Scope

950 CMR 39.00 shall apply to all records defined as public records by M.G.L. c. 4, § 7, clause 26, M.G.L. c. 66. The purpose of 950 CMR 39.00 is to ensure that microfilmed copies of public records have a life expectancy equal to or greater than the retention period assigned to the original record. The minimum standards set out in 950 CMR 39.00 shall be adhered to in all microfilm applications for records the retention of which has been designated as more than 15 years by the Records Conservation Board for the records of the Commonwealth and by the Supervisor of Public Records for the records of counties, cities and towns, and to all records for which retention periods have not been assigned. No records shallbe destroyed after microfilmingwithout the written permission of the Records Conservation Board or the Supervisor of Public Records, as appropriate. 950 CMR 39.00 shall apply to all in-house preparations of such records, as well as to work contracted with microfilm service bureaus. It is the responsibility of the contracting agency to inform the microfilm service bureau of the requirements of 950 CMR 39.00. It is recommended that records with a retention period of less than 15 years be microfilmed on base stock and processed in such a manner as required herein for long-term records. However, for economic reasons and for certain systems applications, other film types may be better suited for microforms containing short-term records; care should be taken that these film types are used and processed so as to provide a life expectancy equal to or greater than the retention period of the record. All filming and processing shall be in accordance with manufacturers' specifications and all applicable ANSI and ISO standards. Microfilm of short-term records shall be stored under the conditions prescribed in the appendix to ANSI IT9.2.