison's invention in at least one of his research projects. Carl Linnaeus , an 18th-century naturalist who formalized binomial nomenclature , is said to have "invented the index card" c.  1760 in order to help deal with

2304-477: Was established. It was not until 1944 that the formal collection of "Cabinet Conclusions" was created. In the early 1980s, the PCO began a voluntary transfer of cabinet records, which had been declassified after a 30-year holding period, to the National Archives (which became Library and Archives Canada in 2004) where they became publicly available, under the label "Cabinet Conclusions". After an initial document dump that included records dated from 1937 to 1952,

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